Ashton Pebble Grain LX Sandblasted Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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.

The “Pebble Grain” was Bill Taylor’s answer to Dunhill’s Shell Briar. This would already be easily deduced from its craggy, dark burgundy sandblast, but there’s another connection that brought the two finishes together. Like the early Dunhill Shell Briar, Ashton pipes were, before being finished, oil cured using a patented method of Taylor’s own invention. This was paired with another Taylor patent, Ashtonite, a unique compound of ebonite and acrylic that remained relatively soft and comfortable (like ebonite) while being more resistant to oxidation (like acrylic). This stout LX group billiard (one of the workshop’s larger sizes) shows off the craggy, grainy finishing that Ashton’s patents were able to achieve, with a figure and aesthetic that evokes mid-century Dunhill 6 LB renditions.

The condition is great. Minor rim darkening.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.64″ / 41.65mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g