ed; William Ashton Taylor - A Legacy
Maxim
William Ashton Taylor - known to all as Bill - died this past week. I
knew him for the past 8 years, not as long as many others in the
community, but I was privileged to work closely with him on a regular
basis, particularly over the last two years.
I had many conversations with Bill on pipemaking often while we
enjoyed a libation together. Bill was a dandy and always immaculately
turned out and this was our other mutual interest, good tailoring.
From him I learnt much about pipe making and tobacco blending. Not
many people knew he was one of the last persons in England to take the
British pipe tobacco blenders course; when such existed.
Every meeting with Bill was a delight & he was a natural and charming
raconteur. Even our numerous trans-Atlantic telephone conversations
were such a pleasure that they ran on for far longer than needed. I
found that he was unfailing courteous to all, * “the true measure of a
man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good”.
In the last 6 months of Bill life, as he was in out of hospital, I
made it a point to speak with him twice weekly. Sometimes he was his
old self, filled with plans and ideas for pipes, but as time
progressed, he more often was too tired to carry on a conversation.
Our talks ceased when his cell mysteriously disappeared in mid
August. Jim Craig who saw him almost daily kept me informed. He then
faded fast.
Bills’ legacy to the pipe-making world is enormous. When he founded
Ashton pipes in 1983, British pipemaking had been on a long decline.
Bill’s new line of Ashton pipes, rapidly, restored the greatness of
British pipe making and forced all other British pipemakers to
improve. No longer could British papermakers coast on their past
reputations. Ashton was the benchmark for British pipes and their
smokability set the bar for all pipemakers.
Bill Taylor was determined that his pipes would be the finest smoking
pipes in world. He reintroduced oil curing, a costly and time-
consuming process that insures no break in, the pipe smokes well from
the 1st bowl. A process that Dunhill had abandoned in the 1950’s as
too costly. And his pipes certainly were among the best smokers ever.
Without him I suspect that Dunhill would have continued on its
downward spiral, Les Wood might not have started Ferndown, and later
Ian Walker, who Bill helped enormously, would have had a far more
arduous transition from pipe repair to pipemaker.
Bill was a giant among pipemakers. He took the classical British
shapes and finishes to were they had rarely been. Working within the
confines of the classic British tradition, in the way that classical
painters worked within the golden rule, he found great freedom for his
artistry. He reintroduced the Quaint, and came up some with totally
original shapes, he reintroduced the hitherto rare Magnum size to be
more available and in more shapes than ever before, and the same for
the ELX, a slightly smaller size. He came up with the unique Pebble
Shell that combined sandblast & rustication and was awarded the 1st
new patent for a pipe process in over thirty years. His creativity in
pipemaking knew no bounds.
What cannot be overstated, Ashton’s were responsible for introducing a
new generation of pipe smokers to the greatness of British pipe making
at reasonable prices. His pipes smoked better than Dunhill’s and cost
less.
Bill loved pipe making and it was his life. He insured that his legacy
would not die with him. Over the last two years, his colleague and
friend of 30 years, James Craig, worked with him learning the oil
curing process and other of Bill’s techniques. Jim will carry on
making pipes in the traditional Ashton way.
There are many pipe makers who are liked & there are many who are
respected in the pipe smoking community. Bill Taylor was one of the
very few who was loved. William John Ashton Taylor, “Bill”, will be
sorely missed and we will not see his like again.
Maxim
* Dr. Johnson circa 1750’s.
"Pipe smoking is properly an intellectual exercise"
(Christopher Morley, 1916)
Be Well
Smoke Well
Maxim Engel
mark tinsky
<46652486-fe88-4c57...@f10g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>,
Maxim <eng...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> In Memoriam:
>
> William Ashton Taylor - known to all as Bill - died this past week. I
> knew him for the past 8 years,
>
> Bill loved pipe making and it was his life. He insured that his legacy
> would not die with him. Over the last two years, his colleague and
> friend of 30 years, James Craig, worked with him learning the oil
> curing process and other of Bill�s techniques. Jim will carry on
> making pipes in the traditional Ashton way.
>
> There are many pipe makers who are liked & there are many who are
> respected in the pipe smoking community. Bill Taylor was one of the
> very few who was loved. William John Ashton Taylor, �Bill�, will be
> sorely missed and we will not see his like again.
>
> Maxim
>
>
Gentlemen,
I just this evening received these two emails below. I do not have
information about any of this other than I know Roy Maret and have no
reason to believe that he would falsify anything. If you have already
received this, please accept my apology.
