Ashton pipes came into being in 1984, when William Ashton Taylor left Alfred Dunhill after 25 years of working for them to branch out on his own. It was Ashton's dream to own his own business and to make the world's best pipes.

Ashton first began making pipes as a teenager. Whilst at school he studied engineering, then at the age of only 14 he got a job at Dunhill making cigarette holders. Some of his other duties even included sweeping up and making the tea. Ashton worked at Dunhills for eight years until he was first promoted to department supervisor. Once again, after serving eight years as a supervisor he gained promotion, overseeing product development as well as quality control of tobacco and pipes.

When finally in business for himself, Ashton was free to experiment with his own techniques, designs and processes. He wanted to produce a hand carved pipe that would become known as the best smoking pipe in the world. He used some of the processes he had seen and used at Dunhill to remove sap from wood, however he came out with his own special way of doing it which improved the wood.

Ashton even gained a patent in 1988, for a new technique he had developed involving sandblasting heavy, dense-grain pipes. This was actually the first pipe manufacturing patent issued in England for nearly 20 years.

Ashton pipes are beautiful creations that really highlight the natural beauty and grain of briar wood. Each pipe is created in traditional English designs and shapes, the pipes forming beautiful straight lines with gentle curved bowls. The stems are coal black, combined with silver bands, giving the pipe are very regal appearance. Ashton produces between 2000 to 3000 pipes every year.

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