Charatan’s Make Lane Era (c.1965) Executive Extra Large Smooth Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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).

By the mid-1960s, Charatan’s freehand workshop was in full swing. It had been founded toward the end of the 1950s, back when Reuben Charatan was still running things, and while the Reuben era freehands were often novel, or a little unusual, in form, they still tended to lean close to classical shaping conventions, with a little subversion here and there. After Herman Lane took over in the 1960s, however, Charatan’s freehands became a little more grandiose, no doubt in part due to the strong competition from the emerging Danish masters. That’s where pipes like this one came in. Based on the nomenclature, it was made in 1965, the year that Charatan pipes began featuring the cursive “In City of London” script on the shank (but which was, for that year alone, appended to a still block-lettered “MADE BY HAND”), and is a good representative of both the ambition and the execution of pipes during that period. As an “Executive” grade, it belongs to Charatan’s famous straight grain output, and while the bowl more than earns that accolade, its carver seems to have decided that grain alone does not a good pipe make. Instead, they went for an aesthetic more common to meerschaum than to prior, carving a veritable sculpture with prominent architectural and nautical themes. Further still, they did so for a pipe of near-magnum proportions, with the result being halfway between instrument and ornament. “Impressive” would be an understatement.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening, slight handling marks, and slight tooth chatter.

Details:

Length: 7.5″ / 190.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 2.50″ / 52.07mm

Weight: 3.5oz / 100g