Ashton, classic quality from England

The symbol of Ashton

Oh, was I not happy when I got my first brand new sandblasted Ashton in early December -98 as I had for a long time yearned after a pipe from this maker and now I got it in my excited, shaking hands after many interesting turns. Because of certain reasons of loyalty I cannot write in detail how I managed to get this pipe. Suffice it to say that I am happy!

Bill Ashton-Taylor works often together with another British artisan, Les Wood.
They are both also skilful silver smiths. This is seen in a silver mounting with
a hallmark "L & J S", which means "Les & John Silver Smiths"

My newest Ashton, an extremely lightweight Pebble Grain Lovat
(July 2001)

This pipe was mine at $81 (eBay) from Hermit. It should be from 1986, which means
it is one among the earliest Bill Ashton-Taylor made using his own name.

Lovat from top. Notice the Brindle stem and the Ashton logo

This Lovat weighs only 32g and it is a sitter. The seller says it is from 1986 and
that it surely is "made with Dunhill wood, thick walls, excellent condition,
no teeth marks on cleaned and sterilized stem". I'll happily accept all this.

First smoking experiences:

I fill the bowl 2/3 full with Larsen's "Selected blend no.32, "Curly Flake". I cannot
but admire the feathery weight of this pipe. Then I notice that it really is well cleaned;
not a hint of that typical stale taste of some estate pipes. It seems to smoke great, but
perhaps a little hot. This does not mean that smokes come out hot but that the bowl seems to
get a little hotter than supposed. As there is no cake I apply "DGT" and after a while when
relighted it smokes cool and fine. After a couple of rest periods I get all the tobacco smoked
into light grey ashes. I like this little pipe: after some cake has formed it is going to be
one of my absolute favourites.

Two brand new Ashtons from April 2000: a billiard and a cad

The "Three X" stamp on the shank of my new billiard	In April 2000 I bought two new Ashtons from Clive Humm's place. The first is a "Pebble Grain" billiard. On the bottom of its shank one can see these stamps. I had to pay a little more than GBP 100 for this billiard, but without a question it was a bargain.
A "Pebble Grain" billiard with a forward slanted bowl	Sandblast looks good to me in this pipe and presents nicely the beautiful horizontal grain pattern of this briar. Billiard is perhaps the most classic of pipe shapes, thus even small things like the slanted bowl may give a new life for it.
A saddle bit "cad" shaped Pebble Grain	This is my first "cad", a shape which resembles a squat "Rhodesian" with its groove. Slightly bent saddle stem creates an impression of lightness. It is a "two X" pipe.
Sandblasted briar with smooth top part of bowl	The combination of smooth and sandblast pleases my eye. This picture shows the thick, squat bowl of a cad. The bowl does not get too hot!
This pipe allowed great smokes right away from the first fill. There was a precarbonization in the tobacco chamber, but I could have lived even without it. The geometry of the smoke channel is perfect both in the cad and the billiard and I regard myself lucky having got these pipes. There is a rumour about a declined quality of Ashtons lately, but at least these two new pipes are very good and well done technically and aesthetically. I have not yet tried the billiard because I hesitated with my decision about whether I should buy it or not. Even if its price is very good it still is rather expensive pipe to me. But what the heck, life is short and I like it so much!

My first Ashton from December 1998

Sandblasted Ashton from right

This pipe is a light "sandblast tan stain". The grain is nicely emphasized in this straight, square shanked Dublin with a forward slanted bowl. Besides being light in colour it is also astonishingly light weighted.

Light Ashton seen from left

Especially practical is the square shank, thanks to it this pipe stands firm at its own. This is most desirable as I use to put a pipe aside often even for so long as to relight it only after it has completely cooled down.

Finally Ashton seen from above so that the thickness of briar is easily noticed

The pronounced slanting of the bowl is seen in this picture. Likewise the luxorious thickness of the bowl walls can be seen. The bowl hardly warms at all despite of the fact that it is starting its breaking in period.

The method makes the difference

The Danish Refbjerg

To my pipe photos index page

To my pipes front page

Created Dec. 4. 98, updated July 17. 2001