James Upshall A Grade Group 6 Smooth Lovat Dublin 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.

You can’t really go wrong with a James Upshall Dublin, and the best thing about James Upshall is that no two Dublins are exactly alike. Given that Barry Jones trained under Reuben Charatan, who adored the shape above all others, it’s only natural that he’d take to it as well. Working in the Charatan freehand workshop allowed him to experiment every day with the possibilities of the Dublin shape, which continued through the Lane era and, ultimately, until Jones and Barnes’s work at James Upshall. This one is a beautiful hybrid of shapes, blending a Dublin bowl with a tall and slightly narrow stack stature, along with a long shank and Lovat saddle stem. There’s plenty of straight grain to be had, too, but that’s par for the course with a brand of this caliber.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. Some minor handling marks on the bowl’s right side, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 6.1″ / 154.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.76″ / 44.70mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g