brdavidson, I would suggest saving a little more money and buy yourself a Rad Davis. He requires no down payment on commissions, and will make you exactly what you want in terms of shape, size and weight with a great blast. It will also come with the most comfortable stem you have ever put in your mouth. In terms of smoking properties, his pipes smoke as good as any pipes on the market costing three to 4 times the price. The only downside is once you smoke one of his, it will spoil you. While Ashtons are a good smokers, I find their stems not that comfortable. If classic British is what you are after then to my tastes, Upshall and Ferndown both have much more comfortable stems than an Ashton. They both use vulcanite where as Ashton uses their proprietary Ashtonite which to me is as hard as acrylic.