Sasieni (Family Era; c.1950-58) Four Dot Standard “Buckingham” Smooth Billiard (Estate)

Sasieni holds a special place in the history of English smoking pipes—one near to its very beginnings. So the story goes, Sasieni himself worked for Dunhill during its early days. But eventually he left Dunhill, having his own ideas about how pipes should be made, and founded Sasieni. This was 1919, and Sasieni has been the closest thing to a household name in English pipes ever since.

After a legal battle with Dunhill prevented Sasieni from using a one dot stem inlay, Joel Sasieni was forced to come up with a new way of marking the company’s most perfect pipes. So, Sasieni started using “Four Dot” inlays instead. Thus was born the Four Dot, which, funnily enough, came to rival even Dunhill’s “White Spot” as a signifier for high-grade, English-made pipes.

This “Buckingham” comes from the “Alfred era” of Sasieni pipes, i.e., the years between 1950 and 1979, during which Joel Sasieni’s son, Alfred Sasieni, owned and oversaw the Sasieni company. Alfred continued Joel’s practice of using British landmarks and iconography for shape names during this time, while adding a few contributions of his own, such as the division of the Four Dot series into a wider range of explicitly demarcated finishes.

In the case of this one, however, it’s a little unusual, and it’s a type of Four Dot that has been far less discussed than its siblings in the “Alfred era.” To explain: most of the time that Sasieni was helmed by Alfred Sasieni, the company’s Four Dot finishes were limited to the Rustic, the Walnut, and the Natural. From 1960 to Alfred’s death in 1979, Four Dots were also available in the Ruff-Root sandblasted finish. Some of these finishes were simply more clearly expressed versions of Four Dot finishes made during Joel Sasieni’s tenure, such as the Rustic (previously known as the Rustic Briar) and the Natural, while others, like the Ruff-Root, were Alfred’s own invention. It appears that the short-lived Four Dot Standard, on the other hand, was neither a continuation of a finish available for Joel Sasieni’s Four Dots, nor a finish entirely of Alfred’s making.

If one looks at catalogs from Joel’s tenure, one finds that mentions of the “Standard” (capitalized) finish are limited to discussions of Sasieni’s many sub-brands, rather than its flagship Four Dot series. The Royal Stuart, for example, was available in “Standard, Natural or Carved Rustic” finishes, as were the Mayfair and the Old England. Price lists of sub-brands from around the same time list similar finishes, though the word “Dark” is used instead of “Standard.” And, if one compares the Four Dot Standard with the dark smooth finishes worn by pipes such as the Royal Stuart, Mayfair, and Old England, one finds that they are strikingly similar. It would be reasonable to assume that the Standard was a Four Dot quality pipe that wore much the same finish as certain earlier sub-brands, though more conclusive evidence is, admittedly, not yet available.

As gestured, another curious thing about the Standard is that it was short-lived compared to other Four Dot finishes. American artisan, Pipe Rack founder, and Sasieni collector, Michael Lindner, states that the Standard was only in production until around 1958, which would go a long way to explaining its pronounced scarcity among surviving Four Dots from the family era.

The condition is good. Some rim darkening, finish fading, a couple of small scratches on the bowl, stinger removed, and faded (though legible) nomenclature.

Details:

Length: 6.3″ / 160.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.63″ / 41.40mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g