2019 Dunhill “Not for sale” Cumberland Bent Dublin 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.

There are two things to know about this pipe. The first relates to the model, the second to the odd stamping it has:

1. What we call “cumberland,” i.e., red and black swirl ebonite, has featured on some Dunhill pipes since the 1930s, but it was not until 1979 that Dunhill introduced a dedicated series of pipes featuring such stems. Named after a London road where Dunhill’s warehouse was located, the new Cumberland series featured a red-brown sandblast and, of course, red and black swirl ebonite stems. It is even said to be thanks to this Dunhill series that pipe-smokers and pipe-makers used the term so commonly today.
2. If you’re very lucky, you can come across special Dunhill pipes that are stamped, somewhat ominously, as “not for sale.” Don’t worry, these aren’t cursed Dunhills. They’re stamped that way because they were not sold by Dunhill or an affiliated vendor. Instead, these pipes were given away as gifts to the individuals Dunhill did business with. Of course, this doesn’t prohibit the pipes being sold on the estates market.

 

This particular pipe, from 2019, is an example of a gifted group 3-size Dunhill in the make’s Cumberland finish. It is also completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating, which should make it particularly enticing for collectors.

-J.M.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.22″ / 30.98mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g