I posted about my recent purchases in an estate thread, so I figured it was about time I posted my pictures.
I had seen mentions of birth year Dunhills in the past which I found to be kind of a cool and intriguing idea. I'd seen some estates (non-Dunhills) that would give a range of like 5 years, but because they didn't have the coding stamped on them couldn't be narrowed down to a specific year, which is what makes Dunhills interesting.
Now I am not what you'd call a Dunhill snob, but I do like them, and their tobacco, just got done with a bowl of Night Cap actually, but when I'd peruse the sites looking for a new pipe to strike my fancy, I'd certainly find that under the new Dunhill listing, only to run screaming once I looked at the prices, since as we all know they are very expensive. As a result, my collection was made up of Petes and Savs.
That lower price of estate Dunhills, combined with the ability to get a specific year, is what started me on my journey. I didn't have any straight billiard or apple pipes, so I thought that would be a perfect shape for an older Dunhill, just seemed appropriate. I started looking around at the known haunts for a 1971 straight Dunhill, and I found some, but nothing that made me pull the trigger, especially for the price.
Then I saw Bruyerepipes offer up a 1971 Dunhill 56 F/T Bruyere Bent Group 4 on eBay...and I fell in love, since I have always loved the bent apple/billiard shape as well...and the only one I had in my collection was my first pipe, an unfinished Sav second...so I thought hey this pipe kills two birds with one stone.
Then I started poking around Bruyerepipes other offerings on eBay and I found the straight billiard I was looking for, even though it was a 1978...but no matter, I was alive then and I'm sure something happened that year! hehe It was a 1978 41031 Dress Billiard pipe with Sterling Band Group 4. I loved the coloring on it, and I always like the way the silver bands look on a pipe.
So I watched those two and thought about it, and looked into Bruyerepipes since they are in Germany...no red flags anywhere and they had excellent eBay ratings. Not to mention they do a nice job of cleaning up their offerings as well: reaming the bowl, sterlizing everything, and polishing everything all up.
Finally I said f*** it, and made an offer (these weren't auctioned items)...after a bit of haggling we settled on a price, and I ended up with both of them for less than the cost of a single lower end brand new Dunhill.
They arrived, and were beautiful. I still cleaned them myself with some Everclear and pipe cleaners, but there wasn't much work to do. I've smoked both, trying to re-establish their cakes, using the bent for my aromatics, and the straight for my non-aromatics/Englishes (just seems right!)...and they've both gone to the head of the class as far as how they smoke versus my other pipes.
So without further adieu, here they are (I used the eBay pics, but messed with the levels a bit since the pics somewhat washed out the true colors of the pipes):
I had seen mentions of birth year Dunhills in the past which I found to be kind of a cool and intriguing idea. I'd seen some estates (non-Dunhills) that would give a range of like 5 years, but because they didn't have the coding stamped on them couldn't be narrowed down to a specific year, which is what makes Dunhills interesting.
Now I am not what you'd call a Dunhill snob, but I do like them, and their tobacco, just got done with a bowl of Night Cap actually, but when I'd peruse the sites looking for a new pipe to strike my fancy, I'd certainly find that under the new Dunhill listing, only to run screaming once I looked at the prices, since as we all know they are very expensive. As a result, my collection was made up of Petes and Savs.
That lower price of estate Dunhills, combined with the ability to get a specific year, is what started me on my journey. I didn't have any straight billiard or apple pipes, so I thought that would be a perfect shape for an older Dunhill, just seemed appropriate. I started looking around at the known haunts for a 1971 straight Dunhill, and I found some, but nothing that made me pull the trigger, especially for the price.
Then I saw Bruyerepipes offer up a 1971 Dunhill 56 F/T Bruyere Bent Group 4 on eBay...and I fell in love, since I have always loved the bent apple/billiard shape as well...and the only one I had in my collection was my first pipe, an unfinished Sav second...so I thought hey this pipe kills two birds with one stone.
Then I started poking around Bruyerepipes other offerings on eBay and I found the straight billiard I was looking for, even though it was a 1978...but no matter, I was alive then and I'm sure something happened that year! hehe It was a 1978 41031 Dress Billiard pipe with Sterling Band Group 4. I loved the coloring on it, and I always like the way the silver bands look on a pipe.
So I watched those two and thought about it, and looked into Bruyerepipes since they are in Germany...no red flags anywhere and they had excellent eBay ratings. Not to mention they do a nice job of cleaning up their offerings as well: reaming the bowl, sterlizing everything, and polishing everything all up.
Finally I said f*** it, and made an offer (these weren't auctioned items)...after a bit of haggling we settled on a price, and I ended up with both of them for less than the cost of a single lower end brand new Dunhill.
They arrived, and were beautiful. I still cleaned them myself with some Everclear and pipe cleaners, but there wasn't much work to do. I've smoked both, trying to re-establish their cakes, using the bent for my aromatics, and the straight for my non-aromatics/Englishes (just seems right!)...and they've both gone to the head of the class as far as how they smoke versus my other pipes.
So without further adieu, here they are (I used the eBay pics, but messed with the levels a bit since the pics somewhat washed out the true colors of the pipes):
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