Charatan’s Make Reuben Era Special 30120 Smooth Canadian 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” or “bird’s eye”. Looking at this example, one finds a bounty of both, though the bird’s-eye on its bowl is especially striking.

As for when the pipe was made, this Special will have been produced under Reuben’s tenure, as evinced by the lack of a Lane Ltd. “L” logo. Even if this was present, the pipe’s pre-Lane vintage is guaranteed by its shape code, “30120.” When Lane took over F. Charatan & Son, he had the make adopt a trademarked, “Double Comfort” mouthpiece design, which was used for the majority of Charatan pipes. Pipes with these mouthpieces had a “DC” appended to the shape code, while the few pipes that had a standard saddle or taper mouthpiece had shape codes appended with an “X.” This pipe lacks either, making it pre-Lane, likely 1950s. According to the code, it is a group 3 (“3”) large Canadian (catalog shape “0120”). Technically, Reuben called this shape a “lumberman,” though—and as I’ve done before—I’m going to overrule him on terminology here, just for the sake of not overcomplicating things.

The condition is near-mint. I was a little unsure if the pipe had been smoked or not, but to play it safe, I’ll go with “smoked once or twice, and lightly.”

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.54″ / 39.11mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g