Charatan

Charatan is a pipe brand founded in London in 1863 and counted among the most respected names in the English handmade pipe tradition. Its founder, Frederick Charatan, a Russian-born immigrant, began carving meerschaum pipes on Mansell Street in the Tower Hamlets district; the principal source of this precious mineral at the time was the Eskişehir deposits in Ottoman territory.

Once the meerschaum pipes caught on, the workshop moved to larger premises around the corner on Prescot Street; it was here that production of the briar that would make the brand known worldwide also began.

"Charatan's Make": Wholly Handmade

The principle that set Charatan apart from its contemporaries was that every pipe, from raw briar block to finished product — mouthpiece included — was made under one roof, entirely by hand. While many firms of the era "assembled" pipes by joining ready-drilled bowls with mouthpieces bought in from outside, the "Charatan's Make" stamp struck on the pipes was meant precisely to underline that difference. The firm is regarded as the first maker in England to produce wholly handmade briar pipes; this widely repeated claim, however, is not backed by firm documentation.

One sign of the reputation the brand achieved is that the young Alfred Dunhill, dissatisfied with the quality of pipes he imported from France between 1908 and 1910, turned to Charatan and paid high prices to buy from there. In 1910, Dunhill drew one of Charatan's skilled carvers, Joel Sasieni, over to his side and set up his own small workshop at 28 Duke Street.

Frederick retired that same year, 1910, handing the firm to his son Reuben. Under Reuben, Charatan became the benchmark for quality in English handmade pipes. Before 1950 four basic grades were used: Supreme, Selected, Executive, and Belvedere. Top grades added in later years, such as Coronation and Supergrade, came to symbolize the pursuit of flawless grain.