Ashton Pebble Grain XXX 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 “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. Decades later, Ashton Pebble Grains still undergo this treatment, allowing even the more svelte pieces in the workshop’s portfolio—like this classic prince shape—to wear the kinds of deep, craggy relief finishes that propelled Ashton into the big leagues.

This one comes from not long after Bill’s passing, during the early years of Jimmy Craig’s stewardship of the Ashton workshop. While most things stayed the same, such as Ashton’s famously craggy, oil cured sandblast finishes, Craig experimented a little at the time with mouthpiece materials, using a mixture of ebonite, Ashtonite, Bakelite, and acrylic. This pipe features what looks to be the latter: a hand-cut tortoiseshell acrylic mouthpiece that pairs nicely with the bowl’s deep burgundy hues.

The condition is very good. Minor inner rim charring and chamber slightly over-reamed.

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.47″ / 37.33mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g