1981 Dunhill Microphone 25/50 Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

This particular Dunhill requires a more in depth explanation than most. Back in the days when pipe smoking was a far more popular and respectable practice, there was an organization in the UK named the British Pipesmokers’ Council. From 1964 to 2003, the BPC bestowed the “Pipeman of the Year” award to British or British-based pipe smoking representatives in the public eye, such as actors, authors, and politicians. Recipients ranged from Prime Minister Harold Wilson, to the explorer Ranulph Fiennes, to the cricketer Ian Botham, with the last recipient, in 2003, being the comedian Stephen Fry. In 1982, the BPC awarded Pipeman of the Year to radio DJ Dave Lee Travis.

In 1981, ahead of Travis’ award, Dunhill was commissioned to produce a pipe that would reflect the DJ’s work, for which the company created a fully-functioning tobacco pipe in the shape of a microphone. Only 50 of these pipes were ever made, with one staying with Dunhill at the company’s museum, one being given to Travis, and the others being offered to Dunhill’s customers. This pipe is one of the latter, numbered 25 out of 50.

As stated, the pipe is indeed a fully-functional pipe, with a briar bowl and vulcanite stem, inlaid – as with every Dunhill pipe – with Dunhill’s White Spot.

This very special Dunhill is completely unsmoked.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm