Charatan’s Make Reuben Era 110 Sandblasted Bent Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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).

F. Charatan & Son was rather late to the sandblasting game, all things considered. In fact, when they were introduced during the Reuben Era, the blasting process itself was outsourced to a window glazing company. Ultimately, Charatan brought sandblasting in-house and, soon enough, the company had created one of the most memorable relief finishes of the 20th century. Like the Barling Fossil, Charatan’s sandblasts were especially craggy and decked in ring grain patterns; like the Dunhill Tanshell, many of Charatan’s sandblasted pipes were given a very natural dress, which allowed the pipe to color over time as it was smoked.

This looks to be a very early example of a sandblasted Charatan pipe, made back during the “Reuben era”—that is, when Reuben Charatan owned and operated F. Charatan & Son, between 1910 and 1960. In keeping with the style of the time, it’s a slight and slender take on the bent billiard, though one whose size certainly didn’t get in the way of an incredibly rich relief from the blasting cabinet.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.50″ / 38.1mm

Weight: 0.9oz / 26g