Astleys of London Smooth Pot Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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.

If you’ve read my listings before, you’ll probably have noticed that I like to play a game with Astleys estates, one that might be called, “who made that Astleys?” Owing to industry connections, I’m able to confirm most Ferndown-made pipes for the English tobacconist. Dunhill and main-line Charatan had shape charts, so guessing whether they had a hand in an Astleys is feasible, though it is more of an art than a science; Ashton and Upshall did not, however, so one needs to be familiar with the pipes of Bill Taylor and Barry Jones and Ken Barnes to form hypotheses. The proportions of this pot-prince hybrid strongly suggest a freehand shaping, which leads me to presume it is an Upshall-made pipe. It also has a lovely stain, highlighting beautiful bird’s-eye grain patterns, quite reminiscent of the early ‘P’ walnut stain of Upshall pipes. As such, I’m led to believe this was made by Barry and Ken – though one can sadly never be 100% certain. It’s a lovely pipe, nonetheless.

The condition is excellent. I see a spot or two of very minor darkening on the inner lip of the rim, but nothing major to report.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.56″ / 39.62mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g