Charatan's Make London England Belvedere 30120DC/ Unsmoked Estate Pipe

A long, straight shank, a tall bowl at one end and a short saddle stem at the other: the Lumberman is a classic among pipe shapes, and this one carries CHARATAN'S MAKE, LONDON ENGLAND, BELVEDERE and the deep number 30120DC. It is a Charatan Belvedere Lumberman in glassy smooth briar that has never been smoked, with a vulcanite Double Comfort saddle stem and a fishtail bit.

It is unsmoked, with no filter. The 30120DC is stamped deep and clean; in the three-line nomenclature the first letters of LONDON are lighter, but every word can be read.

In 1863 (one source says about 1873) Frederick Charatan set up a meerschaum workshop in Mansell Street, London; the business grew, moved to nearby Prescot Street, and there it changed to briar. Charatan made the whole pipe, bowl and stem, in its own workshop from the rough block, when many others put together bought-in parts, and CHARATAN'S MAKE was stamped on the shank to say so.

The name travelled far. Before Alfred Dunhill made his own pipes he bought them from Charatan, between 1908 and 1910. Reuben Charatan took over from his father in 1910. In 1955 the New York firm of Herman G. Lane began importing the pipes into the United States, and in the early 1960s Lane bought the company outright. Dunhill acquired Lane in 1976 (some sources say 1978); in 1988 the Charatan name passed to J.B. Russell and the pipes were made in France, until Dunhill took the name back around 2000 to 2002.

THE MARKS

- CHARATAN'S MAKE / LONDON ENGLAND / BELVEDERE stamped on the shank, in block capitals
- 30120DC stamped on the shank
- A small logo on the stem
- REG No 203573 on the stem

Charatan's quality grades depended on the briar, not on the shape: a Lane-era catalogue says the groupings differ "strictly upon the character of the grain". For the Belvedere it describes "the rich burgundy finish" of traditional British colouring, chosen so the graining stands out. Collector writers count Belvedere among the four basic grades Charatan made before Lane; the 1951 catalogue, however, does not name it, so how far back the grade goes is not settled. On this pipe the finish is a high gloss; please see the photographs for the grain and the colour.

Charatan's own shape chart of the Lane years gives 30120 as the Lumberman. The shape takes a classic billiard-style bowl and sets it on a much longer straight shank, then finishes with a short saddle stem, so most of the pipe's length is briar. The long reach holds the bowl well forward of the face, and it is a shape made for a slow, unhurried smoke.

The DC after the shape number marks the Double Comfort stem. It is a saddle stem with a stepped bit: the bit drops in a small step, so it is slimmer between the teeth than the stem itself, and here it opens into a fishtail that spreads the draw across the tongue. Introducing the Double Comfort was the one change Herman Lane first made to the way Charatan worked, and the DC stamp helps date the pipe. Ferrara, after studying more than two thousand Charatans, found it only on pipes made after 1960. The block-capital CHARATAN'S MAKE / LONDON ENGLAND belongs to the London years that ended when the name was sold in 1988; the script form of the words returned only after about 2000. The two marks together point to a pipe made in London, most likely between 1961 and 1987. Some sources date the first Double Comfort stems to the 1950s, but Ferrara found the DC stamp only after 1960.

Condition: unsmoked.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 157 mm (6.18 in)
- Bowl height: 52 mm (2.05 in)
- Bowl width: 37 mm (1.46 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 46 mm (1.81 in)
- Weight: 68 g (2.40 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 572