Dunhill White Spot Drama

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georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
6,080
16,654
I am just a little surprised by the apparent unhappiness it causes in the Dunhill camp.
Willful self-delusion is Man's primary survival trait. Believing in things that make him feel Life has intrinsic meaning is what keeps him going as a species.
One of that adaptive trait's side effects is that he has a hard time letting go of those beliefs when something occurs which takes them away. Even the small stuff. Some would say especially the small stuff.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
19,031
13,134
Covington, Louisiana
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I love your experiment and I am totally convinced. I am just a little surprised by the apparent unhappiness it causes in the Dunhill camp.
Unfortunately, I suspect that the "Dunhill camp" has no clue as to what's being discussed here. It seems that the major Dunhill collectors are big on pipe forums.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,951
50,058
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Passions can run high. It's not logical. Because Dunhill, in particular, is such a well known symbol of material success, those who appreciate it for that status are more likely to care about something like a dot not being made of ivory.

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,236
6,724
Central Ohio
I think some of the sceptics display some veiled disappointment. I may be wrong, of course.

No disappointment here......... I am after all 99% believer and 1% sceptic in this matter.......... :D
I love debunking an age old belief as much as the next guy, fascinating stuff, this obsession hobby of ours.......
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has said it best, in his many quotes from the Sherlock Holmes Series:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes

 

crashthegrey

Lifer
Dec 18, 2015
3,884
3,960
41
Cobleskill, NY
www.greywoodie.com
To immediately defer to snobbery when people are upset by such findings is short sighted, workman. I am not a Dunhill fan, and was personally happy just to have scientific data that, in this case, disproved a common myth. I would have been equally happy if it had proven the myth. I just like knowledge. But yes, people are passionate about the hobby, and telling them that something they believe is wrong upsets them. Maybe some loved the idea of ivory in something legal post ban, such as an estate pipe. I don't know what people are thinking, but to call them snobs seems a bit extreme.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
6,080
16,654
The "takeaway" from all this (to use 1990's corporate-speak) for the hobby as a whole is that there's no need to be concerned about older Dunhill pipes being affected by ivory import regulations, now or in the future. :clap:
How large a risk that ever actually was is impossible to know---government agencies the world over are nothing if not capricious---but it was discussed at length on this board a while back. (I know Neill Roan was quite worried about it at one time.) It's also possible that some dealers here and there were factoring it into their plans.

 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
10,031
16,058
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has said it best, in his many quotes from the Sherlock Holmes Series:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes
Thanks for posting that Beef...lots of great quotes there.
A few random favorites:
When a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.
I had no idea that such individuals exist outside of stories.
while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty.
Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.
It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
6,080
16,654
The sample size needs to be increased for reliability.
No, it doesn't. Anyone who has ever made dots from the two materials knows ivory requires an order of magnitude more labor---even if it was fashioned into rods beforehand by someone else (outsourced)---and that no one in his right mind in a commercial production environment would CHOOSE to use it when a literally-impossible-to-visually-tell-apart substitute was available.
And... (here we go again)... What part of DUNHILL'S ARCHIVIST SAYS THEY NEVER USED IVORY DOTS don't you understand, Cosmic?
Is your "job" on this site primarily to act thick and stir shit up?

 
First, I have never ever ever even heard that the dot was made from ivory. I must not pay attention to it if someone has mentioned this in front of me, because it would be like talking about different patterns of lace, something I care nothing about.
Second, I was just kidding... Lighten up...
But I used to see ivory beads, tube beads, and tiny pegs used for board games dating back to late 1800's by the buckets full at the Tucson gem show. You can still find many very old undrilled beads and undrilled tubes made of thousands of different natural materials. It wouldn't have had to be very long, just a few mm's correct? But, I am not saying that "proves" anything, except maybe you are unfamiliar with the lapidary processing. Most people are. No biggie.
Ha ha, I am not arguing with you except on that one point. You are the God of all Dunhills as far as I am concerned, and I bow to your expertise which vastly outweighs my absolute lack of any Dunhill knowledge. I am not even remotely interested in pipe history, so I give you 100% success. Yep.
My joke was merely to suggest that it would fun to watch more of the expensive pipes get destroyed. And, I wasn't even remotely serious about that. :puffy: TTFN

 

crashthegrey

Lifer
Dec 18, 2015
3,884
3,960
41
Cobleskill, NY
www.greywoodie.com
Wow, georged needs to chill. Cosmic completely agreed and made a joke that it would be funny to see more pipes destroyed. I asked for a video because the description of the tiny explosion sounds awesome. I mean, seriously, you took this seriously georged?
I just want to see more expensive pipes sacrificed for science
I think the naysayers have gotten to you, buddy.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
6,080
16,654
My joke was merely to suggest that it would fun to watch more of the expensive pipes get destroyed. And, I wasn't even remotely serious about that.
You need to start indicating when you are in absurdist-humor mode, then. You say so many absurd things when you're serious that people can no longer tell the difference.
As for your passive-aggressive "God of Dunhills" remark, I've never claimed to know much about them at all. I routinely ask questions of the "Duke Street Irregulars" here on the board, in fact. I'm a casual collector who has a few dozen of them, nothing more. I even bought what I thought was a birth year pipe but actually wasn't. Not exactly something a Dunhill expert would do, I imagine.
I do know quite a lot about WORKING on them, though, and from that know about and can identify all manner of subtle, specialized things related to authenticity and production methods. But that's quite a different business.

 
I have no idea when Georged and I got our wires crossed. I have shaken off some jokes that he has made towards me as just being jokes that sounded mean, and had some things that I have said that he took totally wrong, which hardly ever happens to me with other members unless we have a language barrier. But, I will add that I am truly sorry for whatever has happened that has made you angry with me. I don't remember ever having a serious animosity for you in a post. But, if I came across that way, I am truly sorry. And, please give me the benefit of the doubt from here on out, and I will do likewise.
I mean this is all just pipes and tobacco. It's supposed to be fun and enjoyable, right?

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,951
50,058
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
BTW, I heard that McClellands ordered ivory from Dunhill, which was ground into their Personal Reserve Matured Virginias to give it a special quality not to be found in any other blends made by any other blender. Oh, before I forget, there also were the custom aging silos in synchronous orbit around the equator, that were tended by Elvis. Truth.

 
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