Sasieni Family Era (c.1950-79) Four Dot Walnut “Stamford” Smooth Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Along with names like Barling, Charatan, and Dunhill 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-end, English-made pipes.

After Joel’s passing in 1946, the reins of Sasieni were handed down to his son, Alfred, with those four little dots continuing to mark some of the finest briars in all of England. Alfred’s tenure was marked by an explicitation and an expansion of the full variety of pipes Sasieni offered, which included the addition of a new, dedicated sandblasted line (the “Ruff-Root”) and the division of smooth Four Dot quality pipes into various finishes that were clearly denoted in each bowl’s nomenclature. The “Walnut,” for example, was a warm brown finish intended to accentuate the patterning of especially good briar, as can be clearly seen on this bird’s-eye-laden “Stamford” billiard rendition.

Based on the nomenclature, this pipe will have been made between 1950 and 1979, well before Alfred’s own passing and the sale of the Sasieni company to outside investors at the end of the 1970s.

The condition is good. Some rim darkening and some minor scratches and finish fading on the bowl.

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.60″ / 40.64mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g