James Upshall A Grade Group 6 Smooth “Newmarket” Stack 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, along with many of the other major makes of the era. James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest hand-turned British pipes continues to endure.

Keen eyed fans of Charatan pipes will likely recognize the design of this James Upshall. Back in the make’s Reuben era, F. Charatan & Son developed a number of shapes that were explicitly based on the clay pipes that had preceded briars. The “Dresden China” and the “Artist” were, for example, slender, footed cutty renditions; the “Lonsdale” and its saddle-stemmed sister, the “Lonsdale Lovat” were essentially two versions of the Belge; and then there was the “Newmarket.” While shapes like the Dresden and the Lonsdale were very faithful to old clay designs, as well as very similar to the clay-inspired shapes of other 19th and 20th century briar companies, the Newmarket was quite distinct from either. While its tall, slightly canted bowl and long shank recalled the basic figure of a clay, and while one might argue that its short, saddle mouthpiece evoked the painted, or banded, insulation sometimes found around the mouthpiece of such a pipe, it was uniquely modern, especially next to Reuben’s other shapes in the same category. It was also quite popular, and especially beloved by Ken Barnes and Barry Jones who, after leaving F. Charatan & Son to start anew, went on to include a “Newmarket” shape (even retaining the name) in the James Upshall catalog. Newmarket renditions were a similarly popular staple in the Tilshead workshop’s output right up until it closed for good in the 2000s. As the old slogan went, “the tradition continues…”

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some slight scuffs around the bowl, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.59″ / 40.38mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g