William "Ashton " Taylor worked twenty-five years for Dunhill, where he started the training course to be a pipe manufacturer at the age of fifteen years.
In 1983, he dared to start his own business and, since then, his pipes have found fans all over the world. Billy, as his friends call him, has retained the classic style he learned in Dunhill.
As in a beginning did not have already seasoned and dried briar, had to find another solution to remove the tannin from the wood "young". Therefore, the bowls of their pipes are now hardened in boiling oil, which gives them excellent performance and avoids the appearance of the bitter taste, typical of the fresh briar.
Along with many custom creations, the invention of the material for the mouth piece is remembered. Billy resolved the classic question of "rubber or acrylic? ", producing a compound derived from two materials, which he called Asthonite and which he proceeded to patent later. Asthonite mouthpieces are not as soft as rubber, which is comfortable to keep between teeth, but they are certainly more pleasant than the acrylic ones, known to be harder.
In its small factory, near Oldchurch Rise in London, it produces, together with three collaborators, about 3,500 hand-made pipes per year and make five different series. Since 1998, produces also some freer forms, which defines as "romantic and idyllic". To be able to really enjoy the smoke, it advises not to consider the pipe as a strange element, but as part of oneself.
