Dunhill 1986 Root Briar 6202 Smooth Bent 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.

For the most part, Dunhill has stayed true to its traditional, Anglo-French roots for well over a century, and a large part of this is reflected in their sense of proportion. Dunhill pipes tend to be rendered in classical shapes, but more to the point, their pipes also tend to be smaller, slimmer, and lighter than the various makes that have emerged over the course of Dunhill’s own history—both at home and abroad. The group 6 is something of an exception to this rule. While not entirely magnums in the modern sense, Dunhill’s seldom-produced group 6 pipes are nonetheless stouter, heftier renditions of Dunhill’s established shapes, giving the opportunity for smokers to possess an undoubtedly high-grade, historically significant English pipe with a more muscular stature and a very generous chamber. This particular Dunhill is an example of a group 6 “Bent”—Dunhill’s own term, landing somewhere between a bent billiard and a brandy—and is an even more uncommon example of a group 6 Root Briar, given that attaining this finish requires a stummel to have exceptionally good graining. In fact, I think I must have seen barely a half dozen of these pipes before, with the most recent I encountered was (new) around $1600.

The condition is great. Some minor wear to the rim, but it is clear that the pipe has been well looked after.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.95 / 23.11mm

Bowl Depth: 1.70″ / 43.18mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 70g