1952 Dunhill Shell Whangee Sandblasted 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.

Those of you not familiar with the history of Dunhill pipes may be wondering just what the heck a “whangee” is supposed to be. It’s an odd name, but as with many an odd name, there is a reason for it. During and after the Second World War, pipe-makers across the world suffered a briar shortage. Different companies solved this problem in different ways, with one solution being to make the briar part of a pipe smaller (meaning less briar was used) and making up the rest of the length with some kind of extension. One of the extension materials used was a type of bamboo, which came from Asia. The shorthand for this type of bamboo (along with a variety of others) is whangee. Whangee originally comes from a Mandarin term, 黃藜, or huáng lí, in pinyin. So, that’s the reason this pipe is called a Whangee, and it’s also the reason it has that peculiar “W” stamp on the bowl. As for the date, as this pipe has an underlined “2,” I’m inclined to think it’s a 1952 make, as pipes from the 1960s did not have an underlined date code, with the exception of 1960 itself. The especially craggy sandblast lends credence to this in my view, but if I’m wrong, please let me know. As for the rest of the stamping, such as the Dunhill name, which is absent from the base of the bowl, this can be found on the base of the stem, as was standard practice for Whangees.

The condition is good. The pipe does show some rim darkening and some finish fading on the bowl.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.75″ / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.4″ / 35.56mm

Weight: 0.9oz / 26g