Charatan’s Make First Lane Era (c. 1961-5) Selected Extra Large Cavalier Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

While Dunhill may be Britain’s most famous pipe brand, Charatan is not only older, but has the honor of being the first to have made its pipes entirely in-house. ‘”Charatan’s Make” referred to the fact that, at a time when other pipe companies were sourcing stummels and stems carved from other companies before assembling them in their factories and workshops, Charatan made every part of their pipes on the Charatan premises. So began a legacy of high-quality pipe-making under the Charatan name, one whose employees, at one time or another, included Joel Sasieni (who went on to work at Dunhill, before leaving again to start the Sasieni make), Dan Tennison, Stan Haney (later of Ashby Hall), and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones (later of James Upshall).

During the Reuben era of Charatan pipes—the time when Reuben Charatan owned and operated F. Charatan & Son—the Selected was the penultimate grade achievable by any given pipe, surpassed in quality only by the Supreme. During the Lane era(s)—the time when Herman Lane’s Lane Ltd. took ownership of F. Charatan & Son—the company’s grading system was continually expanded, with new grades inserted within and—in some cases—beyond the modest four that Reuben Charatan had worked by. The Selected remained in the upper echelons of Charatan’s system, however, and, true to their name, these were select pipes, available to the select few who could find and afford one. Those who preferred the make’s famous Straight Grain pipes a little bigger than average had the option of something like a Selected Extra Large, though these were even scarce (not to mention expensive) than a “normal” Selected.

This particular Charatan is an example of the aforementioned Selected Extra Large grade. Based on the nomenclature, it comes from what is often referred to as the “first Lane era,” that being the years between approximately 1961 and 1965, when F. Charatan & Son was propelled into international acclaim, especially for freehand pipes such as this one. How Charatan was able to achieve this was due to a confluence of factors; freehand pipes had entered the mainstream, though the precedents set specifically by Danish freehands meant that pipe makers from elsewhere in the world had to put in a lot of work to keep up; luckily, Charatan had a roster of supremely talented freehand pipe makers, many of them being former apprentices to Reuben Charatan, an early champion of straight grain pipes with notoriously high standards for what qualified as one; and, of course, Herman Lane’s sheer salesmanship, especially when it came to the Charatan brand, was near-unrivaled. Each of these things came together in the creation of some of the finest pipes of their day, and a world that rightly recognized this.

The condition is very good. Very minor inner rim darkening, slight finish fading, and slight residual stem oxidation, such as where the Charatan logo has been intentionally preserved.

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 2.28″ / 57.91mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g