James Upshall Empire Acclaim Magnum Rusticated Bent Billiard 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.

The James Upshall grading scheme is a little complicated, in part because some grades were named after places (i.e., the Tilshead), some using letters (e.g., S, G, E), some simply using descriptors for the finish used (e.g., Bark, Sandblast, etc.), and some using words that evoked, variously, things like history and excellence (e.g., Executive, Old England etc.) This would be an example of the latter, an Acclaim grade, which fell under the umbrella of James Upshall’s Empire Series. The Empire Series was exclusively for magnum-sized pipes, and were furthermore exemplars for the mastery of the workshop’s craftsmanship. This necessitated so much time and energy per pipe, as well as the large, consistently high-quality blocks of briar needed to make them, that production was extremely limited. Typically, customers could not simply buy an Empire Series pipe, but would have to sign up for a waitlist just to get one. This one is a huge, swan neck bent billiard, assumedly Barry Jones’s rendition of one of the various early Dunhill magnums, or perhaps even an “LC”. Rather than a more typical sandblast, however, this magnum wears a rather jagged, rusticated finish. This was not uncommon for James Upshall pipes. In fact, the first rusticated James Upshall pipes were introduced around 1987, per Ken Barnes, and were carved in a pebble-dash manner not unlike high-grade Italian pipes (using techniques purportedly learned from the Ser Jacopo workshop). Within a few years, however, the finish had changed and received a formal name, the “Bark.” James Upshall pipes were now rusticated in a more “English” manner, and were in fact curiously similar to 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 to finishing rubbed off on Jones.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. I do note that, when this pipe was stamped (or, more accurately, engraved) with its nomenclature, a mistake was made in spelling “Acclaim.” It’s not entirely out of the ordinary, especially for English handmades of the time (Bill Taylor’s Ashton being famous for its occasional mis-stamping of pipes), and not something I would consider a “defect,” either, though I have reduced the price just a little bit so as to appease any purists out there.

Details:

Length: 8.4″ / 213.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.89 / 22.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.91″ / 48.51mm

Weight: 3.8oz / 108g