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In 1988 Dunhill sold the rights to the Charatan name, trademark and shape chart - there was hardly more left over to sell - to '''James B. Russell Inc.''' (Upper Saddle River, NJ). Russell had made his Charatan pipes in Saint-Claude, France. [[Butz-Choquin]] is said to be the manufacturer. Now, Saint-Claude made pipes are surely not bad per axiom, but these Charatans were woefully poor counterfeits of the "real" ones and quite a flop in sale. | In 1988 Dunhill sold the rights to the Charatan name, trademark and shape chart - there was hardly more left over to sell - to '''James B. Russell Inc.''' (Upper Saddle River, NJ). Russell had made his Charatan pipes in Saint-Claude, France. [[Butz-Choquin]] is said to be the manufacturer. Now, Saint-Claude made pipes are surely not bad per axiom, but these Charatans were woefully poor counterfeits of the "real" ones and quite a flop in sale. | ||
When J.B. Russell went out of business in 2002 Dunhill re-purchased Charatan and called on '''Colin Fromm''' of [[Invicta Briars]] and [[Castleford]] fame to produce Charatan freehands now. Since Colin Fromm and his foreman Colin Leeson, both belonging to the small number of English pipe artisans skilled in making high-end freehand shapes, had already been making exquisite freehands for Dunhill for a couple of years in Chatham, Kent. | When J.B. Russell went out of business in 2002 Dunhill re-purchased Charatan and called on '''Colin Fromm''' of [[Invicta Briars]] and [[Castleford]] fame to produce Charatan freehands now. Since Colin Fromm and his foreman Colin Leeson, both belonging to the small number of English pipe artisans skilled in making high-end freehand shapes, had already been making exquisite freehands for Dunhill for a couple of years in Chatham, Kent. [[Image:CharatanFreehand.jpg|thumb|center|A Charatan Freehand sandblast from the period after Dunhill acquired the company - Courtesy of Mike Ahmadi]] | ||
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