English Estates: Charatan's Make Sandblasted Billiard (420) Tobacco Pipe

Charatan boasts a long, well-respected history of pipe making, with Frederick Charatan founding the business in 1863 after emigrating from Russia to England. 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. 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 of their pipes. Ownership changed hands several more times in the following years, before being bought by Dunhill in 2002. The brand's work can range from timeless pipes that faithfully reflect the Anglo-French style, to hearty, sculptural works with distinctly bowl-forward aesthetics. These pipes were made available in a wide array of both standardized shapes and expressive Freehands, and they're often seen paired to the brand's iconic Double Comfort saddle stems for a striking, signature look.