James Upshall Empire Series Old England Magnum Smooth 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.

Similarly to their contemporaries at Ashton and Ferndown, James Upshall pipes were, on average, larger than traditional Anglo-French factory pipes. Even larger still were James Upshall’s magnum-sized pipes, known as the Empire Series. The Empire Series was exclusively for such magnums, and were furthermore exemplars for the mastery of the workshop’s craftsmen when it came to shaping and to chasing the finest grain patterns around. 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. The Old England, as seen here, was essentially a super-sized P grade, whose graining was accentuated by a contrast stain inspired by the old Charatan Perfection line.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. There are a few nicks on the front of the bowl, for which the pipe’s price has been adjusted a little. Note that this pipe features a cumberland-style acrylic mouthpiece, rather than ebonite, having been originally made for the German market.

Details:

Length: 7.4″ / 187.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.69″ / 42.92mm

Weight: 3.9oz / 112g