Brindle Bent Billiard with Silver (XXX) (2026) Tobacco Pipe

William "Bill" Ashton-Taylor spent his working life around pipes, starting as a lathe operator with Dunhill at the age of 15 in 1959. He struck out on his own with the Ashton brand, spinning its first pipe in 1983. Bill took immense pride in the process of making Ashton pipes. He traveled to Italy twice a year to buy wood, steeped his turned bowls in a blend of oils before heating them to draw out unwanted sap, and even garnered a British patent for his unique manufacturing process that produced pipes that were much lighter than their competitors. Bill died in 2009, but the Ashton process lives on through disciple Jimmy Craig.

This bent Billiard features lovely flame grain on the fore and aft of the bowl and birdseye on the flanks, all given Ashton's dark Brindle finish that allows some stray flecks of ruby to shine through. It provides a relatively soft touch while still supporting the texture of the grain. The shank is brief, upturned directly into a thick silver accent that yields to a fiery orange, yellow, and red stem, which provides a considerable amount of flash to an otherwise relatively straightforward Anglo-French design.