Sandblasted Billiard Tobacco Pipe

A superbly slender and delightfully gracile pocket Billiard shaped in the English tradition, Chris Askwith has produced quite an impressive piece with this little sandblast. One of the trickier elements for an artisan pipemaker to tackle is bit consistency - you want those who collect your briars to know what to expect in terms of bit dimensions and feel, which means keeping close to a standard set of dimensions, yet at the same time you want to make sure each stem fits naturally into the look of the individual briar. As impressive as the slenderness of the shank on this beauty is, equally so is the manner in which Chris managed the fine vertical taper, and the swift horizontal flaring, which allows the stem to flow naturally to a bit, while appearing as light and lean as the briar itself, is in fact of identical measurements as what you might find on a stout Askwith Pot or Bulldog.

- Eric N. Squires