1968 Dunhill Root Briar 6475 Smooth Poker 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.

Dunhill’s Root Briar finish was always intended to be one that was light and natural enough to show off the underlying briar patterns of a pipe, but this one really is something else. I know that Dunhill has made special, Dead Root pipes since the 1920s, which earned that extra grade by virtue of their superior straight grain, but what about bird’s-eye? The patterns on this group 4 cherrywood/poker, for example, would easily qualify the pipe for an “Occhio di Pernice” (“patridge’s eye”) grade if it were from an Italian make, such as Castello or Radice. I’d say Dunhill missed a trick by not having something similar.

The condition is excellent, and remarkable for a Dunhill of this vintage (those oil-cured 1960s Dunhills just beg to be smoked, in my experience). Some very minor inner rim darkening and slight overbuffing of the stem at the shank end.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.25″ / 31.75mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g