The six dollar Dunhill!
- Thread starter GDWTVB
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
I never expected to own a Dunhill, out of my budget. It's not a shape I am particularly drawn too, I like big hand filling pipes. That said it smoked remarkably well and there are times a light small pipe would be nice. Not for sale, it's got a home.
Grizz
Look for misspellings in auction listings. I got one last year for $20 listed as a Dunhull.
I'm sorry you read it that way. However, if one posts the same picture a few dozen times, one should own the fact that they have become known for posting that picture over and over...and possibly accept a little ribbing for it.
@chasingembers: I always scan auction catalogues looking for 'Dunghill Pipes'. These sort of things do happen. My late Father in Law from my second marriage left me a huge box of pipes, most of them held together with duct tape and lord knows what else. My Father in Law loved drug store Cherry Tobacco as well as torch flame gas lighters. I had them sent to a forum member on here who does a lot with free pipes. It turns out it was a box of much abused Dunhill and other makes from the late 60's and 1970's. He was as happy as hell and I was happy that they had gone to a good home so it was a win win for everyone.
Six bucks for a Dunhill would always make me smile to see the pipe, the brand being so relentlessly overpriced. I do admire the marketing genius of getting people to pay that much more, new and used. But they're good pipes, I think, some better than others. Flea markets and yard sales often don't know a thing about pipes. It's just an old used pipe with someone else's germs on it, and it would strike amazement in their hearts to know that there is a thriving market in some brands.
This is the equivalent of the old lady selling the corvette or barn find story in the pipe world.$6 for a pipe worth $200(ish)? Pfffffffttttt... Why, that ain't nuthin'.
A woman in upstate NY a while back found an unusually large pipe at a church fundraiser yard sale, sitting between a pile of Tupperware and a stack of moldy-smelling books. She held it up for a price (her husband liked pipes) and the lady in charge responded with one finger. The church wanted a dollar for it.
A few weeks later the pipe sold for $7200 on eBay. This was before there were many reseller/flipper stores, and private account sales were common, so other than the percent or two eBay fee, it all went directly in her pocket.
Now that's some serious pipe findin'...
Indeed.
There is a minor "after story" that goes with it that's almost as unlikely, too.
The find and sale happened in December of 2007. The new owner knew just enough about pipes (through her husband) that she wanted to dig a bit deeper before giving it to him as a gift to decorate his den, which was the initial plan. She knew he would never smoke it because it was so large, you see.
How large? Absolutely enormous.
It was also unsmoked, in new condition, and stamped "Dunhill".
Her investigation started with a trip to her husband's favorite B&M, whose proprietor suggested she contact me (another log-odds coincidence... I'd done some work for someone he knew), and a few emails and eBay messages later I entered the story. I assured her that the pipe was indeed very special, doubtless valuable, and I'd get back to her with the Full Meal Deal Info Pack on it by talking to John Loring on her behalf. I did, passed on the info, offered a few "do's and don'ts" regarding how to list it, and she was off to the races.
A couple weeks later the sale was complete, and she was delighted. The buyer even turned out to be the person I'd predicted, and my wild-ass guess of it bringing $7K was close to spot on.
The long-odds "after story" is, I was telling the ABOVE story to a some collectors at the Chicago show a few years ago---I was facing a table and had my back to an aisle---and noticed as I was finishing that someone had come up behind me and was looking over my shoulder. And the group had fallen still and everyone was looking at him. Who was it? The man who had bought the pipe off Ebay. He'd simply been passing by, overheard a keyword or two, and stopped to listen. (For anyone who never went to a Chicago show, the exhibition hall was the size of a large airplane hangar and contained many hundreds of tables. Just finding your wife or a friend you arranged to meet there could take twenty minutes.) But for some reason the PipeGods wanted to put an exclamation point on the outrageousness of the Story of the Giant Dunhill That Was Known to Exist But Thought to be Lost, Which Turned Up at a Yard Sale and Was Sold for a Dollar.
"Yup, that's just what happened." the well-known big man said to the group with his trademark dryness. "Amazing, isn't it?" And he walked away with a smile.
Last edited:
I wonder if the husband ever got a chance to look at the pipe.
He seems to be a relatively insignificant character in the story. But, he was the catalyst. His happiness was. But, his happiness can surely be secured for less money than a $7,200 pipe. Perhaps, it was.
