Ashton 1994 Pebble Grain XX Sandblasted Bulldog Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

The “Pebble Grain” was Bill Taylor’s answer to Dunhill’s Shell Briar. This would already be easily deduced from its craggy, dark burgundy sandblast, but there’s another connection that brought the two finishes together. Like the early Dunhill Shell Briar, Ashton pipes were, before being finished, oil cured using a patented method of Taylor’s own invention. But, if there ever was a man to make pipes that were “more Dunhill than Dunhill,” that would certainly be Bill Taylor, with this particular Pebble Grain bulldog having been made under his tenure.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with a leather Ashton sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.42″ / 36.06mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g