Charatan of London Grosvenor Shape 2109 Rhodesian Sandblast Fishtail Vulcanite Stem

CHARATAN, of London, GROSVENOR, 2109 - and the small script "of London" is the first clue to where this pipe sits in Charatan's long story. This is a sandblasted Rhodesian, shape 2109, with a bent vulcanite stem cut to a fishtail bit.

It comes from the James B. Russell years of the brand, about 1988 to 2002, and it is pre-smoked.

The Charatan name runs back to 1863, when Frederick Charatan opened a small workshop in Mansell Street, in London's East End, and began carving meerschaum. The pipes sold well enough that he soon moved round the corner to larger rooms in Prescot Street, and there he turned to briar. Charatan became the first English maker to produce the entire pipe in the house, from the rough block to the finished stem, and the stamp CHARATAN'S MAKE was chosen to set that work apart from pipes assembled out of pre-drilled bowls and bought-in mouthpieces.

The quality did not go unnoticed. Between 1908 and 1910 Alfred Dunhill, unhappy with the pipes he imported from France, bought from Charatan instead, before he hired away one of Charatan's carvers, Joel Sasieni, and opened his own workshop. In 1910 Frederick handed the firm to his son Reuben. From 1955 the American importer Herman G. Lane was Charatan's sole distributor in the United States, and in the early 1960s Charatan became the first pipe to pass the hundred-dollar mark in American sales. After Reuben's death his widow sold the company to Lane; in 1976 Dunhill bought Lane, and in 1982 the old London works closed.

In 1988 Dunhill sold the Charatan name, trademark and shape chart to James B. Russell Inc. of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Russell had the pipes made in Saint-Claude, the French pipe town in the Jura - Butz-Choquin is said to be the maker - until the company closed in 2002 and Dunhill took the name back, giving the work to Colin Fromm of Invicta in Chatham, Kent. The Russell pipes carry their own marks, and Ferrara lists them: the script stamp "Charatan of London", which appears for the first time in these years in place of the old CHARATAN'S MAKE / LONDON ENGLAND; a new style of the CP logo, in which the C no longer enters the P; and sometimes the word FRANCE on the shank or the stem. Grosvenor pipes carry the "of London" stamp and are generally carved in France; specialist dealers list them among French estates.

THE MARKS

- CHARATAN / of London (in script) / GROSVENOR stamped on the shank
- 2109 stamped on the shank
- REG'D No 203573 stamped on the stem

Charatan's shape chart files 2109 under the Rhodesian, and notes that the first digit of a shape number gives the size group, which makes this a group-2 Rhodesian. The bowl is round and full, and the bent stem sweeps down and back toward the smoker, which moves the balance toward the bowl and lets the pipe hang comfortably. The vulcanite saddle stem ends in a fishtail bit: the tip flares wide and flat, so it rests easily in the teeth and spreads the draw across the tongue instead of sending it in a single jet.

The finish is sandblast. Charatan's own 1951 catalogue describes the method simply - the bowl is "sprayed with hot sand" - and the blast cuts away the softer wood between the growth rings, leaving the harder rings standing in relief. On this bowl the relief is deep and rugged, in warm medium-brown tones, and it gives the hand a sure grip while the extra surface helps the bowl shed heat.

Condition: Pre-smoked. The photographs show the bowl, the rim, the chamber and the stem from every side.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 144 mm (5.67 in)
- Bowl height: 43 mm (1.69 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 28 mm (1.10 in)
- Weight: 51 g (1.80 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 294