James Upshall A Grade EXL Smooth Standing Cavalier 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. James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest hand-turned British pipes continues to endure.

The Tilshead Pipe Company’s Ex.L, or Extra Large, designation was used for the most sizeable pipes it produced among its standard and high-grade pipes. In other words, the only James Upshall pipes that rivaled the stature of Ex.Ls were those of the magnum Empire Series. While the workshop’s Ex.Ls were typically distinguished based on bowl size, its most adventurous designs also, more often than not, fell into the Ex.L group. This Extra Large A grade is most certainly an example of the latter, in addition to being genuinely impressive on a technical level. A hybrid of the Dublin and the cavalier, it is a tall and exceedingly long creation, to the point of being not too far off a churchwarden. Despite this length, it is also quite capable of standing on its own, making for a real “show off pipe” that would be equally at home in the hand or displayed on one’s mantlepiece. While I wouldn’t trust it to be quite as sturdy as, say, a broad-bottomed sitter shape like a poker, it is, nonetheless, quite the marvel of well-honed engineering.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. Some slight scratches around the bowl, but nothing major.

Details:

Length: 7.5″ / 190.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.97 / 24.63mm

Bowl Depth: 1.56″ / 39.62mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 70g