James Upshall B Grade Ex.L Smooth Egg 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.

During the workshop’s lifetime, most of James Upshall’s pipes were either Tilsheads (which functioned as an “entry level” pipe), or they were S, A, or P grades (which were the workshop’s “standard” grades). But, if a pipe was extraordinarily well grained, it had a chance to become one of James Upshall’s “high-grades.” Given that a “standard” James Upshall was already quite exceptional, these high grades were very special indeed. The “B” was the first rung on the high-grades ladder, one which the late Ken Barnes considered roughly equivalent to a Charatan Executive grade (presumably a Lane era example, as he left Charatan during its acquisition by Dunhill). Similarly to Charatan’s freehand pipes, oversized James Upshalls were also sorted into an “Ex.L,” or “Extra Large,” size group, making this one equivalent to an Executive Extra Large in terms of grain quality and stature.

On the other hand, the shaping on this B grade Ex.L is some of the most unusual I’ve ever seen for a James Upshall pipe, catapulting it outside of the conventions of English freehand pipes and into a strangely Danish territory. With its supple figure and tulip-like bowl, it’s closer, for example, to something Poul Rasmussen, Sven Knudsen, or even Tom Eltang might have made—with a similarly masterful coaxing out of the briar’s straight grain patterns—though much bigger. I’m genuinely impressed, and I have to wonder what else the Tilshead workshop could have come up with had it been around for just a little longer.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some very minor residual stem oxidation.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 2.21″ / 56.13mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g