Ashton Sovereign XX Smooth Apple 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.

This particular Ashton belongs to the “Sovereign” series, which since the make’s founding by Bill Taylor has been one of smooth polished pipes with a very light, natural stain. As is often the case, Sovereigns feature the kind of superior grain patterns that are left to speak for themselves by such a light stain. What surprised me about this one, however, is that – somehow – it didn’t achieve a Straight Grain grade, which Ashton uses for their finest Sovereign pipes. If you look closely, you’ll see that the grain around the bowl is so tight and uniform that it almost looks like golden hair draped around the bowl.

The condition is great. There’s some darkening and finish fading on the rim, but nothing too significant. This pipe came to us via our consignment program, along with the box pictured, which is included.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.43″ / 36.32mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g