Ashby Hall, Hand Made Straight Grain Dublin Briar Pipe, English Estates [SOLD OUT]

Description

Ashby Hall is somewhat of a mystery in the English pipe world. For a long time no one knew who made these pipes, and it didn’t help that the make was short-lived. But what’s the saying? ‘The flame that burn twice as bright burns half as long?’ Anyway, it turns out the pipes were made by Stan Haney, who was a pipe-maker at Charatan for several years. He was also a colleague of Barry Jones (later of James Upshall fame), who considered Haney to be the best freehand carver he’d ever met.

Looking at this pipe, it shouldn’t be surprising that it was made by a Charatan alum. It is quite frankly one of the best ‘straight grain’ pipes I’ve ever seen, especially given how large it is. The fact that Haney was able to coax such an extensive, consistent patterning of natural, straight grain, out of a single piece of briar is beyond impressive. Pipe makers have a word for this kind of patterning, ‘angel hair,’ and looking at this one, I totally get it. To top it off, in an apt manner of speaking, the rim of the pipe is swimming in bird’s-eye grain. Finally, the pipe has a nice, slender, vulcanite saddle stem. The bowl and the stem are perfectly preserved, with barely a whisper of darkening around the lip of the rim, or any marks around the mouthpiece.

To quote a line from an old movie, it belongs in a museum, but I suppose it is better that this pipe is sold to someone who will use it for its intended purpose – a long, relaxing, beautiful smoke.

 

Details:

Length: 7.5″

Bowl Width: 27.5mm

Bowl Depth: 2″

Weight: 2.8oz / 82g