This whole discussion gets down to the argument of luxury vs. affordable goods which some will inevitably turn into snobbery vs. non-snobbery. I own 9 Dunhill's, and they were worth every cent. Each one is a fantastic smoker and beautifully made. Long ago I decided life was too short to smoke pipes with wood putty in them. Thats my choice. I'd rather have 1 Dunhill than 5 Peterson's and I'd rather have 5 Dunhills than one Chonowitsch. Again though, that's my choice. Now I don't care if the next guy wants to smoke corn cobs or Savinellis or whatever. A pipe smoker ought to smoke whatever they want and you shouldn't need to be convinced to spend your money on any pipe.
BTW, if you like Charatan's, then you should be buying James Upshalls. Berry Jones was the head carver at Charatan and still makes pipes just as he used to under the Upshall name and they are stunning. Be warned, the new ones are as expensive as Dunhills and the company was purchased (others say rescued) by a millionaire so that may go against your sensibilities. :lol:
Sorry Rick, but this whole string is just nonsense on the face of it. Dunhill built their reputation on the build and smoking quality of their pipes. Alfred wasn't born a big evil company, he was born a guy who opened a shop and built quality products that people not only wanted, they actually bought them. Big evil pipe company swallows up better companies? What? Are you writing a movie? Dunhill offered Charatan a price for their company, Charatan accepted it. It's not nefarious, i's just business and it happens every day. By the way, I doubt very much that you want no part of it. You were asking if their worth it and apparently they are to hundreds of thousands of pipe smoker through out the last century but they aren't for everyone. By the way, you want no part of the whole companies thing....If that is the case, I am assuming you are typing your replies on a computer you built yourself and with software you wrote yourself (the computer of course is being powered by wood you chopped yourself) while wearing shoes made by the local cobbler and clothes made by the local taylor while sitting on a chair handcrafted by an artisan. If not, they you are probably already participating in the big evil corporate world because all of those things are made by corporations these days for most people. Why would a pipe companies successful rise to the corporate level hold a different standard? Shouldn't we as pipe smokers be hoping there are more Dunhill like success stories?
BTW, if you like Charatan's, then you should be buying James Upshalls. Berry Jones was the head carver at Charatan and still makes pipes just as he used to under the Upshall name and they are stunning. Be warned, the new ones are as expensive as Dunhills and the company was purchased (others say rescued) by a millionaire so that may go against your sensibilities. :lol:
