Astleys of London Smooth Cherrywood Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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.

Though I can’t be sure, this Astleys looks suspiciously like the saddle variant of Dunhill’s “20” cherrywood shape. Like Dunhill’s, it is a squat sitter with a remarkable lightness. It wears a warm chestnut finish that shows off some impressively tight bird’s-eye grain patterns.

The condition is great. Some minor inner rim darkening.

 

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.72 / 18.28mm

Bowl Depth: 1.18″ / 29.97mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g