James Upshall A Grade Group 6 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 Lovat, lumberman, Liverpool, Newmarket, and, as seen here, Canadian renditions made under the James Upshall name. This one is an especially lengthy example, coming in at nearly 7 inches in length (though, at under 2 ounces, it is surprisingly not overly heavy). It’s also a rather interesting instance of a cross-cut James Upshall pipe, with the briar having been turned in a way as to maximize bird’s-eye patterning on the bowl’s left and right flanks. I’m not as familiar with A grades as I am with other James Upshall pipes, though I must say that the golden walnut finish used on this one is quite beautiful in an understated way.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. Some very minor scratches on the bowl.

Details:

Length: 6.8″ / 172.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.78″ / 45.21mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g