1946-1979 Sasieni Four Dot Rustic Melton Bulldog Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Along with names like Barling, Charatan, and Dunhill Sasieni holds a special place in the history of English smoking pipes – one near to its very beginnings. So the story goes, Sasieni himself worked for Dunhill during its early days. But eventually he left Dunhill, having his own ideas about how pipes should be made, and founded Sasieni. This was 1919, and Sasieni has been the closest thing to a household name in English pipes ever since.

As I’ve said before, Sasieni’s “Rustic” approach to rustication was a highly unique one, which makes it all the more strange that it didn’t take off more widely as a finishing technique. Instead of merely chopping away at the briar without much thought for what was underneath, Sasieni’s craftsmen would instead use direct their tools at the wood’s natural grain patterns, not unlike the ring grain sandblast approach found in post-war pipe-making. Rusticated Sasienis would therefore each be distinct, as their advertising used to say, because every block of briar possesses its own patterning. This family era Four Dot (Four Dot being the make’s highest grade output for most of its existence) is rendered in Sasieni’s “Melton” bulldog, also known as the shape 78, which I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing up close before. An uncommon but quintessentially English design.

The condition is good. Rim Darkening and some handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.35″ / 34.29mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g