I have nothing else to say and am content to just let your words speak for themselves...
Dunhill
- Thread starter sparrowhawk
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I have nothing else to say and am content to just let your words speak for themselves...
For sure...and just to clarify, when I said "artistic value", I was not thinking in terms of some kind of investment value, but only a subjective artistic value to the purchaser. Just as some factory pipes may have a historic value that the artisan pipe may not...which I could appreciate as well if it was an older Dunhill in good condition...but the new "White Spots" just don't interest me.
Do we really have to wait until next week?
Peterson, Peterson, Peterson...I'm having an orgasam. Can we start now?
Never had a bad Peterson.
What he said. Also, have seen myriad Dunhills whose shaping and finish have been so attractive that were I plush with the green stuff I'd buy.
Okay, how about this. $500-$600 is nothing for me to pay for a pipe. Quite affordable actually on my salary, I like to see if I actually can get prices on the sub $100 range just to be doing it. No class bias by me, but experience from owning Dunhills. Not one, but three poorly drilled pipes have put me off of the brand.
I've never had a Dunhill that was poorly drilled, but I had several that couldn't not retain a decent fit between the mortise and the shank, mostly from the '70's. I've not seen any that were better made than other British factory pipes by Sasieni, Barling, Charatan, Ben Wade, etc. I like Dunhill's stem work better than Sasieni or Charatan, but I like Barling's stem work more.
I've never had to pay all that much for my Dunhills. Several of them were gifts from my late father-in-law, who owned over 900 of them from various periods, a number of them I got in trade from a Dunhill dealer for some of my production sketches, and others I picked up here and there at reasonable prices. Just because I have the means to buy any pipe I want doesn't mean that I'm going to throw any amount at it.
In my experience, the pipe is only a small part of the smoking equation. Knowing how to prep and pack, how to pull the most flavors from the blends that I like to smoke, is the much bigger part of it.
I think that the issue with Dunhill that people have is the baloney that surrounds the brand, the occasional snobbery that somehow gets involved, the expressions of personal superiority that a few people seem to need to express about owning them, or the ludicrous belief that they're just so superior to all other pipes. They're good pipes. So are a lot of pipes made by others.
Absolutely! Buy what interests you.
Comoy’s Pipes Matter.
#comoyspipesmatter
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@npod can perhaps verify this, but the Castello “Flames” are all supposedly made by one semi retired carver from start to finish who comes to the factory a few days a month to make special projects. They may have other styles that only one person does, but that is the only one I can specifically think of.
Example two: Dunhill HT’s and Collectors are entirely made at the Walthamstow facility. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the person who turns the bowl might not be the person who, say, applies the stain, but the production process is certainly far removed from what you would see if you visited the Grabow facility.
Are either Castello Flames or Dunhill HT’s artisan Pipes? Why or why not?
OK, two examples.
@npod can perhaps verify this, but the Castello “Flames” are all supposedly made by one semi retired carver from start to finish who comes to the factory a few days a month to make special projects. They may have other styles that only one person does, but that is the only one I can specifically think of.
Example two: Dunhill HT’s and Collectors are entirely made at the Walthamstow facility. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the person who turns the bowl might not be the person who, say, applies the stain, but the production process is certainly far removed from what you would see if you visited the Grabow facility.
Are either Castello Flames or Dunhill HT’s artisan Pipes? Why or why not?
I don’t own any but that shouldn’t disqualify me from weighing in on them. I heard from a guy who heard from a guy who might have read online somewhere that they’re no good, overpriced and you’re a knucklehead with more money than sense if you buy them.
...or wait, do I own some? And if I do, am I snob for speaking up for the brand?
Pretty confusing tbh. I guess I better wait until our resident authorities on all things pipe related can tell me in which way(s) I’m wrong and to drive home their points with no evidence but rather with stones thrown down from their ivory towers.
...but to avoid sounding like a complete douche, allow me to wish them a Merry Christmas which apparently works the same as saying No offense and then proceeding to say offensive things.
Regarding Castello, a number of fans of the brand consider them as, ahem, artisanal factory pipes.
And another example would be the Barling Quaints, which were one-of-a-kind pipes, carved by only a few master carvers, not standard production. Within any system there are going to be variables.
If you didn't complain about something, you wouldn't be a pipe smoker. Welcome to the fray!
I own 3 1960's Dunhill LB's bought as estates. To my eye they are the best looking Billiard ever created. The pipes smoke fine and the stems are not bad. I own 5 Pre Transition Barlings that smoke really nice with better stems than the Dunhill's.
I own 55 artisan made pipes and the stems are all superior to my Dunhill's. I love how my artisan pipes perform and that is why I have so many. Out of my 55 artisan pipes 22 are from Rad Davis. Of those 16 were bought new and 6 estates. The most I paid for a new one was 450.00. Most were 350-395. I could have easily bought Dunhill's for that kind of money but for my tastes the Rad's were superior.
I would love to have a collection of old(1960's and earlier) Dunhill LB's. It would be cool to own pipes from the various decades and being able to date these pipes easily enough is a real draw for me. Unfortunately they just don't smoke as well as my artisan made pipes. I do admit to being a real stem whore.
I own 55 artisan made pipes and the stems are all superior to my Dunhill's. I love how my artisan pipes perform and that is why I have so many. Out of my 55 artisan pipes 22 are from Rad Davis. Of those 16 were bought new and 6 estates. The most I paid for a new one was 450.00. Most were 350-395. I could have easily bought Dunhill's for that kind of money but for my tastes the Rad's were superior.
I would love to have a collection of old(1960's and earlier) Dunhill LB's. It would be cool to own pipes from the various decades and being able to date these pipes easily enough is a real draw for me. Unfortunately they just don't smoke as well as my artisan made pipes. I do admit to being a real stem whore.
Exactly. And you are correct about the mortise/shank fit being an issue on many 1970’s or so era Dunhills.
I have had a bad Peterson, but I also have a dozen and a half that are good-to-excellent smokers. Even if Peterson pipes didn't offer unique features, like the p-lip or the System pipe, I am drawn to Peterson due to their timeless shapes, which is the very same thing that draws me to Dunhill.
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