Ashton Pebble Grain XX Sandblasted Billiard w/ Silver 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.

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. This was paired with another Taylor patent, Ashtonite, a unique compound of ebonite and acrylic that remained relatively soft and comfortable (like ebonite) while being more resistant to oxidation (like acrylic). With this inventiveness, traditionalism, and a general commitment to quality in mind, and though Taylor passed long ago, William Taylor’s Ashton make remains perhaps even more Dunhill than Dunhill. Another point of comparison, apropos of this pipe, is the generally lightweight proportions of both Dunhill and Ashton pipes, as well as their use of in-house, hand-turned sterling silver mountings. The result: an elegant, perfect clencher if ever there was one.

The condition is good. Rim darkening and some finish fading.

 

Details:

Length: 5.4″ / 137.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.51″ / 38.35mm

Weight: 1.0oz / 30g