Charatan’s Make Reuben Era Special 30102 Smooth Lovat Estate Briar Pipe

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 (later of Dunhill, then Sasieni fame), Stan Haney (later of Ashby Hall), Dennis Marshall (later of Milville), and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones (later of James Upshall).

While Charatan remains famous for its straight grain pipes, there was still a place within the make’s grading schemes for other kinds of beautiful briar patterns. The Special was one such grade. Introduced in the first half of the 20th century, during Reuben Charatan’s time at the helm of F. Charatan & Son (known as the “Reuben era,” or “Reuben’s era”), the Special grade was one of “Premier quality pipes, cut in “cross grain,” “bird’s eye,” or, as in the case of this one, a veritable symphony of various patternings.

This one happens to be a Special from that era, as evinced by its shape code (“30102,” sans the “DC” or “X” that were used in the Lane era to strictly delineate Double Comfort from non-Double Comfort designs) and absence of a Lane Ltd. symbol (though, in this instance, even if it were present, the shape code would indicate it as being a late Reuben era make, from a time when Lane held exclusive US distribution rights, marking those pipes accordingly).

The condition is very good. Minor inner rim darkening, chamber very slightly over-reamed, and very slight tooth marks.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.91 / 23.11mm

Bowl Depth: 1.72″ / 43.68mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g