I'm not a Dunhill guy, nor a historian of the pipes, but the early photos may have been before the Dunhill brand went stratospheric with the prices. Our venerable member foggymountain who is a Dunhill devotee, used to sell Dunhills on Manhattan when they were priced a little less than Kaywoodie (if I remember correctly) which were then the Cadillac pipes. But both brands were within reach of the casual pipe buyer, "expensive," but even at prices in those days, not anywhere near as high as today corrected for inflation. Thompson was/is a fascinating character, a vortex of polarities. Wildly liberal in his habits, wildly conservative in many of his views, totally unpredictable in his behavior and writing. He must have had a strong system to endure all the chemicals he processed through himself. I think it's said his family complied with his wishes and sent his ashes up with pyrotechnic shells. I don't think he liked it, but he was honored by being depicted by Trudeau as Uncle Duke in the comic strip Doonesbury. I think Uncle Duke did mirror some of Hunter's behavior if not his literary prowess. As depicted, Uncle Duke wrote nothing, but was mostly an operator.
