Ashton Pebble Grain (XXX) Sandblasted Paneled Poker (New)

About this pipe:

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 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” could be thought of as Bill Taylor’s answer to Dunhill’s Shell Briar, especially those of its venerated patent decades. 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 to wear the kinds of deep, craggy relief finishes that propelled Ashton into the big leagues.

Here we find the Pebble Grain finish applied to something of a “quaint” shape in the English vein, a hexagonal-faceted take on the classic poker.

Details:

Length: 5.71″ / 145.0mm

Chamber Width: 0.77″ / 19.55mm

Chamber Depth: 1.56″ / 39.62mm

Bowl Height: 2.01″ / 51.05mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 48g