English Estates: Charatan's Make Distinction Bent Dublin Tobacco Pipe

A striking and rakish take on the bent Dublin, this piece from Charatan boasts a look reminiscent of both the Danish fancy style and the Pickaxe shape. Unapologetically angular, this pipe's visual weight rests squarely on the pointed, spurred heel beneath the bowl, drawing the eye to the transition. A lifting, round shank rises from out of this transition to meet a slender Double Comfort saddle stem of black vulcanite, the pair poised for comfortable smoking. The bowl itself urges forward out of the transition, aided by the heel's very slight rearward curl, and flares subtly toward a plateau-crowned rim, its impressive height concealing a capacious chamber. Dressed in a rich, deep, chestnut-hued stain, this pipe showcases handsome grain, with flame surrounding the walls of the bowl.

Charatan boasts a long, well-respected history of pipe making, with Frederick Charatan founding the business in 1863. One of the first pipe makers in England, Charatan began by producing meerschaum pipes, finding great success and quickly needing to relocate to a larger workshop, and it was here that Charatan began to carve briar pipes. Charatan has the rare distinction of being the first marque in England to hand-make their briar pipes from start to finish, starting with a raw block of burl and a vulcanite blank, coining the process with the now-iconic stamping of "Charatan's Make." Charatan was so successful that, before Dunhill began to make their own briars, Charatan actually supplied the legendary marque with pipes from 1908 to 1910. In 1962, then-leader Reuben Charatan passed away, and the rights to the Charatan brand were sold in the next few years to Lane, who was the primary distributor for their pipes. Charatan then changed hands several more times in the following years, before being bought by Dunhill in 2002.