Nadir Of Dunhills?
- Thread starter Winnipeger
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That’s genuinely surprising to me—I would’ve thought that you of all people, have seen and handled more Dunhill pipes than virtually anyone.
Probably some truth to it, not counting B&M owners.distributors/etc.
Which makes me think maybe they just didn't sell very many of them. "Invention-y" designs were more of a lower/mid level thing, meaning not appealing to snooty, wealthy, purist monocle'd Gentlemen in tophats and tails. i.e. the typical Dunhill customer.
As well as replace the briar to boot, if you want to do it correctly
I was born in 1978 and while it took over 20 years to find a birth year Dunhill I wanted to own, I found it. Mine is a Root Briar ODA, no shape number but I’d call it an 850.
Thanks for the pics!
I think it goes without saying that pipes need to be considered on an individual basis. Maybe I'm a victim of confirmation bias, but both of those '63's look like sweet briars that I would take a second look at if I saw them come up for sale, while both the '76 and '77 are just meh to my eye. The grain is OK on the Hungarian, but the shallow blast lacks contrast, so it looks flat compared to '63 shell. The '77 Bruyere doesn't seem to pop the way the '63 does. It's hard to tell these things based on pictures alone, but that's how I buy pipes—based on online photos. Any agreement on my impressions, or am I missing something?
I just, more often than not, see '77's that I would never consider shelling out the cash for. I'm not particularly bothered by that. Just wondered if anyone else had a similar experience.
How are the bit and button on that '77 compared to the '63 apple?
The bit on the ’77 is very slightly wider than the ’63, but very close in all other aspects. I’m not really a clencher, so the bit is not the greatest factor for me. I got the ’77 because the price was right at the time, nothing more. Both ’63 pipes appealed to me for different reasons—the first because they were birth year pipes; the Driway because of its oddity and being so rarely seen; the Apple/Prince because of aesthetics—the shape and grain pleased me.
The main reason for my interest in the ’76 (apart from kind of wanting to add a Hungarian shape to the arsenal) was because it is marked “NOT FOR SALE,” which lends a degree of rarity and unusuality that appeals to my sensibilities (I like oddball/unique pipes—like my 1948 Comoy’s Olympic that commemorated the London games of that year); the ’76 pipe also came with some index cards from the previous owner which documented what blends and when they were smoked in the pipe, which was kind of fun.
1977 Root Briar 488 that I owned
My only Dunhill is a 1953 bent shown here on the right. The pipe on the left is a Peterson.