Askwith Sandblasted Dublin (2021) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Chris Askwith started smoking pipes in 2006 and soon after began restoring estate pipes and attending meetings of the UK's South West Pipe Club. There he met Paul Hubartt of Larrysson Pipes, whose tools Chris used to make his first Askwith pipes before investing in his own tools and a home workshop. Chris still makes his pipes in his home of Plymouth, England. In addition to briar, Chris often uses morta, or oak that has fallen into peat bogs and been preserved over time. He also handcrafts colorful stems from a wide variety of materials, including polyester, horn, and cumberland.

Chris used purple and black cumberland for the unique stem of this Dublin, the flare of which is incredibly subtle to the point that the silhouette of this pipe very much resembles that of a regular Billiard. A shallow sandblast follows the cross grain of the bowl and shank, which are stained very darkly. The effect is almost as though you are being asked to investigate the pipe further before trusting its definition, but the thin tendrils of purple in the stem and the very slight flare of the bowl's fore are there. It also weighs in barely above an ounce to give a very light touch to the hand, which is complemented by the softness of the sandblast.