Charatan’s Make Reuben Era Selected Partially Sandblasted Countryman 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, and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall fame.

Just as with the venerable Danish workshops of post-war pipe making, the Charatan freehand workshop crafted innumerable, unique designs, while also giving birth to many designs that were so popular and influential that they remain staples of pipe making to this day. One design was, of course, the Cup and Saucer; another was the Countryman, seen here. The Countryman was quite special for many reasons. It was conceived by Barry Jones and Dan Tennison, both trained under Reuben Charatan and both responsible for some of the most prodigious Charatan freehands carved during the Lane era that followed Reuben’s passing. Despite being partially sandblasted (possibly in tandem with manual rustication), the Countryman was available in Charatan’s lofty Selected grade, otherwise all but reserved for wholly smooth pipes with exceptional straight grain patterns. Why the Countryman was granted this exception is less surprising when considering the design and the work that went into making one. In terms of the former, a mixed finish bolsters the visual differentiation between the lower half of the bowl and its namesake “hat” rim (while a very small number of smooth Countryman renditions were made, the mixed finish has subsequently become a core part of the shape’s identity). As for the latter, the Countryman is especially difficult to carve, and even more so for the original bent variant, also seen here. Per Kennedy Barnes, Countryman shapes require tight co-ordination between the cutter (the person who turns briar roots into useable blocks for turning) and the turner (the person who shapes the block into a bowl), with said block needing to be specifically tailored on the former’s saw before reaching the latter’s lathe and sander. Turning the “hat” itself was a challenge, one that could easily result in a serious injury to one’s hands, and shaping the transition between the “hat” and the bowl required special filing tools that could carve away excess briar without cutting into the “brim” of the hat.
Based on the nomenclature, this one looks to be a rather early Countryman, made either during the last years of Reuben’s era (ending approximately 1961), or during the first years of the first Lane era (1961-65), though the absence of a Lane Limited stamp, or indeed a “Made by Hand” stamp, has me leaning toward the former. It’s a special pipe, that’s for sure.

The condition is good. Some inner rim charring, handling marks, and stem slightly over-buffed.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm

Bowl Depth: 1.42″ / 36.06mm

Weight: 2.8oz / 82g