Ashton Claret XXX Sandblasted Panel Brandy Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Ashton is an English pipe brand created by William Ashton Taylor, a former Dunhill pipe-maker who left Dunhill in the 1980s to make pipes under his own name. Along with other pipe-makers such as Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall and Les Wood of Ferndown, Ashton emerged as part of a new wave of high end, hand made British pipes in the late 20th century.

Given that both Bill Taylor and his successor, Jimmy Craig, were Dunhill craftsmen before departing to make Ashton pipes, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Claret line from the latter is a not so subtle nod to a line from the former. This would be Dunhill’s Red Bark line from 1972-1987, whose early years coincided with Taylor and Craig’s time working for the company. More specifically, the Claret seems to be a nod to the first Red Bark pipes, which were Red, before Dunhill made the mistake of changing their stain to a far less popular pink. Thankfully, the Claret is as red as its namesake, unlike certain Red Barks. This one is a very striking, large sitter design, having a brandy bowl, a faceted, or paneled, shank, and a cumberland-style red-black swirl stem. Note that I say “cumberland-style, but that does not mean it is acrylic. Almost all Ashton stems are hand cut from a proprietary material, Ashtonite, very similar to the vulcanized rubber we know as vulcanite, but which is far more resistant to oxidation (as we don’t have an “Ashtonite” tag, I will for simplicity’s sake label this one as “Ebonite” and allow this paragraph end to serve as a caveat).

-J.M.

The condition is great. Some minor finish fading on the rim and base.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.58″ / 40.13mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g