Charatan Double Comfort?

[telescopes]

If you get them done, please post pictures. I'd love to see that. For me, it would be antithetical to spend $40+ on replacement stems, which is why I mentioned the $20 figure of days past, because Charatan always represented value to me on the British market and on the estate market. Good wood with no fills of fine designs and genuine artistry (if you wanted to get into the upper grades). You could pick up Belvederes and Specials all day long for $30 on the estate market. In principle, and generally speaking, I'm not paying more for the stem than the pipe. I'll live just fine grumbling at the oxidation.

From an economic perspective, I understand your argument and perspective. My three Charatan Make pipes are unusually beautifully grained and fine specimens of Charatan's Make. Each of these pipes would easily command $150 plus on Ebay. Because I enjoy smoking these pipes as well, a set of smoking stems makes sense from a practical point of view. Until then, I'll use the softies and not taking the pipes out in the light of day. So far, this solution seems to be working. Still, afternoon lunts would be nice.

 

[Papamique]

“Double Comfort Stems, you make the rock’in world go round”

I love the double comfort stems of Charatan. They are thin, comfortable and soft on my teeth. I am a clencher (not a dangler) and at the end of the day I can tell a difference with the double comfort. The bi-product of having a soft ebonite bit is it oxidizes quicker BUT I have a lot of pipes and the difference, to me is barely noticeable. I don’t leave any of my pipes sitting on a shelf or table in direct sunlight so oxidation is something I deal with once a year or so on ALL my ebonite stems. I also love the look of the DC stem. Instantly recognizable as a Charatan which was one of the best and most prestigious brands in America. Handmade from some of the finest grain briar and with, in my opinion, some of the finest stem work. I’m not a fan of “clicky” hard stems like Comoy had. It seems cheap and too ordinary to me not to mention painful after a day of clenching and I like thin and wide bits like the DC delivers.

Of my 30 or so Charatans that I have left, only a small percentage have the DC stem and I wish it was more to be honest. That’s the thing about Charatan they have so many options. You don’t like big pipes they offer small sizes too especially the older ones. You like classic shapes they have them. Freehand? Yup. Tapered bits and DC. Straight grain and perfect cross grain too. The thing I like about Charatan pipes the best is the taste. If you like a bitter tannin wood taste when breaking in a pipe then they are not for you because in my experience they have been very neutral from the start on my NOS pipes. Extremely well cured briar as did the other greats of the day: Dunhill, Barling and Sasieni.

Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they always think theirs is the only one that doesn’t stink.

 

[Papamique]

Here’s the one I brought to work today.