Charatans Make Selected FH Lane Era Estate Briar Pipe

About this pipe:

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.

Collectors of Charatan pipes have their preferences for which ‘era’ of the make’s history was or is its best. From my experience, it is the Lane era (1961-77) that has the largest contingent of fans. And it’s hard to argue with those fans; the pipes made during Lane Ltd’s ownership of the make are excellent, in both their aesthetic and functional properties. This one belongs to what is known as the ‘first’ Lane era (1961-65). It is a freehand pipe, as evinced by the “FH” stamp, but a quintessentially English one, as opposed to the Danish variety. It could be called a very large bent brandy, but make no mistake – it is a brandy with the kind of tight, uniform, “angel hair” straight grain that only a master hand-turner can achieve. I have to wonder whether this might be one of Stan Haney’s (later of Ashby Hall), or Barry Jones’s (later of James Upshall) works.

The condition is great. There’s a small amount of inner rim darkening and finish fading, but nothing anywhere near major. The pipe has been preserved beautifully – as it should be.

Details:

Length: 7″ / 177.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.64″ / 41.65mm

Weight: 3.8oz / 110g