James Upshall Tilshead 4 FH Smooth Straight Apple Estate Briar Pipe [SOLD OUT]

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 Les and Wood of Ferndown fame. Sadly, James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the best British pipes ever made lives on.

Tilshead are known as the ‘seconds’ make of James Upshall pipes, but this designation doesn’t really do them justice. Tilsheads were simply pipes that didn’t meet the exacting standards Jones and Barnes had for their graded Upshall pipes, and if you know anything about how good Upshall pipes were, you’ll know that being just a step below the higher end pipes was still a major achievement. As such, this Tilshead apple could easily compete with the main-line offerings of even the best of the other pipe companies of the time. It features beautiful flame grain around the bowl and a golden-brown stain that accentuates these patterns.

The condition is good. The rim has some darkening and finish fading, and the stem has a little chatter and residual oxidation, but these are superficial and won’t affect the smoking properties of the pipe. The pipe is also chambered for 6mm filters, such as Savinelli’s balsa filters, but will smoke just as well without one.

Details:

Length: 5.8″

Bowl Width: 18.9mm

Bowl Depth: 1.4″

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g