1999 Ashton Pebble Grain LX Straight Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

About this pipe:

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 ‘LX’ is one of the larger pipe sizes offered by Ashton, dwarfed only by the make’s rare ‘ELX,’ and the even rarer ‘Magnum,’ pipes. This LX Pebble Grain – Ashton’s burgundy sandblast finish – is certainly on the larger side, though I wouldn’t call it unwieldy. It is, rather, a simply very sturdy Dublin, with a chamber a few millimeters deeper . It is also a pipe made in 1999, during the height of Bill Taylor’s career, which is evident from its clean shaping and from the crisp and uniform ring grain circling its bowl.

The condition is excellent. There’s some minor rim darkening, but the pipe is otherwise well preserved.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.98 / 24.89mm

Bowl Depth: 1.79″ / 45.46mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 66g