James Upshall G Grade Group 4 Smooth Bent Billiard (Unsmoked Estate)

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. James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest hand-turned British pipes continues to endure.

While the quality of James Upshall pipes is instantly recognizable, the grading system used for them is far from intuitive. Aside from the workshop’s rusticated, sandblasted, and magnum pipes, an alphabetical system was predominantly used for James Upshall pipes, but this system did not proceed alphabetically in either direction. The “P” was a higher grade than the “S,” for example, but the “B” was higher than the “P.” Even more confusing was that these letters were not abbreviations of more expressive titles, like Dunhill’s “T” for “Tanshell,” or “R” for “Root Briar”; they simply indicated the tier to which a James Upshall pipe belonged, which itself reflected how consistent its grain was.

One thing that does make James Upshall’s grades a little easier to comprehend is comparison. Ken Barnes himself recollected that these grades had analogs in the system used by F. Charatan and Son while he and Barry Jones worked there (i.e., during the Reuben and Lane eras). While Charatan’s system was also rather complex, the precedent it established nonetheless helps in getting a sense of how Ken and Barry measured their work, and of how we today should gauge the significance and quality of a James Upshall pipe.

The James Upshall “G” was one of the higher grades such pipes could receive. Per Barnes’ account, the “G” was equivalent to something like a Selected or a Supreme, which were similarly high grades awarded to Charatan pipes. The former, like the latter, were typically straight grain pipes of exemplary consistency in their patterning, and were, as such, given only a light finish, so that said grain would be on display for all to see.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original (slightly time-worn) bowl coating. Some slight residual oxidation on the mouthpiece, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 6.3″ / 160.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.71 / 18.03mm

Bowl Depth: 1.36″ / 34.54mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g