Canada patent Dunhill

[fishnbanjo]

While I do buy Dunhills they have to be somewhat special and this one is as it has a backstory as well.
Made during WW II it has the Canadian patent and from what I was able to find out was the Canadian patented Dunhill's were made by Blatter & Blatter.

Now if that isn't cool enough it has a black spot. While not made with the black spot there are stories that monied patrons of pubs were frowned upon during the war and the white spot of the Dunhill stood out so in order to enjoy a pint w/o being noticed the owner blackened the white spot.
Regardless of any of that this is a cracker of a smoker and is doing a fine job of keeping it smokey filled Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls.

banjo

 

[pitchfork]

I had never heard that about Canadian Dunhills. Would love to see a couple more pics of the pipe -- maybe you've posted them elsewhere?

 

[fishnbanjo]

I will take more photos pitchfork and I've not posted any others of this pipe anywhere.

banjo

 

[fishnbanjo]

Here are some additional photos.

banjo

 

[Bulldog]

That is a lovely Dunhill, great back story as well.

 

[pitchfork]

That's really cool. Is that a Root?

 

[sablebrush52]

Nice backstory! I have a 1949 black dot. Evidently some customers preferred them.

 

[newbroom]

"holy crap!" "moar banjo selfies?"

Dude! That's amazing! Thanks for sharing that pipe and story!

It pays to read the fine print,(banjo's selfies)

and you can learn something new all the time.

A truly Canadian Dunhill Canadian with a black dot, no less.

WOW!

 

[fishnbanjo]

No pitchfork it's not a root,at least I don't see any residual stamping designating it as one.

banjo

 

[pruss]

Nice find, Banjo!
I'm on the hunt for a Canadian patent Dunhill myself. Rare find, that!
Well done.
-- Pat

 

[georged]

I've heard many Dunhill black dot explanations & backstories. They run from pedestrian to glamorous to outright Hollywood-movie mysterious.
The odd thing about the phenomenon, however, is it's only found on pipes where the white dot's hole was drilled too deeply and cut into the airway, and the dot material is ivory (a microscopically porous material that stains readily).
Hm... Pencil shanks, reverse Vernon tenons, Canadians, etc. all have stems with VERY little material between the airway and the outside surface, and it is shockingly easy to drill too far and create a little tube that connects the two.
Double Hm... the tars generated by tobacco combustion are black. Somewhat migratory on their own, and decidedly so when in suspension with a solvent like alcohol.
Triple Hm... add a pipecleaner "paintbrush" into the mix to promote wicking, and, well, I think you can see where this is going.
Just sayin'

 

[fishnbanjo]

My 1917 Shell Briar has an ivory white spot and other Dunhill pipes I own, or have seen, from the 20's clearly are not made of ivory. Since the 1917 Shell Briar has been smoked for 100 years and is ivory in color and the material used later was more than like celluloid, like what was used to wrap hand grips on fishing rods, I don't know if either material would turn black since I have bone stemmed pipes that have turned almost a Chestnut Brown in color and I believe that is what ivory would do. I have seen white celluloid wrapped fishing rod hand grips that have been fished hard and not discolored much unless they were varnished which did color over time.

banjo

 

[sablebrush52]

I've heard many Dunhill black dot explanations & backstories. They run from pedestrian to glamorous to outright Hollywood-movie mysterious.
The odd thing about the phenomenon, however, is it's only found on pipes where the white dot's hole was drilled too deeply and cut into the airway, and the dot material is ivory (a microscopically porous material that stains readily).
Hm... Pencil shanks, reverse Vernon tenons, Canadians, etc. all have stems with VERY little material between the airway and the outside surface, and it is shockingly easy to drill too far and create a little tube that connects the two.
Double Hm... the tars generated by tobacco combustion are black. Somewhat migratory on their own, and decidedly so when in suspension with a solvent like alcohol.
Triple Hm... add a pipecleaner "paintbrush" into the mix to promote wicking, and, well, I think you can see where this is going.
Just sayin'

That was also John Loring's theory. He also added that he'd never seen one, so he was just supposing. I can tell you this. My black dot isn't a dark stained anything. It's a black dot with an ever so slightly convex surface that causes the dot to be visible when light hits it at the proper angle.

 

[georged]

My 1917 Shell Briar has an ivory white spot and other Dunhill pipes I own, or have seen, from the 20's clearly are not made of ivory. Since the 1917 Shell Briar has been smoked for 100 years and is ivory in color and the material used later was more than like celluloid, like what was used to wrap hand grips on fishing rods, I don't know if either material would turn black since I have bone stemmed pipes that have turned almost a Chestnut Brown in color and I believe that is what ivory would do. I have seen white celluloid wrapped fishing rod hand grips that have been fished hard and not discolored much unless they were varnished which did color over time.

I'm afraid I wasn't able to follow that, but assume by context you're taking exception to my explanation.
I guess I should have added one of those "In my personal experience" disclaimer lines, but that always seems superfluous in this sort of discussion. (Who else's experience would I be referring to?)
Anyway, I suppose what you just said (?) is possible, but every black dot---in fact, all of the weirdly dark-colored ones too that were apparently on their way to becoming fully black---that I've investigated had been drilled as described. Too deep. It therefore seemed reasonable to conclude that any color other than white is the result of accident. (Which further makes sense given that a lone, pure white dot has been Dunhill's trademark since very early days... something the company promoted heavily and was famously litigious in protecting.)

 

[fishnbanjo]

I understand what you're saying georged all I was giving was some alternate observations in my post, the one that I have with the black dot is a modern one and if you could hold it in your hand you'd see clearly there is a white ring around the part that was blackened, the one in my 1917 Shell Briar has taken a slight patina as bare ivory would over the years since I have real ivory articles that have done this. I wish I had kept the article I had about the dot being blackened by the owner not wishing to be noticed whilst in the pub but unfortunately I've either forgotten where I put it or it has gone off to be incinerated, sigh.

banjo

 

[georged]

That was also John Loring's theory. He also added that he'd never seen one, so he was just supposing. I can tell you this. My black dot isn't a dark stained anything. It's a black dot with an ever so slightly convex surface that causes the dot to be visible when light hits it at the proper angle.

I've seen and examined 7 or 8 over the years, Mr. J. The most recent being that long, slender Vernon-fitted pipe the guy bought for $9 which was discussed on this forum a couple months ago.
Yours sounds interesting to say the least. I guess---and that's all it is, a 100% guess---that it's a retro-fit performed by a jeweler or pipe repairman years ago.
Dunhill's output over the decades was surely several million pipes, and the white dot would seem to be an obvious target for embellishment or personalization for at least a few of them. Owning and displaying something no one else has---that the rest of the world can RECOGNIZE no one else has, without being told---is human behavior "one up-manship" 101.
And to think that some people think pipe collecting is boring. :lol:

 

[sablebrush52]

Yours sounds interesting to say the least. I guess---and that's all it is, a 100% guess---that it's a retro-fit performed by a jeweler or pipe repairman years ago.

Always a possibility. I bought the dingus at an antique store in the late 1980's, when having a black dot wasn't a "thing" AFAIK. I actually thought it might designate a lesser pipe, silly me.