English Estates: Charatan's Make Sandblasted Dublin (61X) Tobacco Pipe

This "61X" Dublin by Charatan possesses a sleek, dynamic figure courtesy of the bowl's strong forward cant, a feature reminiscent of the Zulu. The bowl's walls flare gradually from the firm heel to a flat rim, offering plenty of substance to admirably insulate the capacious chamber. The shank seamlessly transitions from the bowl, taking on a sleek taper toward a slender stem of jet-black vulcanite. Dressing the stummel is a crisp, earthy sandblast, one that reveals handsome grain while simultaneously offering plenty of texture to appreciate.

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.