James Upshall Empire Series Tradition 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.

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, a Tradition 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 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.

In the case of this Tradition, it is one of the largest James Upshall pipes I think I’ve ever seen, with strong affinities with the kinds of magnum bents Dunhill famously produced in its early decades. While not quite an LC, it nonetheless retains the tall, slightly egg-like bowl and swan-neck taper across its extraordinarily long shank and mouthpiece, making for a veritable churchwarden, provided one has the hands for it.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some very slight scratches on the bowl, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 8.5″ / 215.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.91 / 23.11mm

Bowl Depth: 2.07″ / 52.57mm

Weight: 3.6oz / 104g