Charatan’s Make Reuben Era (c. 1955-60) Selected Freehand Panel 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), Dennis Marshall (previously of Barling, later of Milville), Dan Tennison, Stan Haney (later of Ashby Hall), and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones (later of James Upshall).

Just as the pioneering Danish post-war pipe makers crafted “freehand” pipes that were still relatively traditional compared to what followed, most of Charatan’s first “freehands” were not wildly different from the catalog shapes that preceded them. In other words, there was a kind of “transitional” period in the emergence of the English freehand, just as there had been for the Danish variety, one situated between the consolidation of classic, Anglo-French shapes in the first half of the 20th century, and the grandiose forms of the second. It could be argued that the very beginnings of this transition occurred at Barling (not to be confused with the make’s other, more famous “transition” in ownership and management), with the Freaks and Quaints made from the 1920s onward, but in the context of Charatan, this occurred in the 1950s, during the last years of the “Reuben era.” While the first Charatan “freehand” pipe was made during Reuben’s tenure as owner and overseer of F. Charatan & Son, this event took place against a backdrop of decades spent achieving national acclaim for expertly made, and often peerlessly grained, traditional pipes. Thus, while the first Charatan “freehand” is reported to have been Barry Jones’s famous “Cup and saucer,” created on a whim during the late Reuben era, Kennedy Barnes would note that much of the early “freehand” output that was still comprised of “‘free-hand’ orthodox models.” Ultimately, Reuben Charatan opted for a more unorthodox design approach for his new freehand workshop, which continued under his successor Herman Lane, but, nonetheless, the Charatan freehand as we know it did not sprout up overnight.

This particular Charatan freehand appears to be from the transitional period mentioned, taking the form of a paneled, poker-Canadian hybrid that is, all things considered, not entirely out of the ordinary. According to Barnes, it was Reuben, Dan Tennison, and Barry Jones who turned these pipes, for which the “FH” stamp was introduced as an early designation. Given that this pipe bears the “FH” but no “MADE BY HAND” nomenclature, and given that it features a tapered stem, I would estimate this to have been made during the late 1950s. While the pipe does also bear the Lane Ltd. “L” logo, Charatan pipes that were imported into the United States also featured this from 1955 onward, as Lane was the sole American distributor, even during the last years of the Reuben era. The pipe is a Selected grade which, if my dating is correct, would be just shy of the top of Charatan’s grading system (represented by the Supremes) during this time.

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

Details:

Length: 6.8″ / 172.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.68″ /42.67mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g