Estate  ASTLEYS     Carved by Barry Jones

     $225

  
A few doors west along Jermyn Street (towards St. James's) is the Piccadilly Arcade, a passage from Jermyn Street to Piccadilly housing a number of top-drawer shops. One of them is Astleys, a wonderful jewel in the pipe capital's crown. The family of the current owner/manager Paul Bentley has owned Astleys since the 1930s, and before that Astleys had been a Jermyn Street fixture since 1862. A distinction of this shop is that they sell only pipes tobacco, no cigars. There's an odd pouch or rack, but the serious business here is pipes.

Paul eyes each pipe like an art appraiser. Indeed, he was one, having worked with Sotheby's, and running his own art gallery, before taking over the family business. He brings to the pipe not only a love for its natural beauty and form, but a very refined sense of proportion, and another British characteristic: a meticulous eye for finish. Astleys are mostly classic shapes that practically cry out, "England made me!" with a few top-of-the- line freehands virtually indistinguishable from old Charatans. Stamped and ready for sale, the sheer number of beautiful pipes in this tiny shop is overwhelming. There is no junk here; you could buy blindfolded with assurance.

 		  
 
   
   
 
   
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 

RETURN TO PIPES

Return to Pipe Shoppe 

Shipping by Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation in the U.S.A. is $8. Outside U.S.A.  $34.00.( Priority International with Insurance to $400)

READY