Charatan’s Make Reuben Era (c. 1955-60) 42 Sandblasted Giant Billiard 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 (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).

Charatan’s very first sandblasted pipes appeared during the Reuben era, back when Reuben Charatan owned and oversaw F. Charatan & Son, and was, at least at first, not undertaken in-house. Sandblasting as a technology, of course, predated pipes, and it has been used in a variety of industrial and artistic settings since its invention. Thus, in the beginning, Reuben Charatan had his pipes sent over to a glazing company to do the blasting, though the results were, reportedly, far from ideal. Ultimately Charatan brought sandblasting in-house, where the results were much improved, and out of which was born some of the most iconic sandblast finishes of the 20th century. This one is a very craggy example of Charatan’s midcentury De Luxe Sandblast line, taking the form of Reuben Charatan’s shape “42” “Giant Billiard.” Based on the stamping, this one will have been made between approximately 1955 and 1960, back when Herman Lane’s Lane Ltd. had exclusive distribution rights in the US, but the company itself was still under Reuben Charatan’s ownership and direction (hence the “42” shape code sans “DC” or “X”).

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening, stem slightly over-buffed at the base, and some minor, residual oxidation.

Details:

Length: 7.5″ / 190.5mm

Bowl Width: 1.01 / 25.65mm

Bowl Depth: 2.09″ / 53.08mm

Weight: 3.4oz / 98g