Dunhill Chestnut 3108 (Al Pascia WOW)

[ssjones]

Someone recently posted that pipes from overseas vendors have never been cheaper. I happened to peruse the Al Pascia site on Wednesday and that was the cheapest I've seen Dunhills. I had been looking for a Shape 08 they had a beautiful Chestnut finish pipe in a Group 3 size, so I bit.
The pipe took exactly 39 hours from hitting "Buy" to the arriving at my local Fed-Ex facility. The packaging was outstanding a nice thank you letter was included.

At 42 grams the Group 3 pipe was exactly in my wheelhouse. I did notice that the Dunhill (nee White Spot!) sizes are increasing. I thought that I wanted a Group 4 but the Group 3 specs were more to my favor. The pipe size is perfect, and exactly what I wanted. It is just slightly larger than my '73 Group 4 CK. So, read those spec sheets carefully.
Fit and finish, button and stem work is excellent and easily on par with a recent Castello purchase. I'll break it in tomorrow with some MM965 and then a sandwich with Grey Poupon....

 

[wyfbane]

That is a beauty! Congrats.

 

[iamn8]

Beautiful Dunhill! I LOVE the chestnut finish with Cumberland stem. Seriously handsome pipe!!

 

[tarheel1]

If only it were a 5108. Congrats on your pipe.

 

[tarheel1]

Oh and use Colemans English Mustard.

 

[danielplainview]

Dark stain and a cumberland stem always looks classy.

Congrats

 

[rcstan]

Wonderful! Having bought a new 3101 Shell "white spot" 2012 ( birth year of my daughter) at the beginning of the year, I will agree they have somehow increased the Group bowl sizes, width wise. New Group 5 and 6 have Erik Nording freehand sized chambers 8O . Way too big for my Virginias.
If you don't mind sharing, what sort of savings are we talking about? We list Group 3 Chestnuts at 645 on SPC.

 

[papipeguy]

Classic and classy, Al. Good luck with it.

 

[mustanggt]

I really like that pipe too. I just bought pipes from them too because of the exchange rate. Blew me away with how long it took to get here. 27hrs. from Milan to the west coast. WOW!!!

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Nice, I see Mike has one up too: http://www.briarblues.com/tx15.htm

 

[buckaroo]

Is the chamber really .75" across? Funny, I saw that disappear as I was seriously weighing the pros and cons of that group 3 to the grp 4 Brureye they have. Most of my D's are group 3's, but they have slightly larger chamber diameters than .75" which I prefer, so it kept me from buying it, but retailer measurements are not always accurate unfortunately. Anyway, it's a beauty and you can't beat that tapered squared stem or the price for that matter. Enjoy.

 

[ssjones]

@buckaroo: The chamber diameter is exactly 3/4". The tapered stem did seal the deal.
And, I'm actually a Guldens Brown mustard guy!

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Quite a looker my man.

 

[ssjones]

Ah, first smoke completed.
The bowl appeared to have a bowl coating, but I didn't detect any usual taste. A nice smooth draw, and burned the first bowl to a fine ash (two match affair). In contrast to my new Castello bulldog purchased late last year, this Dunhill is a slightly better pipe in all aspects. I need an acrylic stemmed pipe for certain uses, but this Dunhill is just more comfortable. The stemwork is very impressive.
Verdict: impressed with the White Spot!

 

[alpascia]

thank you ssjones....we try to do our best
Al Pascià

 

[texmexpipe]

Very nice pipe!

 

[buckaroo]

Thx for the response as I was really curious.
I really like newer Dunhill stem's. Remind me a bit of my family Sasieni's.

 

[ssjones]

I really like newer Dunhill stem's. Remind me a bit of my family Sasieni's.

I have a number of Sasieni family-era pipes, that is a great comparison.

 

[stumpy]

Very nice pipe. I love the Chestnut/Cumberland combination, I have a group 4 pot with the same combination.
Yes, because of the exchange rate, I have bought a couple of handfuls of Dunhills from overseas and AP is one of the nicest, best places to deal with.
I have had estate and older Dunhills in the past but they've never really done it for me. However, these newer Dunhills are superb, they break in wonderfully, and I've been "converted" away from my acrylic/Italian pipes.

 

[ssjones]

Thanks Stumpy and welcome to the forums. I've had 1960's, 1970's and 2000 era Dunhills (this is my first stamped "The White Spot") and this one compares quite well with any of those eras. It did break in quite nicely.