Charatan "Special" 109 Bulldog

[ssjones]

I grabbed this Charatan 109 Special this afternoon and was surprised when it didn't really go much past it's opening price. I was only one of two bidders and it went $1 under my bid, whew. I bought a 109 "Rough" a few months ago. I was very much taken by the shape and it is one of my finest smokers. I had hoped to find it in a higher grade but that model doesn't come up very often, so I was lucky here. Hank Saitchi and I looked at this ebay ad at the Philly pipe club and he thought it would go a $100 higher than it did. I guess an auction ending at 3 PM conspired to against the seller.
It really looks terrific and I hope it smokes half as good as my other 109, which is phenomenal. A tapered stem bulldog is definitely one of my hallmark shapes. The wife says this is a Christmas present, so I won't get to see it until then.
PS: I'll be listing that 109 Rough shortly and a few other pipes, to keep my pipe account in the black...

 

[voorhees]

Once again you score a superb pipe.

 

[kashmir]

Al, really nice piece.

And it's got the grain Charatan is known for.

The Charatan 109 reminds me of the Comoy's 409.

 

[misterlowercase]

Very Cool!
Looks like it's in great shape, congrats on getting a good deal.
I've been very impressed with the smoking characteristics of the Charatan 2nds I have, several tanshell gnarly blasts, and all 3 smoke very sweetly, although all 3 also required some stem mods, as the 2nds stems are pretty lousy usually, but it's motivated me to get a proper Charatan.
All 3 of mine are massive too, I wasn't expecting such a large pipe and was surprised when I opened the box.
Do you know the dimensions of the one you got?
I'm surprised at how Charatan has fared on the auction market, I mean they used to be the most expensive pipes in the world, but only seem to command the astronomical prices on the high graded rare or unusual shapes, their standard catalog shapes can be found for amazingly low prices, especially the Relief grade, which is what I'm after, almost won a Freehand Relief straight billiard, I shooda bid higher dammit!
Anyway, congrats, that pipe looks like it's ready to go, nice to get something that'll require minimal resto work!
Your Rhodesian/bulldog collection is impressive!

 

[lestrout]

Nice, Al. I have 3 Charatan dogs/Rhodies - two 2109s and a 322 DC. How many different models of such has Charatan had?
hp

les

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Looks like you stole one, Al. Congrats, she's a beauty.

 

[tbradsim1]

Wonderful shape, good going Al

 

[irish]

Very nice Al! I just got a Comoy's 409 that looks a lot like your 109. Congrats! :puffpipe:

 

[petes03]

Very nice, congrats! I only have one Charatan, a 1960's 348DC sandblasted pot, IMO they are very well made pipes and worth the money for the older ones.

 

[ssjones]

Thanks guys. My other 109 was 35 grams about a smallish Group 4 (ie perfect by my tastes).

The seller listed this one at 38 grams, so I'm hoping it is has the same physical dimensions.
I really do love non-DC Charatan stems, they don't show up often.

 

[tinpan]

Boy that is a sweet looking pipe. Look at how nice that stem flows into the bowl. Very cool shape