Any experience with Castleford?

tarheel1 · Apr 20, 2016

I love the Dunhill Amber Root and unfortunatly can't find the shape I am looking for plus quite pricey if I do find one. My favorite carver and friend Les Wood is looking at retiring soon and doesn't want to do a new stain even if I buy the powder as he would never use it, so that leaves me searching for a group 5 bent billiard in this color. I saw a castleford on a website, but is in the 200.00 range and I have no experience with this brand. So what say you guys? How do they stack up to the great British pipes?

dmcmtk · Apr 20, 2016

Is that an estate? The one thing I do know about Castleford is that Colin Fromm made some pipes for them.

Colin Fromm is an artisan pipemaker from Chatham, Kent who began making pipes with the Invicta Briars brand in 1974, established with Colin Leeson's purchase of a long-standing pipe repair business. Fromm soon after concentrated on the Castleford brand, however. In 2002, when J. B. Russell, Inc., who had purchased the Charatan name from Dunhill in 1988, went out of business, that name was re-purchased by Dunhill, who brought Colin Fromm on board to manage the production of the line. Leeson and Fromm had already been producing freehand pipes for Dunhill in Chatham, and so the choice to make Colin Fromm General Manager of Production was obvious.

tarheel1 · Apr 20, 2016

No its a new pipe.

dmcmtk · Apr 20, 2016

Well, it does look very nice. I was just looking at it on C O'J's, an English pipe, but the blasts are marked USA. Maybe C O'J's will have more details for you...

tarheel1 · Apr 21, 2016

Well i spoke with cupojoes today and they said the pipe was mqde in England in the Dunhill factory. It js the exact size of the 5102 from Dunhill. They believe it is handmade but not 100% sure. I have seen videos on how dunhills are made and unless they changed how they make them, they are made using a lathe and hand chisels.

reniaeats · Apr 22, 2016

My experience with Castlefords is limited, but all the ones we've seen through the shop are gorgeous and well made. I wouldn't hesitate to spend $200-$250 on one, if it suited my fancy and my budget.

mso489 · Apr 22, 2016

At that price, and with clear connection to the Dunhill factory (though it is clearly a different stamp) and from the looks of it, I'd say it's a worthy pipe. The one thing you won't get is bragging rights. You'll tell other pipe people about the Dunhill connection (if you do) and they'll get all squinty eyed examining the pipe. Parker, Hardcastle, Britannia ... various pipes claim some Dunhill lineage. But if you can live without the bragging rights, you can get some fine pipes at a steep savings.

tarheel1 · Apr 23, 2016

I think I am going to pass on it. I don't need bragging rights of a dunhill connection. With receiving my Ferndowns yesterday and smoking one of the billiards this morning, I realized I prefer larger pipes than the group 5 bent billiards. I have moved on to getting Chris Askwith to make a large bent billiard to match the bulldog he made me. We talk about measurements and I gave examples of many bent billiards for size. This makes me wonder if I will keep my Dunhill shell 5102.

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Any experience with Castleford?

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