Charatans Make Relief Grain Sandblasted Dublin Briar Pipe, English Estates (Lane Era)

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.

I’m a big fan of this pipe. From the nomenclature, I’d estimate that it’s from what’s commonly referred to as the ‘first lane era’, which are the years 1961-5, when Charatan was first acquired by Herman Lane. The Lane years are also commonly thought to be Charatan’s best, being when the company had a roster of now-legendary carvers working for them – Ken Barnes, Barry Jones, Stan Haney, et al. This is also when Charatan’s ‘free hand’ series came into its own. While Danish carvers like Sixten Ivarsson and Erik Nording were beginning to explore the possibilities of freehand pipe-making, Charatan’s team were doing the same, though the results were often drastically different.

Aside from the plateau rim, this pipe isn’t what one would typically expect from a ‘freehand’. But, as indicated, it is from a time when carvers were still exploring what freehand techniques could do. It’s a tall, square shank Dublin of sorts, with the impressive ring grain sandblasting that earlier Charatans are known for. It has a few handling marks around the bowl, and some minor rim darkening, but otherwise it’s in great shape. It is also not as heavy as one would expect for a pipe of this size, which suggests it was made with very high quality briar.

Details:

Length: 6.4″

Bowl Width: 24.0mm

Bowl Depth: 2″

Weight: 2.0oz / 59g