Dunhill Root Briar LBS Smooth Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

To veteran pipe smokers, Dunhill needs no introduction. Beginning in 1907, Alfred Dunhill began selling Dunhill pipes at the tobacconist shop he owned on London’s Duke Street. Very quickly, these pipes gained the reputation of being the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of pipes due to how expertly crafted they were. Today, Dunhill is likely Britain’s most famous pipe manufacturer, and continues to produce some of the most treasured pipes a smoker can buy.

The LB (“large billiard”) was a shape first offered by Dunhill in the interwar years, and has since become an iconic Dunhill design and an archetype for what a good billiard might be. The LB ended up being one of a number of what (in part thanks to John Loring) are now commonly referred to as Dunhill’s “large billiard variations,” with another such shape being the LBS. Short for “large billiard slender,” the LBS is essentially an LB whose form has been “stretched” slightly so that the shank is slimmer and longer. And, like the LB, the LBS has achieved the status of an archetype for what a good billiard should look and feel like. This one is dressed in Dunhill’s light, Root Briar finish, allowing the briar’s natural bird’s-eye patterning to speak more or less for itself.

The condition is fair. Some rim darkening and inner rim charring, slight handling marks, and quite faded nomenclature. The Dunhill name, some of the finish name, and the shape code are still legible, but the date code has unfortunately been lost to time. Like the briar of its bowl, the pipe will have to simply speak for itself on that. Thankfully, it has plenty of good things to say, though the price has been adjusted accordingly in any case.

 

Details:

Length: 6.3″ / 160.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.70″ / 43.18mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g