Been smoking a new olive wood pipe for the last month or so. Decided to give it a rest for a while, so I went looking for something else to smoke and pulled out a nice old Charatan I haven't smoked in a while. I filled her up and sat back and thoroughly enjoyed the smoking qualities of it.
Made me start thinking about the brand as I smoked it. From what I have read over the years these pipes were some of the best made pipes in the world, if not THE best. I didn't pay a lot for these all things considered. I checked some prices for estate Charatans and saw that they still are not extremely expensive. Sure, a few hundred dollars may be too much for some people, but not a lot for the quality you get in return.
I see that Dunhill still commands lofty prices, and yet reading Ivy Ryan's article you get the feeling that the pipe makers at Charatan considered them as "upstarts" and "pretenders". I know, her article on Charatan's Make pipes is controversial. I think that some of the dating she may have gotten wrong, but not the feeling of the old time Charatan pipe makers. There was certainly animosity between the two brands.
Dunhill eventually got even with Charatan in some nasty ways, but the fact that Charatan pipes were hand made in shop as opposed to ordering half finished bowls made elsewhere, and finishing the pipe on machines run on an assembly line and selling them as high quality pipes did irk the pipe makers employed by Charatan to no end.
And what some folks are charging for the products of some of the Danes these days is almost criminal. Also the new league of pipe artisans are making some great pipes today, but certainly not any better than a high grade Charatan.
Anyway, I decided to pull out all my Charatan pipes because I didn't remember how many I had. I came up with six. With all the upscale pipes being made today and the high prices some of them go for, I feel comforted knowing that I am able to smoke some of the best pipes ever made, and still not have to declare bankruptcy to do so.
There are still lots of great old Charatans to be had on the market. If I wasn't retired and on a fixed income these days I sure would pick up a few more. Here is a photo of mine as a realize that a photo is worth more word than I can speak. All of these pipes are great smokers or I wouldn't have kept them. From left to right and top to bottom:
1- Executive 2- Selected
3- Belvedere 4- Supreme
5- Selected 6- Selected
Made me start thinking about the brand as I smoked it. From what I have read over the years these pipes were some of the best made pipes in the world, if not THE best. I didn't pay a lot for these all things considered. I checked some prices for estate Charatans and saw that they still are not extremely expensive. Sure, a few hundred dollars may be too much for some people, but not a lot for the quality you get in return.
I see that Dunhill still commands lofty prices, and yet reading Ivy Ryan's article you get the feeling that the pipe makers at Charatan considered them as "upstarts" and "pretenders". I know, her article on Charatan's Make pipes is controversial. I think that some of the dating she may have gotten wrong, but not the feeling of the old time Charatan pipe makers. There was certainly animosity between the two brands.
Dunhill eventually got even with Charatan in some nasty ways, but the fact that Charatan pipes were hand made in shop as opposed to ordering half finished bowls made elsewhere, and finishing the pipe on machines run on an assembly line and selling them as high quality pipes did irk the pipe makers employed by Charatan to no end.
And what some folks are charging for the products of some of the Danes these days is almost criminal. Also the new league of pipe artisans are making some great pipes today, but certainly not any better than a high grade Charatan.
Anyway, I decided to pull out all my Charatan pipes because I didn't remember how many I had. I came up with six. With all the upscale pipes being made today and the high prices some of them go for, I feel comforted knowing that I am able to smoke some of the best pipes ever made, and still not have to declare bankruptcy to do so.
There are still lots of great old Charatans to be had on the market. If I wasn't retired and on a fixed income these days I sure would pick up a few more. Here is a photo of mine as a realize that a photo is worth more word than I can speak. All of these pipes are great smokers or I wouldn't have kept them. From left to right and top to bottom:
1- Executive 2- Selected
3- Belvedere 4- Supreme
5- Selected 6- Selected
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