James Upshall Bark Group 6 Partially Rusticated 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. Sadly, James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest hand-turned British pipes lives on.

When James Upshall was founded, the company (Tilshead Pipe Co.) only sold smooth pipes. But, in the later decades of the 20th century, a strong case was being made by other English workshops, such as Ashton and Ferndown, that there was nothing stopping a sandblasted or a rusticated pipe from being handmade and high-grade—though in the case of the latter, this was something the Italians had known for even longer. The James Upshall Bark finish followed in this vein. Originally, it was a granular finish not unlike those of Italy, though over time it morphed into something far more English, in a way not unlike Ferndown’s finish of the same name. Given that Les Wood and Barry Jones were good friends (and still are, last I checked), I have wondered if something of the Woods’ approach rubbed off on Jones.

In the case of this one, the finish is somewhere mid-way between the early James Upshall rustication and the later version, with a highly tactile, weathered feel and look. My preference for Canadian shapes might be creating some bias here, but this is one of my favorite Barks I’ve yet seen.

The pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.73″ / 43.94mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g