Ashton Sovereign XX — Cumberland — 1986 (Early Bill Taylor Era)

Ashton is one of those more modern brands that I would put above way bigger and older brands when it comes to the smoking performance of the pipe. Supreme briar quality and oil curing are big factors for that.

When it comes to Ashtons, an early Bill Taylor pipe is considered the most collectable and interesting — this one is from 1986, just 3 years after Bill started the company.

Even though I consider old Ashton Sovereigns to be superior to even Dunhill Roots, I have to admit that quite a few of Bill’s creations have some “imperfections” if we compare them to Dunhill standards… In this case, I would have liked if the stem diameter matched the silver ring perfectly, and maybe if the full 925 stamp was on the ring itself. Another small inconsistency is the size stamp – even though it says XX, it is actually a XXX. I compared it to two other Ashtons of the same shape, which are in my collection. I actually know for a fact that Bill would intentionally stamp some pipes with smaller size, as kind of a discount, when he would sell a pipe in person.  But if you know Ashton pipes, then you know things like this are far from unusual.

This specific pipe came to me already restored, which explains the coating on the inside. Even though I’m against coatings on restored pipes, I won’t go out of my way to remove it unless the future owner asks me specifically to do so.