New To Me Dunhill LB

[jeremiah]

Here's a new to me Dunhill Shell LB.....it was originally new in 1932. I found it on eBay late one evening with a pretty reasonable Buy It Now price listed. Once I saw the patent numbers I hit the option to buy it and completed the transaction and went to bed. I half expected to wake up in the morning to a message from the seller with some excuse as to why we couldn't ship the pipe, but nope, it arrived a few days later. It cleaned up fairly well and has a nice Vernon tenon on the stem as well.

 

[jeremiah]

 

[jeremiah]

 

[georged]

Disassemble that pipe as infrequently as possible (within reason), and do it with great care.

The indent ring that the springs snap into is cut directly into the wood and wears quickly.

Not long after introducing the design Dunhill reversed it---cut the indent in the stem and mounted the springs in the shank---for that reason.

The entire concept was abandoned shortly after that, though, because of the delicacy of the spring assembly. If dropped or tweaked, the snap-in fit goes away, and fiddling with the aluminum "fingers" often breaks them.

All in all, it was an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem. (Pipe historians suspect its adoption was mostly Alfred indulging his kid.)

Collectors still love Vernon pipes for their scarcity, though, and near-mint examples like yours are VERY rare.

Enjoy! (albeit carefully)

 

[anotherbob]

nice. I am not a huge dunhill fan but when one of their pipes hits me it really does. And this one really does.

 

[anotherbob]

Disassemble that pipe as infrequently as possible (within reason), and do it with great care.

The indent ring that the springs snap into is cut directly into the wood and wears quickly.

Not long after introducing the design Dunhill reversed it---cut the indent in the stem and mounted the springs in the shank---for that reason.

The entire concept was abandoned shortly after that, though, because of the delicacy of the spring assembly. If dropped or tweaked, the snap-in fit goes away, and fiddling with the aluminum "fingers" ofteny breaks them.

All in all, it was an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem. (Pipe historians suspect its adoption was mostly Alfred indulging his kid.)

Collectors still love Vernon pipes for their scarcity, though, and near-mint examples like yours are VERY rare.

Enjoy! (albeit carefully)

one good thing is to my eye it looks like it should condense the gunk in such a way that taking the pipe apart isn't as necessary as it would be with more conventional designs. Could be wrong but if it was mine I'd take your advice and just run a pipe cleaner down the thing every smoke but leave it assembled. Thanks for knowing so much about the history of these pipes.

 

[ssjones]

Thanks George, I thought a LB with a Vernon tenon was a rare bird.

 

[captainsousie]

That's beautiful. I feel privileged to have seen the pics of it.

 

[sandollars]

THAT'S a keeper! VERY nice pipe!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Beautiful pipe!
I hope she squeezes every drop of flavor out of the tobacco for you.