Ashton is an English pipe brand created by William Ashton Taylor, a former Dunhill pipe-maker who left Dunhill in the 1980s to make pipes under his own name. Along with other pipe-makers such as Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall and Les Wood of Ferndown, Ashton emerged as part of a new wave of high end, hand made British pipes in the late 20th century.

This Ashton doesn’t have a date code on it. Thankfully, I can spot a Bill Taylor pipe a mile away. The main trick is learning the difference between a Taylor button (the end of the mouthpiece) and a Craig one. Though there’s nothing wrong with Craig’s stemwork, the two have recognizably different approaches to buttons, with Taylor’s being more oval-shaped, and Craig’s being flatter and more rectangular.

As to why this pipe wasn’t fully stamped, it is said that, during the 1990s, Ashton pipes imported into the USA were not given date codes, as it was feared that, if a pipe stayed on the shelf for a long time, customers would not want an ‘old pipe.’ Which is quite funny really, because now, Ashton collectors tend to consider the older pipes to be the most valuable.

The pipe itself is a large – but not unreasonably large – billiard of a strictly traditional design, dressed in the make’s strawberry-blonde ‘Sovereign’ smooth finish, with a hand-cut cumberland stem to finish it off.

The condition is excellent. There’s just a tiny bit of inner rim darkening, but it requires a keen eye to notice it.

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.75″ / 44.45mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g