Thanks for asking. I was wondering the same thing.
Dunhill question
- Thread starter Commander McBragg
- Start date
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As was said, popularity.
Sandblasting a pipe is a way for a manufacturer to “erase” flaws on what might have been a smooth. However it does add cost and lowers the margin on a particular piece of wood. The cost is recovered though. Beats tossing it into the furnace.
As for ring or even other sandblasts, sometimes that was the initial intention. And it can have quite a dramatic look as opposed to a smooth.
I generally lean towards smooths with dramatic grain. Probably 25% of my pipes are sandblasts.
Sandblasting a pipe is a way for a manufacturer to “erase” flaws on what might have been a smooth. However it does add cost and lowers the margin on a particular piece of wood. The cost is recovered though. Beats tossing it into the furnace.
As for ring or even other sandblasts, sometimes that was the initial intention. And it can have quite a dramatic look as opposed to a smooth.
I generally lean towards smooths with dramatic grain. Probably 25% of my pipes are sandblasts.
I still think in my humble opinion a smooth dunhill should be more valuable than a sandblasted dunhill. But it shows time and time again that I am wrong. That’s why I asked in the first place. My intention isn’t to say smooth is better than sandblast.
Yes, it's easy to understand this. But in the very early days, Dunhill's only had two finishes. Smooth in Bruyere & blasts called Shell Briar. The briar for the blasts were selected because they were thought to give better grain patterns after blasting.
I for one prefer the blasted finishes, especially so the Ring Grains.
I would agree with you Mike, it certainly holds true with newer pipes, DR & Flame Grains, way more expensive than blasts and anything else for that matter.
I have a Dunhill's 120, that suits blasting very well. There appears to have been a knot in the briar. Now not a flaw per se, but it would not be suitable for straight grain, however give it a sand blast and "Hey Presto!" you've got an interesting blast grain pattern. At least I think it is.
Yes and the ruby sandblast I think are really nice.
I believe the rusticated Peterson’s are their very flawed briars now. Same with savinellis. But as I said the most beautiful pipe I’ve ever seen was a rusticated upshall.
Don't confuse rusticated with sand blasting. Not wanting to come across as patronizing.
Most times rustication is done by using a bull-nose drill or milling cutter and gouging wood from the briar. I beleive Peterson is employing this method for rustications now, since they appear to be way different from previous pipes.
Castello's Sea Rock is done by hand by the maker using a multi pointed awl (for want of a better word) and digging out the wood from the briar by hand. Because the tool used has sharp points, it produces the fantastic and tactile sea rock finish.
Sand blasting is done by high pressure sand being blown onto the briar, where it removes the softer wood from between the harder rings, giving in some cases the beautiful ring grain pattern we see.
That’s really nice. Did you say earlier you have 120 dunhills? Holy cow. I bet some have great story’s they could tell
What do you think of the opera shape? I’ve considered buying both a sandblasted one and a smooth. But I just don’t know what to think of the shape
I don't own 120 Dunhill's. I don't own 120 pipes.
But I do own two Dunhill's shape 120.
I bought one from a member on here, really pleased with it. Smokes great too. It's a 1961.
And I just bought a NOS from 1967, so being NOS never smoked. Actually, it was from a private collection, but never smoked. Haven't received it yet.
It's not on my radar. I haven't really considered it.
There was one posted on the forum just lately, but don't remember if it was for sale, or just show & tell
The price was right that’s why I considered it. But the shape just wasn’t doing anything for me. I was curious what you thought
Oh. Ha! Shape 120. Sorry. I was thinking holy cow. I don’t own even twenty pipes. Sorry for the confusion
