Dunhill 1968 Root Briar 127 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.

A decidedly stout design, the mid-century Dunhill 127 could reasonably be called a slightly shorter counterpart to the make’s famous LB, or Large Billiard, shape. Possessing the same muscular stature as the LB, it belongs to a genre of shapes that dominated Anglo-French pipe making for many decades, and for good reason. This one is dressed in Dunhill’s signature, light brown Root Briar finish, intended to bring out the best of a block’s natural grain patterns (which this one does superbly). Made at the tail end of what many collectors to consider to have been a golden decade for Dunhill, this 127 is an excellent specimen not only of Dunhill’s output, but of a certain moment in traditional pipe making, right before it was eclipsed by the Scandinavian revolution.

The condition is fair. Rim darkening and some inner rim charring, and some minor handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 6.0″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.49″ / 37.84mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g