Sasieni Family Era (c.1950-79) Four Dot Walnut Viscount Lascelles S XS 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.

This one comes from the “Alfred era” of Sasieni pipes, i.e., the years during which Joel Sasieni’s son, Alfred Sasieni, owned the Sasieni company. Alfred continued Joel’s practice of using British landmarks and iconography for shape names during this time, hence this Four Dot is a rendition of the company’s large, 3/4 bent billiard, known as the “Viscount Lascelles,” after the distinguished Henry George Charles Lascelles (the shape was also known as the “56”). One of Alfred’s own contributions to the Four Dot series was its division into explicitly demarcated finishes, with the Walnut, seen here, being a golden brown hue, intended to accentuate the graining of the briar. I think it might have been Alfred that also introduced a premium on certain shapes (though don’t quote me on that), due to the natural constraints their manufacture had to contend with, hence why this Viscount Lascelles also bears the “XS” stamp that denoted such.

The condition is very good. Some minor inner rim darkening and slight handling marks on the bowl.

Details: 

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.89 / 22.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.73″ / 43.94mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g