James Upshall Empire Series Tradition XXL Smooth Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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 Empire Series of James Upshall pipes was exclusively for magnum-sized pieces (or “pocket magnum,” at the very least), 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, and prices—especially at the workshop’s peak—were exceedingly high.

This one takes the form of an exceeding large, and rather chubby, billiard, one that, despite its size, sticks fairly close to traditional renditions as far as the basic shaping goes. Oddly enough—and like many of the designs put out by the the Tilshead workshop—it is closer in style to Charatan during the Reuben era than its Lane years. Given that Barry Jones cut his teeth apprenticing under Reuben Charatan, it shouldn’t be so surprising, though given that he ended up working for Herman Lane was around thrice as long as he did Reuben, it’s nice to see that he never completely abandoned the aesthetic philosophy imparted by the latter.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some slight scuffing on the rim, though nothing too major.

Details:

Length: 7.2″ / 182.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.71″ / 43.43mm

Weight: 3.5oz / 100g