Astleys by Les Wood Smooth Bent Apple Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Astleys was one of London’s most historic pipe and tobacco shops. Like many pipe tobacconists, its owners had pipes made specially to be sold under the shop’s name. Astleys pipes, however, were made by some of the premier pipe manufacturers and artisans in the UK, such as Dunhill, Charatan, Les Wood, and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall. As a result, Astleys pipes are prized for their quality, and as examples of the very finest British pipes.

With most Astleys pipes, it’s difficult to know for sure who the maker was. But there are exceptions. This one, on the other hand, we know to have been made by Les and Dolly Wood of Ferndown, owing to surviving records and to hallmarks of Ferndown manufacture visible on the pipe itself. The story behind these pipes, as told by Les himself, is quite simple: Paul Bentley, the owner of the Jermyn St premises, would visit Les and Dolly at their workshop every so often, inspect the pipes that had not yet been stamped with the Ferndown name, and claim the ones he liked the most for Astleys. This one looks to be the equivalent of a one-star sized Tudor Root. As I often do with Ferndown-made Astleys pipes, I would invite you to consider that most famous line from Shakespeare: “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” The chuck marks inside the bowl, along with the presence of a “HAND CUT” stamp on the stem is also a tell-tell sign of this being a Les Wood made Astleys.

This Astleys is completely unsmoked.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.35″ / 34.29mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g