Lovat

The Lovat: a billiard with a longer shank and a saddle bit

The English Lovat — named in the Scottish manner — and how Asikyan’s straight Lovats (492/26, 368/23) differ from a billiard.

Where it comes from

The Lovat is an English catalogue shape from the early twentieth century, named after the Scottish title (Lord Lovat), the way a Prince or a Canadian is named — a label, not a village workshop. Factories wanted a billiard that cooled a little more smoke before the bit and sat differently in the hand. The answer was a longer round shank and, almost always, a saddle stem. Dunhill’s Group shapes and the English houses next door all carried a Lovat. It is not a bent pipe and not a Dublin.

Asikyan Lovat 492/26, Art rusticated
Lovat 492/26 · Art rusticated

The specification

Bowl: upright billiard cylinder. Shank: round, visibly longer than a standard billiard. Stem: saddle — a stepped bit, not a taper. The extra wood adds a little weight aft of the bowl and a slightly longer airway. We do not have a millimetre card on either Asikyan Lovat in the cabinet, so we do not invent one. What you can see on the plates is the proportion: the shank is the sentence; the bowl is the same noun as 370/23.

Asikyan Lovat 368/23, Smooth
Lovat 368/23 · Smooth

In the cabinet

492/26 is a straight Lovat from the stock album: honeycomb rustication, a smooth rim, black ebonite, an engraved metal band at the bit. 368/23 is a tall smooth Lovat from 2023 — a rusticated ribbon under the rim, a brass petroglyph band. Two years, two surfaces, one English silhouette cut on a Danish line in Yerevan.