Ashton Claret XX Sandblasted Zulu w/ Silver Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Ashton is an English pipe brand created by William Ashton Taylor, a former Dunhill pipe-maker who left Dunhill in the 1980s to make pipes under his own name. Along with other pipe-makers such as Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall and Les Wood of Ferndown, Ashton emerged as part of a new wave of high end, hand made British pipes in the late 20th century.

As I’ve mentioned before, Ashton finishes tend to be subtle nods to those of Dunhill, where Bill Taylor and his successor Jimmy Craig first started their pipe making careers. The Pebble Grain, for example, evoked the mid-century Shell Briar, just as the Old Church did the Tanshell and the Sovereign did the Root Briar, and so on. Taylor even went so far as to patent his own method for oil curing Ashton stummels, further strengthening this Dunhill connection. But what of the Claret? While the Claret was introduced in Bill Taylor’s final years, it was originally a smooth finish reminiscent of the early Dunhill Bruyere, before shifting to the brighter, sandblast finish seen here. I’d wager the modern Claret is still an homage to an old Dunhill design, albeit one less widely known: the Red Bark. The latter was only produced for about 15 years, likely due to a combination of economic factors and a few mis-steps by Dunhill’s management. But, as time went on, it ended up being a cult classic and collectors’ favorite, being resurrected by Dunhill themselves in the form of the Ruby Bark. Yet it is the Ashton finish that would, oddly enough, be most faithful to the original Red Bark, retaining its titular hues rather than the slightly more pink stain Dunhill chose.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.73 / 18.54mm

Bowl Depth: 1.41″ / 35.81mm

Weight: 0.9oz / 28g