Dunhill 1988 Bruyere 5102 VM Smooth Brandy 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.

Here’s an interesting pipe. Around the early to mid-1980s, Dunhill began making army mount pipes, but with vulcanite for the mount itself, rather than metal (in Dunhill’s case, sterling silver). As far as I’m aware, the first of these designs had a kind of bell-shaped mount, and these pipes were, fittingly, known as “Bell Spigot” models. Such pipes were stamped, along with the usual Dunhill markings, with “BS,” denoting the mount. This Dunhill has one of those Bell Spigots, but it isn’t marked “BS.” Instead, it’s marked “VM.” I’ve seen others from around the same time as this one was made with that same “VM” stamp, but with a different mount shape, leading me to presume that, for a time, vulcanite mount pipes were stamped “VM,” and consequently that this stood for something like “Vulcanite Mount,” or “Vulcanite Mounting.” If I’m wrong, please let me know, but I’ve a funny feeling that’s the case. In the years since, Dunhill has returned to using the Bell Spigot terminology and “BS” stamp. This one is a beautiful Bruyere finish bent brandy, with a bowl having been turned to show off plenty of bird’s-eye an cross-grain patterns.

The condition is very good. Some very minor inner rim darkening and slight handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.69″ / 42.92mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g