Sasieni Four Dot Natural Richmond Volcano Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Along with names like Barling, Charatan, and Dunhill Sasieni holds a special place in the history of English smoking pipes – one near to its very beginnings. So the story goes, Sasieni himself worked for Dunhill during its early days. But eventually he left Dunhill, having his own ideas about how pipes should be made, and founded Sasieni. This was 1919, and Sasieni has been the closest thing to a household name in English pipes ever since.

After a protracted legal battle with Dunhill over the use of dotted stem inlays, Joel Sasieni began using light-blue dots – in contrast to Dunhill’s single white spot – to indicate the quality of his pipes. This remained constant for the entirety of the pre-transition, family era of Sasieni’s ownership, to which this Oom Paul S belongs. The Four Dot pipes were Sasieni’s highest-grade output at the time of this one’s production, underneath which were Two Dots, and then the sub-brand pipes, such as the Fantail or the Old England. This particular Sasieni is an example of the make’s “Richmond” shape, a classically English volcano. It is dressed in Sasieni’s light brown, Natural finish, with this stain showing off some excellent bird’s-eye grain patterns. Judging by the shape of the eponymous four dots on its stem, along with the stamping and Sasieni nomenclature, this looks to be a post-war, family era Sasieni, made before 1979.

The condition is good. There is some darkening and finish fading on the rim, and a couple of spots on the back of the bowl that may be handling marks, or may simply be darker spots in the briar. The pipe comes with its original box and sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.92 / 23.36mm

Bowl Depth: 1.47″ / 37.33mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g