Charatan’s Make Lane Era Executive Smooth Pot 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 (later of Dunhill, then Sasieni fame), Stan Haney (later of Ashby Hall), Dennis Marshall (later of Milville), and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones (later of James Upshall).

As far as English pipes go, Charatan was a true pioneer, and in more than one sense. Both Frederick Charatan and his son (and eventual sucessor) Reuben Charatan were early proponents of straight grained pipes as the pinnacle of the craft, and it was under Reuben’s tenure that Charatan opened up England’s first, dedicated freehand workshop at the end of the 1950s. When Herman Lane entered the picture, he took these aspects of the Charatan make and amplified them like never before, with Charatan pipes ultimately becoming some of the most prestigious (and expensive) briars in the world. Even more impressive is that Charatan was able to do this amidst a surge in demand for Danish pipes, especially the freehand variety.

As an Executive grade particular Charatan belongs to the make’s famous straight grain output, though the shaping is a little different to what one might expect from a pipe of its vintage. Based on the nomenclature, this pipe will have been made between approximately 1966 and 1976, during the last decade when Herman Lane and his Lane Ltd. owned F. Charatan & Son. But while it is one of the make’s freehand pipes, it is remarkably traditional in composition, recalling instead some of the earliest freehand and hand-turned pipes, made under Reuben Charatan in the 1950s. Making straight grain pipes of a more typically “freehand” style is certainly not easy, though crafting traditional shapes, such as this pot, can be much harder, owing to the constraints of the form. I can only imagine the labors (and the briar) that went into this one’s construction.

The condition is good. Some rim darkening, minor finish fading, and chamber slightly over-reamed.

Details:

Length: 5.3″ / 134.6mm

Bowl Width: 0.95 / 24.13mm

Bowl Depth: 1.35″ / 34.29mm

Weight: 1.3oz / 38g