Charatan’s Make for The Tinder Box Golden Jubilee 1928-1978 Smooth Calabash 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, and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall fame.

In 1978, historic American tobacconist chain The Tinder Box celebrated its golden jubilee, i.e., the anniversary of 50 years of its continuous operation serving customers across the United States. For this occasion, several of the world’s most renowned pipe makers were commissioned to make limited edition, commemorative pipes. Dunhill was one such company, as were GBD, Caminetto, Comoy’s, and Nording. Charatan was, of course, another company The Tinder Box commissioned a special pipe from, an example of which we have here. Charatan certainly stepped up to the occasion, offering a hand made rendition of the company’s popular 483 Cavalier shape (though we today would most likely refer to it as a calabash), dressed in a special contrast finish, and complete with an engraved 14 karat gold-filled collar. Only 300 of these pipes in total were manufactured by Charatan, and they were not cheap, either. Costing $125 dollars at the 1978 launch (over $600 today, adjusted for inflation), Charatan’s contribution to The Tinder Box’s 50th anniversary was exceeded in price only by Dunhill’s, which were gold-mounted Root Briars.

The condition is good. Some rim darkening and minor inner rim charring, and slight handling marks.

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.60″ / 40.64mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g