Plymouth Pipe Man

Askwith Handmade Pipes

The English  pipe shapes — such as the bulldog and billiard - remain timeless. Over at Askwith Pipes, Chris Askwith of Plymouth, England, is bringing a freshness to these classic shapes through the materials used in his Askwith Handmade in England range.

The natural finish revealing the grain on the bowl and the amber stem of the Askwith Bulldog (above and below) gives this pipe a contemporary feel.

The youthful Askwith Billiard pipe  (below) is quite the statement piece with its heavily textured 'weathered bone finish'  and lilac stem — an unusual and visually striking pipe.

Introduce a pinch of Fox Squires ready rubbed to either of these pipes and you're fit to sit and contemplate anything, attaining a level of  concentration that can only be achieved with a pipe in the mouth.

Chris has been making pipes by hand since 2007 using the best and most complementary materials for the components of each pipe, working with woods such as briar, English morta (bog-wood preserved in peat bogs) and strawberry wood for the bowls, and adding stems made from lucite and horn.

If you would like to commission a pipe, Chris is able to discuss any particular needs in terms of shape and materials. And from the look of these examples, the possibilities are, well probably not quite endless, but you're going to be able to have something made that's really quite unique. That's the beauty of handmade.