Dunhill 1965 Whangee Root Briar Smooth Bamboo Pot 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.

“Whangee” is an odd name for a pipe, but as with many an odd name, there is a reason for it. During and after the Second World War, pipe-makers across the world suffered a briar shortage. Different companies solved this problem in different ways, with one solution being to make the briar part of a pipe smaller (meaning less briar was used) and making up the rest of the length with some kind of extension. One of the extension materials used was a type of bamboo, which came from Asia. The shorthand for this type of bamboo (along with a variety of others) is whangee. Whangee originally comes from a Mandarin term, 黃藜, or huáng lí, in pinyin. Dunhill capitalized on bamboo both as a means of reducing the amount of briar used during the shortage, and as a status symbol, given the association with luxury whangee walking canes and umbrella handles at the time. Even after the briar shortage waned, Dunhill kept the Whangee in its catalog for a few more decades, though by the time this one was made, it had become part of the premium Collector’s Range.

The condition is good. Chamber slightly over-reamed, some finish fading, and some fading of the nomenclature.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.93 / 23.62mm

Bowl Depth: 1.34″ / 34.03mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g