James Upshall A Grade Group 5 Smooth Canadian 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.

“Long shank” shapes held a special place at the Tilshead pipe company. One might assume that this was in part because its founders, Barry Jones and Ken Barnes, had cut their teeth at Charatan, where such shapes and motifs featured prominently in both its catalog and freehand output (especially during the Lane era). Other reasons were more explicit; for Barnes, at least, long shank shapes like the Canadian were simply his favorite. Whatever the exact cause, its certain that there were plenty of very fine Canadian, lumberman, Liverpool, Newmarket, and Lovat renditions made under the James Upshall name. This is another example of a nice, stout Canadian rendition from the workshop, having been turned in a cross-cut manner that lights up each side of the bowl with chestnut-hued bird’s-eye patterning.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. Some very minor scuffs on the rim, though nothing major by any stretch.

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.54″ / 39.11mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g