James Upshall P Grade Group 6 Smooth Canadian 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. James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest hand-turned British pipes continues to endure.

“Long shank” shapes held a special place at the Tilshead pipe company. One might assume that this was in part because its founders, Barry Jones and Ken Barnes, had cut their teeth at Charatan, where such shapes and motifs featured prominently in both its catalog and freehand output (especially during the Lane era). Other reasons were more explicit; for Barnes, at least, long shank shapes like the Canadian were simply his favorite. Whatever the exact cause, its certain that there were plenty of very fine Lovat, lumberman, Liverpool, Newmarket, and, as seen here, Canadian renditions made under the James Upshall name.

This rather traditional rendition (albeit with plenty of James Upshall’s characteristic stoutness) is an example of the workshop’s “P” grade, so named because it was created as an homage to the golden contrast finish used on the old Charatan “Perfection” grades. As the highest of the James Upshall standard grades, however, Barnes and Jones intended the grain quality of the “P” to be closer to another contrast-lit Charatan favorite, the “Distinction.”

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.64″ / 41.65mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g