Astleys Smooth Dublin 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.

I am 90% sure this is a Ferndown Root. By this I mean I am near-certain that this pipe was made by Les and Dolly Wood for Astleys. As I’ve explained in other listings, the relationship Les and Dolly had with Paul Bentley, who owned Astleys, was very simple. Mr Bentley would visit the Ferndown manor and the workshop where Ferndown pipes were made, inspect those pipes which were in their final stages of manufacture, before they had been stamped with the Ferndown nomenclature, and select an assortment that he wanted to be sold under the Astleys name instead. So, Les and Dolly’s Astleys pipes were simply Ferndowns by another name. I was not able to get a confirmation either way as to whether this was made at Ferndown, but the similarities between this pipe and my own L&JS Briars collection, particularly the hue of the finish, leads me to conclude that this is exactly that. That, and because the stain matches none of the Dunhill, Upshall, Charatan, nor Ashton finishes, with those being the other usual suspects for Mr Bentley’s wares.

Anyway, it is a beautiful pipe – that much is undeniable. It is also completely unsmoked.

 

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.45″ / 36.83mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g