Astleys Smooth Panel Billiard 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.

Though it is not as common these days, the humble foursquare is one of the all time classic shapes in English-French pipe-making, especially after having been immortalized by Dunhill’s EK Quaint shape. This one does look like Dunhill’s approach to the foursquare, even after the design was changed somewhat after the design was changed and the EK designation dropped. On the other hand, the chuck marks inside the bowl, along with the presence of a “HAND CUT” stamp on the stem (which Dunhill did not use) lead me more toward thinking this was made by Les Wood and Dolly Wood, AKA Ferndown. Could this have been a rebranded Ferndown Root? With this one I haven’t been able to confirm for sure, but as a Ferndown collector myself, I do have a strong hunch as to its provenance.

This Astleys is also completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.51″ / 38.35mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g