Ashton Pebble Grain 215 XX, Sandblasted Straight Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates [SOLD OUT]

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.

As a fan of Ashton pipes in particular (yes, I have a birth year Sovereign, among many others), I was quite intrigued by this pipe. If you are unaware, Ashton pipe stems are typically made from a special, proprietary ebonite resin called ‘Ashtonite.’ This pipe doesn’t, and yet the stem is original. Having researched this matter, it appears that Ashton did occasionally produce stems using antique 1930s Bakelite during the 2010s. If that is the case, then this is quite a unique Ashton indeed!

In any case, I’ve always been fond of the Pebble Grain line. After being oil cured like all Ashton bowls, Pebble Grain bowls are deeply sandblasted, in the tradition of early Barling, Charatan, or Dunhill pipes, giving them a wonderfully craggy look, and a great tactile quality. The red-brown stain of the Pebble Grain works well with the mysterious stem material on this pipe. As an Ashton enthusiast, I can guarantee that this pipe will smoke beautifully, and that it is a rare specimen by the great British brand.

Please note: as a precaution, we advise against using alcohol products to clean this pipe’s stem, as Bakelite and similar materials can be damaged by them.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″

Bowl Width: 19.9mm

Bowl Depth: 1.6″

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g