I wonder if he had any knowledge of the pipe, or if he had any particular thoughts about it. That pipe is a thing I'd want to examine if someone bought it for a dollar and brought it home as a present to me. I'd be curious about it. I ain't never seen one before.
I hear he absolutely loved the tie she bought him.
It makes me want to write a story about some place way out past lonesome.
I thought i might give an update on the six estate pipes now that I've had a chance to smoke them all.
The Dunhill: It is a great smoke. I'm not sure why, but it smoked much drier than my usual bowl. It is definitely the smallest pipe in my collection, I generally need 2X or 3x gloves and I gravitate towards larger pipes. I think I will use it as my traveling pipe, where it's smaller size is an advantage.
The BBB Saddle Billiard: this is easily my favorite of the five. Great smoke and not so diminutive as the Dunhill. It was hard to get through the other three, because I wanted to smoke this one again. Like a comfortable chair, it's not new, but just seems to fit me well.
Dr. Grabow Author pipe: In spite of the shape which I have been wanting for my collection, I would not have bought this one if I had known it was a filter pipe. I have not found a filter pipe I really liked, especially with the filter installed. I removed the filter, (As I have done with my other filter pipes.) I was so hopeful and so saddened. I haven't had such a problem with a pipe since a few of my first bowls years ago. I will wait until I get another Author shape before moving this one on to someone else.
The Digby prince(?): OK. I smoked the same tobacco in all six, this one seemed reluctant to stay lit at all. I'm lucky to get through a bowl without 10 or 15 relights on a normal day. (More if I am talking to someone.) I thought I was gonna run out of lighter fluid or need a new flint in my zippo by the time the bowl was done. I'll give it a second chance sometime...when i grow tired of the BBB.
The Falcon: this is the most frustrating experience of the five. It was the best bowl of tobacco I have ever smoked! The best Ever! Cool, dry, perfect. I just can't warm up to the how the pipe looks. I bought it because it's interesting and different than the rest of my pipes. I thought it might be a conversation piece if someone noticed it, but it doesn't look like a pipe should look. In the hand it doesn't have the organic feeling that a pipe should have. It's interesting and I want to keep it, but I hate industrial look of the pipe. It looks like something David Bowie would smoke in Ziggy Stardust. And as frustrating as it is, I'll probably smoke the dang thing more often than I intend to admit.
Grizz
The Dunhill: It is a great smoke. I'm not sure why, but it smoked much drier than my usual bowl. It is definitely the smallest pipe in my collection, I generally need 2X or 3x gloves and I gravitate towards larger pipes. I think I will use it as my traveling pipe, where it's smaller size is an advantage.
The BBB Saddle Billiard: this is easily my favorite of the five. Great smoke and not so diminutive as the Dunhill. It was hard to get through the other three, because I wanted to smoke this one again. Like a comfortable chair, it's not new, but just seems to fit me well.
Dr. Grabow Author pipe: In spite of the shape which I have been wanting for my collection, I would not have bought this one if I had known it was a filter pipe. I have not found a filter pipe I really liked, especially with the filter installed. I removed the filter, (As I have done with my other filter pipes.) I was so hopeful and so saddened. I haven't had such a problem with a pipe since a few of my first bowls years ago. I will wait until I get another Author shape before moving this one on to someone else.
The Digby prince(?): OK. I smoked the same tobacco in all six, this one seemed reluctant to stay lit at all. I'm lucky to get through a bowl without 10 or 15 relights on a normal day. (More if I am talking to someone.) I thought I was gonna run out of lighter fluid or need a new flint in my zippo by the time the bowl was done. I'll give it a second chance sometime...when i grow tired of the BBB.
The Falcon: this is the most frustrating experience of the five. It was the best bowl of tobacco I have ever smoked! The best Ever! Cool, dry, perfect. I just can't warm up to the how the pipe looks. I bought it because it's interesting and different than the rest of my pipes. I thought it might be a conversation piece if someone noticed it, but it doesn't look like a pipe should look. In the hand it doesn't have the organic feeling that a pipe should have. It's interesting and I want to keep it, but I hate industrial look of the pipe. It looks like something David Bowie would smoke in Ziggy Stardust. And as frustrating as it is, I'll probably smoke the dang thing more often than I intend to admit.
Grizz