Fred
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From Roy Maret....
Just wanted to pass this email along to spread the word to as many as
possible that the Ashton pipes that have been being sold in the past few
months and promoted as Ashton pipes "made under the direct supervision
of Bill Taylor by his assistant" would seem to be an unauthorized or
..... counterfeit .....�production. The only seller of these that I
know is Max Engel of pipes2smoke.com ...... Max has stated in his weekly
newsletters that he has been in contact with Bill and that Bill's
"assistant" was producing Ashton pipes with Bill's blessing.
One can only hope that Max was unaware of these circumstances and was
acting in good faith....being the only dealer who was receiving and
selling Ashton pipes.
So I am forwarding this email as requested in the last paragraph to the
people who I know who might be intereseted in what is happening.
If anyone has any others in their email lists that would be interested
in this news, please forward it on to them.
As for now.....take care and stay well....
Roy
Good Evening All,
I would like to start by introducing myself - My name is Phil and I am
Rita's son, Bill's nephew. I know some of you met my sister, Wendy at
the show back in May. From now on, Bill has requested that I deal with
Ashton Pipes. You may use this email address for your replies.
Many of you have emailed to enquire about Bill's health. He is ok, still
struggling with the liver problems and diabetes. He has good days and
bad days, but he is in good spirits.
Unfortunately the reason for my email is to let you know that is
unlikely that Bill will be making any pipes again. Due to his ill-health
it will not be possible for him to resume working. He has asked me to
let all of his dear friends and colleagues know of this, his decision.
As some of you know, Bill had a guy working with him a couple of days a
week. His name is James Craig(Jim). Jim was just helping Bill out, a few
odd jobs etc, Bill being the ever generous guy ensured that Jim was well
paid and looked after for his trouble. Mainly Jim carried out work on
his own pipes but just used Bill's equipment.
However, unfortunately whilst Bill was in hospital, Jim has taken all of
Bill's machines and tools from his unit at his home and has set himself
up in business at his hometown of Clacton. Bill specifically requested
that he should leave the equipment, and was issued a letter from Bill's
solicitor to this effect. But Jim took the equipment anyway and is now
refusing to return it!
We would ask that if any of you have received pipes from Jimmy in the
last couple of months, you let me know any information you can. As I am
sure you will understand, My Uncle's name is in fear of being ruined by
some amateur. As you know Bill has worked tirelessly over the last 40
years and it would be devastating to him and all of his family, if this
guy was allowed to ruin the "Ashton Taylor" business.
I am currently dealing with solicitors and the police and hopefully
Bill's equipment will be back in safe hands shortly. However in the
meantime I would urge you not to purchase any "Ashton Taylor" pipes as
they are most definitely not!
Sorry to bring you this disturbing news and hope that you his friends
can help me to sort this matter asap. I have got your email addresses
from previous emails sent, however if I have missed anyone who should
know this information within your circle, please do forward on.
I will keep in touch and let you know of Bill's health as it is known.
Regards
Phil Beadle
baccy ho
the works of an amateur. Things that make you go......you know the rest.
happy puffin'
bh
Maxim
> I can only say that the Ashton pipes on pipes2smoke.com don't look like
> the works of an amateur. Things that make you go......you know the rest.
>
> happy puffin'
> bh
>
> On Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:02:12 -0800, mark tinsky wrote:
> > In article
email from Nicola and Spencer Ashton-Taylor sent out en masse 2 days
after Bill Taylors death.
Dear Friends,
Following the communications of this week, it is with deep regret that
we must inform you of the sad news that Bill Ashton-Taylor passed away
at approximately 11:40am GMT on Wednesday 16th September 2009, shortly
after a visit from Nicola in hospital. He’s condition had been heavily
controlled and the medical team assured us he was in no pain.
We understand that this may be upsetting news to many of you who knew
our father throughout his lifetime of hand crafting high quality and
unique smoking pipes. We believe he brought pleasure and joy to many
people through his craftsmanship, his enthusiasm for keeping the art
of pipe smoking alive and mostly his infectious charm.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has
passed on concern and kind words over the last few months and most of
all to the many dedicated Ashton pipe smokers who have supported our
father and shown their appreciation for his work. We know it meant a
great deal to him to receive your praise and it was always his honour
to provide his products to such an appreciative community.
Particularly those enthusiasts that hold large Ashton collections and
those who took the pilgrimage to Essex, UK to visit our father in his
natural habitat, the factory in Romford and the barns at the bottom of
our garden. We know that he had as much pleasure from your visits as
we can only imagine you had from seeing the birth of Ashton pipes from
Briar to a treasured Ashton.
