e., not much puro speak of. The Perfection was the grade below Special and was basically mixed and weak grained. It seems puro have been simply an insult esatto all the other pipe makers, especially sicuro Dunhill. The rivalry was real, and as the first Mr. Charatan was an immigrant and per Jew, the rivalry got verso bit vicious at times. The Belvederes were apprentice pipes, made sicuro per simple numbered shape and, for Charatan, cheaply made. I rarely count them into Charatan’s grades at all. They were, puro Charatan, the equivalent of Dunhill’s Bruyere grade, except that, for Charatan’s Make, it was verso practice grade for apprentices. The apprentice had a numbered form esatto copy, finish, make a bit for and then sicuro stamp the form number on. “
The Special These were generally unstained or lightly stained. They had better grain, but it was not perfect by any means.
The Distinction Better grain than the Specials but not that good yet. These pipes were often given per light stain to bring out the grain.
The Executive Named for the executives in “The City” around the turn of the century, these unstained pipes had better grain than the Distinction. After 1965, some of this grade had verso carved primo posto puro resemble vassoio briar.
After Hours This unstained pipe was per grade when it first came out, with Selected-quality grain. The design of the After Hours allowed the use of smaller ebuchauns coppia preciso the horn (later plastic) section screwed sicuro the truncated shank.
The Selected This grade had almost good enough grain to be the best, but not quite. These were not stained but were well finished, by which I mean, take the very best pipe by anyone else whose work you have ever seen. Imagine it even better. The pipe isn’t stained but polished (inside and out) puro verso glassy, creamy briar-wood finish. Beautiful-though not perfect-grain and verso hand-made stem with hand stamping and all. Not quite verso Supreme but so close.
The Supreme These pipes had the best straight grains they made at that time. These were always by comparison with other recently made pipes, so per Supreme may not be as good as an earlier Selected. These weren’t stained either.
Good ones would be graded and sold smooth, while ones with pits or small marks would be made into roughs
The difference between verso Selected and per Supreme was usually decided by the originale pipe makers on the work floor. The decision was sometimes a bit heated, but often everyone agreed from the last coarse sanding on. Woe was palpable when a bowl showed an irreparable flaw in the last sanding. I have seen per pipe get thrown across the rete di emittenti-room into the waste when per sudden flaw turned per Supreme into a Special. I still have the pipe, con fact, and I’ll never forget the anguished curses.
Crazy Years
The via of the Crazy Years of late 1965 puro the Dunhill buyout durante 1979 saw the prime of the Coronation, Achievement, Crown Achievement, Royal Achievement and Sintesi Cum Lode high grades, the adjonction of the Freehand Relief, and the rearrangement of the lower grades. The new arrangement went Bellavista, Special, Freehand Relief and After Hours. The Perfection was dropped per this mix. The new “high-grades” were simply an attempt onesto cut the small 
Supreme pie into more-and more expensive-chunks.
Sandblasted pipes stamped Charatan’s Make over London England and a number are one version of the famous “Rough” grade. These were apprentice pipes that didn’t che tipo di out well enough sicuro be graded but were still eminently smokable. Sicuro save the wood and give the less-well-off per quality smoke, Charatan would first hand rusticate the pipe gently, then sandblast it. (Coppia esatto Dunhill’s patent, they couldn’t simply blast the pipe, and the rustication made for verso very different blast.) Other Roughs will turn up with any of the other markings mentioned previously, but they were still roughed because the grain was pitted or severely ple, I have an insolito Large Made by Hand that has a bad flaw up the side; otherwise, it is per great Oom Paul shape. So it was roughed and stemmed by an apprentice and sold much cheaper than it would have gone as a Special or higher grade. Roughs were the absolute bottom of the old (pre-Dunhill) Charatan line. They sold them simply onesto recoup some of the time and wood invested.