Astley Pipes - Billiard #10

Astley Pipe Shop is a legend for long-time pipe aficionados. Located across Jermyn Street from the Dunhill London flagship store, and down the block from the London branch of Davidoff’s, it was one of the holy trinity of pipe shops in St. James’, a must-visit. Alas it has long been out of business, sharing the fate of many brick-and-mortar pipe-related shops these days. Every shop has, or had, a speciality, and for Astley’s it was their line of house-brand pipes. They were made by carvers unknown for the shop to sell under their own marque, and unlike similar pipes in other shops these pipes were top notch in quality. Some were sourced from Les Wood, of Ferndown Pipes, others likely from James Upshall Pipes, and others by folks trained at Dunhill or equivalent factories. These pipes had a pedigree well beyond the simple house pipe. The pipe I purchased is a classic straight billiard, decently-grained and flawless but for a very tiny sand pit. It follows the expected dimensions of 6 inch length by 2 inch height, tapering shank into tapering stem, this time of brown & black vulcanite and incorporating a silver band. The bowl sits properly canted from true vertical by a few degrees. It would be graded a large group 5 by Dunhill standards. The overall appearance of the pipe and banding are similar to many other Ferndown pipes I own, and it was likely carved by Les Wood. Does it perform well? It is like any other high-end English pipe in that it is light in heft, draws properly, and smokes well enough considering I’ve only smoked it once so far. It is going to need some break-in time to see what its potential will be. The inner bowl did not come with much, if any, precarbonization, so I’m going to have to give it more smoking time to determine this, but aesthetically it is on the money and well worth the purchase. Consider an Astley pipe an almost-Dunhill at a much better price point and you’ll have a good idea of what you’re buying.