Askwith: Sandblasted Billiard

While Chris Askwith is known for treating the classic pipe chart as more suggestion than gospel in many of his creations, he has rendered an ultra-classic profile with this straight Billiard. An upright bowl perches at the end of a lithe, arrow-straight shank and tapered stem combination, canting forward just slightly in accordance with the archetypal form — the forward cant of the classic Billiard rooted in the mechanical constraints of early pipe-making factories in France and England. Not to be denied, Chris does have his fun with this piece, though, pairing the deep ruby hues of the sandblasted stummel with pink, mauve, and cream striations in the hand-cut, polyester stem. Through his renowned attention to shaping detail, the English artisan has managed to make this piece quite light for a sprightly feel in hand and excellent clenching potential. For those who are fond of Askwith's penchant for creativity and looking for a purebred English shape, this pipe is too good to pass up.