Several years ago, when I was still fairly new to pipe smoking, I bought an antique rack & humidor from an old guy who told me to "pick out some pipes to go with it" when I made the purchase. He told me which section of his estate pipes to choose from, and I picked out 4 other pipes. He saw what I had really been eyeing, though, and before I left, he said, "Go ahead and take that Ben Wade, too." This is a beautiful old pipe that I always describe as "portly." This is one that I smoked a lot before I did any true refurbishing of it, and when I did finally clean it up I was amazed at the difference. It smoked well before, but afterwards it was excellent. I don't know if this one is an original Ben Wade or if it was from later when Charatan had bought the brand and used the "Ben Wade" name for their seconds line. But in any case, be it a Ben Wade first or a Charatan second, it's a darn good pipe. This is one of my latakia pipes.