From our father’s time at Dunhill and making the worlds smallest pipe
to the conception of the Ashton Magnum (quite the opposite), our
father has made many memorable and momentous contributions to the
history of pipe smoking. He has built up the name from a hobby in our
garden shed in the early 1980s to a global name of quality and we are
very proud of this.
You are probably already aware that our father’s love of “tapping the
admiral” over his lifetime had led to his terminal disease of
cirrhosis of the liver. The recent car accident was as a result of
this declining condition rather than an unfortunate accident, which
contributed to his recent rapid deterioration. We would ask that you
consider any information you receive in light of what you already knew
of our father and your memories of him. We would appreciate if you
could remember him for the pleasant times you shared, the excellent
work he produced and the quality name he represented rather than any
contention you may have or are likely to experience.
As mentioned before Jimmy Craig is the only person we are aware of
that carries on our fathers traditions in crafting pipes the “Ashton”
way and this can only be verified by you, the pipe community as you
experience his work. We hope that Jimmy will continue our fathers
legacy, as the art of crafting smoking pipes is now a very rare skill
indeed. We hope that you agree that the quality of Jimmy’s work is
indeed that of our fathers, we certainly know our father was very
proud of the work that Jimmy was producing for him over the last year
or so.
For those who still own the pipes our father produced with his own
hands, we hope your treasured pipes are even more precious too you now
and we trust you will enjoy them for many years to come. We know that
our father would be honoured by your thoughts when smoking them.
Our warmest regards and thanks to you all
Nicola and Spencer Ashton-Taylor
Maxim
A great pipe maker, Bill Taylor dies, and all Mark Tinsky can do is
circulate unsubstantiated rumors. He should be ashamed.
Maxim
mark tinsky
> circulate unsubstantiated rumors. He should be ashamed.
>
> Maxim
doing the right thing? Also Im not ashamed as I m not the one whose
trying to wrap himself in a deadman's clothing just to sell a few
more pipes Mr Maximizer!
MT
Maxim
Having been in touch with Bill Taylors lawyer, family, and Bill
himself until shortly before he died I have no need to bother with
rumors of any kind. The reason I had Ashton pipes when nobody else did
was because I paid Bill Taylor in advance, to help him as much as I
could, as he helped me when I started pipes2smoke.
You, Mark Tinsky, have some animus towards me and every pipe maker I
have ever dealt with. Perhaps you should accept the fact, that other
pipemakers and dealers are allowed to make and sell pipes besides
yourself. You should have a little bit humility in that so many pipe
smokers mourn the passing of Bill Taylor, a dear friend to myself and
many others in the community. I among the many do not need your
permission to mourn a great pipe maker and a good man, the likes of
which you will never be.
maxim
Maxim
Travian ian
Do us all a favor and take your personal vendettas and spite somewhere
else Tinsky. It has no place in this thread.
Mark McKay
old.....:)
mark tinsky
> You, Mark Tinsky, have some animus towards me and every pipe maker I
> have ever dealt with.
You re wrong there, just you. I have an animus towards bullshit. If
you carry Julius Vesz I guess I m responsible for exposing dead
root briar for the BS story that is as well.
Who appointed you Speaker for the Dead? I knew, liked and respected
BAT . He was known, liked and repected by almost any pipe enthusiast
who met him, he was that kind of guy.... If you could just cut the
bullshit maybe I d even like and repsect you. Work on it MT
Maxim
Mark,
I don't know or care what your issue is with me never having met you.
In my 10 years in this business & community you have attacked Julius
Vesz, put down Les Woods Ferndown pipes & denigrated John Calich,
pipemakers I was representing, hence I don't need or want your
respect. In future any comment you may post I will not dignify with a
response. Enough said.
Maxim
mark tinsky
<6b7d63a1-0337-45de...@p23g2000vbl.googlegroups.com>,
Maxim <eng...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
Maxim
You are paranoid as well as delusional. I have certainly attacked
JV, long before you were in business, about his ded root briar BS
and using machine made stummels and claiming as his own handmades.
Why would I attack JC
, a friend, who took the trouble to motor cyle to my shop or LW who
does exc work?
Just cut down the self serving on the bull shit. Either be a
commercial poster who properly post s ad and updates or be one of the
regulars who posts on all things, NOT JUST HIMSELF OR HIS COMMERICAL
INTERESTS. All you sneakily post are ME infomercials thinly disgiused
as informative posts.
MT