Dunhill 1940 HW (Hand Worked) LB 8 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.

This is one of the most peculiar Dunhill pipes we’ve had in over the years, though its existence is—thanks to the tireless efforts of specialist Dunhill historians—documented. While Dunhill introduced the HT stamp around the end of the 1970s, following the debut of its hand turned Collector series, there was another, similar stamp that predated that of the Collector by many decades, the HW, or H.W. One could argue that these were the first “hand made” Dunhills, as the stamping in this instance indicated that the pipe was hand worked, rather than manufactured using automated machine processes. These were not “standard” pipes and Dunhill ceased production them altogether around the advent of the Second World War, making them rather scarce. As if that wasn’t tantalizing enough, this one happens to be a hand worked rendition of the iconic, timeless Dunhil LB, or “large billiard” shape. I know the late John Loring had one HW in his Dunhill collection, but I would have loved to see what he thought of this one.

The condition is good. Some scratches and dings around the bowl (pictured), faded stamping (though legible), slight inner rim charring, and slightly over-buffed stem.

For reference, the stamping reads:
H.W ▫ DUNHILL
LONDON
and
MADE IN ENGLAND
PATENT Nº 417574 º  LB 8

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 1.73″ / 43.94mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g