James Upshall A Grade ExL Smooth Stacked Pickaxe Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

James Upshall was, along with Ferndown and Ashton, part of a new wave of British hand-made, high-grade pipes in the late 20th century, with their founders largely coming from previous positions in the factories of companies such as Dunhill and Charatan. James Upshall was founded in 1978 by Barry Jones and Ken Barnes, both of whom had previously worked for Charatan and who had worked their way up to being carvers Charatan’s higher-end, non-standard shapes. Jones and Barnes’ pipes quickly grew to being something of a status symbol, and were enjoyed by King Hussein of Jordan, Anwar Sadat, Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Robert Wagner and Tom Selleck. The company also made house-brand pipes for Astleys in London. Sadly, James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest hand-turned British pipes lives on.

The output of Barnes and Jones’s Tilshead workshop was, from the outset, predominantly either traditional Anglo-French shapes, or hybrid shapes that still retained core elements from Anglo-French design trends. But, like the Charatan workshop that it spiritually succeeded, every so often there would be a James Upshall pipe that leaned closer to the styles pursued by its Danish competitors. This one looks to have been taking notes from Preben Holm, or Erik Nording, for example. Featuring a towering, plateaux topped bowl and almost razor-sharp angles, there is certainly something of the Danish Fancy freehand to it. Then again, one could also argue that it isn’t too far off from one of the Dunhill Quaint shapes, albeit with a far less dainty, and far more muscular figure. Either way, it’s a welcome change of pace.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

Details:

Length: 6.1″ / 154.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.93″ / 49.02mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g