1937 Dunhill A 160 Smooth Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

To veteran pipe smokers, Dunhill needs no introduction. Beginning in 1907, Alfred Dunhill began selling Dunhill pipes at the tobacconist shop he owned on London’s Duke Street. Very quickly, these pipes gained the reputation of being the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of pipes due to how expertly crafted they were. Today, Dunhill is likely Britain’s most famous pipe manufacturer, and continues to produce some of the most treasured pipes a smoker can buy.

Pipes from Dunhill’s so-called patent era are among the most coveted pipes for collectors, especially collectors of traditional Anglo-French makes. But Dunhill applied for, and was granted, many patents throughout this era, which cumulatively stretches from 1912 to 1954. For outsiders—and even for Dunhill enthusiasts—making heads or tails of patents and dates and their significance can be a daunting task. For this particular pipe, I’ll do my best to briefly summarize what exactly it is. First of all, the date: though the stamping is quite faded, this Dunhill bears the US patent number 1343253/20, which was for an aluminum inner tube that Dunhill pipes of the time used (as with all Dunhill inner tubes, these were intended to be discarded after thorough use). Above the patent number, to the right of the pipe’s country of manufacture stamp (England, of course), is the number 17. In the case of this particular Dunhill, dating is straightforward, as it is simply the date of the patent registration (1920, hence the “/20”) plus the aforementioned number, giving us a pipe from 1937. As for the rest of the stamping, pipes from this era did not yet have the modern finish indicators put onto the pipes themselves, which is why this Dunhill has an “A” instead. “A” originally designated Bruyere finishes, with the space below the Dunhill nomenclature instead taken up by a reference to the make’s home city of London.

-J.M.

 

The condition is fair. The pipe is close to a century old, so some wear is to be expected. Most notable is the finish, which has faded quite from its original reddish-brown to a much lighter hue (it is possible that this was meant to be a Root Briar and was simply mis-stamped, though). The stamping is also quite faded, though legible on close inspection. There is some darkening of the rim and a couple of small nicks, along with signs of over-reaming. Finally, the stem is a little over-buffed and thus not entirely flush with the shank. On the other hand, I doubt these will be deal-breakers for the many collectors of Dunhill pipes and indeed collectors of the great English makes more broadly considered.

 

Details:

Length: 5.4″ / 137.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.73 / 18.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.38″ / 35.05mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g