Dunhill Sandblasts (Ring Grain)

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Dec 10, 2013
2,316
2,942
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
My apologies.
I should have written, from left to right. Gr5 shape 24 Shell Grain. Gr6 shape 24 Ring Grain. Gr6 shape 03 Shell Grain. ODB 838 Shell Grain.
Question remains ; what is the year suffix nr. ?
I believe it's 34, underscored.
Which makes it a 1994 pipe , to the best of my knowledge one year before the transition to the "Dunhill White Spot" pipes. Pipe grading is often rather arbitrary .
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunnyboy
May 9, 2021
1,660
3,533
55
Geoje Island South Korea
Question remains ; what is the year suffix nr. ?

Which makes it a 1994 pipe , to the best of my knowledge one year before the transition to the "Dunhill White Spot" pipes. Pipe grading is often rather arbitrary .
Agree 1994, but wasn't the "Dunhill White Spot" introduced in 2012?
1994 would make it a year before Dunhill in oval.
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Not in the Dunhill line so much, but blasts range from the deeply grooved to the entirely subtle. They are really like different finishes. The grooves are highly textured whereas the light blasts are more a visual effect, like weave in a fabric. I have the grooves on a Ser Jacopo and the light blast on a Tsuge. I like them both, for different reasons.
 

runscott

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 3, 2020
869
2,005
Washington State
The straighter the grain, the better the rings.
Yes, thinking about that, it seems strange that you see so many old blasted Dunhills with great ring-grain, but very few smooth straight grains. Almost makes me think they chose to blast all the straight grain stummels. Exactly opposite the philosophy of most factory pipe-makers.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,339
Yes, thinking about that, it seems strange that you see so many old blasted Dunhills with great ring-grain, but very few smooth straight grains. Almost makes me think they chose to blast all the straight grain stummels. Exactly opposite the philosophy of most factory pipe-makers.
Perhaps to avoid showing accidental dings. Folks didn't tend so much to the care of pipes long ago, though I would prefer a blasted straight grain to a smooth.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunnyboy

Terry Lennox

Can't Leave
Aug 11, 2021
379
2,129
Southern California
About a decade ago I bought a new Dunhill Shell 4203 saddle billiard from SPC and only when it arrived and I looked at the stampings did I learn it had been graded Ring Grain. It seems the designation had slipped through SPC's inventory logging unnoticed. It was like getting a Chance card in Monopoly--bank error in your favor!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Puffaluffaguss