Dunhill 1969 Tanshell 6P Sandblasted Bulldog 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.

Dunhill’s shape “6P” might strike as a little strange at first, given that almost all of such have, historically, been either numerical (e.g., 120, 137, etc.) or alphabetical (e.g., O, LC, etc.,), with the latter comprising its Quaint shapes. But there are a handful of notable exceptions to the rule and, in this case, a notable rule of exception: saddle stem variants of tapered stem Quaint shapes. The LB is perhaps the best known example of this; presumed short for “Large Billiard,” “LB” was the stamp used for particularly stout billiard designs, which always featured a tapered stem. The 6LB, on the other hand, was a variant of the LB, with the same bowl affixed to a saddle stem, instead. The 6P was exactly the same. While the P was an uncommon Quaint shape from Dunhill’s mid-century Collectors’ Range, characterized by a squat, wide, bent bulldog bowl and tapered stem, the similarly uncommon 6P swapped out the latter for a saddle.
This Tanshell iteration comes from the late 1960s, showing off the wonderfully craggy finish that era is well-known for.

The condition is good. Rim darkening and some handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 6.0″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.24″ / 31.49mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g