Ashton (1989) Old Church (Pebble Shell) XX Rusticated and Sandblasted Dublin (Estate)

Ashton is an English pipe brand, one originally created by William Ashton Taylor. Taylor worked at Dunhill from an early age, becoming one of the company’s most accomplished pipe makers. But Taylor was also one of a number of craftsmen and women who who left Dunhill in the 1970s and 1980s, hoping to create something of their own. After experimenting with a couple of different projects, Taylor ultimately founded Ashton, a workshop for high-end, handmade pipes staffed by himself and other industry veterans like Frank Lincoln and Sid Cooper. Later, Taylor’s team were joined by another Dunhill alumnus, Jimmy Craig, who would take over the running of the workshop after Taylor’s sudden passing in 2009. Along with other workshops, such as Ferndown and James Upshall, Ashton would play a decisive role in the emergence of a new English high-grades scene in the late 20th century and beyond.

The Old Church was William Taylor’s re-imagining of Dunhill’s Tanshell finish—specifically, the early, mid-century Tanshell. Like Dunhill’s these pipes featured a craggy sandblast and a light, natural stain. Also much like the early Dunhill Tanshell, Old Church were specially oil cured prior to blasting, using a precise technique patented by Taylor himself.

This particular pipe is a Tanshell, and was made all the way back in 1989, when Taylor was still around and running the Ashton workshop. Though it is a little different to other pipes bearing the Tanshell name. That’s because it’s technically also a Pebble Shell, which was another of Taylor’s patented innovations. What made the Pebble Shell different was that, unlike any other finish offered by Ashton at the time, it involved what could reasonably be called rustication. But it wasn’t quite a rusticated finish. Using a process of steaming turned stummels, picking away parts of their now-softened briar, and then sandblasting what was left of the exterior, Taylor produced a pipe that was even more tactile and craggy than Ashton’s standard sandblasts—which he, of course, patented. The Pebble Shell was, therefore, something of a rusticated and sandblasted hybrid finish, a rarity inside and outside of the Ashton workshop.

The Pebble Shell was devised in the mid-1980s and had its patent secured by the end of the decade (number 8515730 in the UK registry, as is included in the nomenclature on this pipe). It would seem, however, that for the first few years of the Pebble Shell’s existence, it was not always clearly demarcated as a standalone finish or series, with many pipes featuring the Pebble Shell treatment being grouped with other Ashton series, like the Old Church, seen here. Perhaps Taylor took a long time to decide where the Pebble Shell should sit within Ashton’s portfolio, as examples from the later 1980s and throughout the 1990s vary in the nomenclature used for them. In any case, they make for great and unusual pipes.

The condition is good. Some inner rim charring and finish fading.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 1.85″ / 46.99mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g