Astleys Meerschaum Smooth Bent Billiard Estate Block Meerschaum Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Astleys was one of London’s most historic pipe and tobacco shops. Like many pipe tobacconists, its owners had pipes made specially to be sold under the shop’s name. Astleys pipes, however, were made by some of the premier pipe manufacturers and artisans in the UK, such as Dunhill, Charatan, Les Wood, and Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall. As a result, Astleys pipes are prized for their quality, and as examples of the very finest British pipes.

While Astleys was famous for its briar pipes, for a time the shop also sold meerschaum pipes. Of course, these were not carved by the aforementioned master English pipe makers, but by meerschaum carvers in both Vienna and Turkey. Which of the two this pipe came from is hard to definitively say, but that doesn’t stop it being a fascinating piece. In fact, while we’ve had scores of fantastic Astleys pipes come in over the years, this is the first block meerschaum pipe from the venerable Jermyn Street tobacconist.

The pipe is also completely unsmoked.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm

Bowl Depth: 1.67″ / 42.41mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g