Dunhill 1973 Shell Briar LBS Sandblasted Army Mount 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 billiard is one of the oldest shapes in briar all of briar pipes, and it is probably the most widely produced of any that have been conceived thus far. While the shape is relatively simple, however, there is a great variety of approaches to the billiard form depending on where and when any given rendition was made, and on who made it. Amidst this variety, however, some renditions stand out as a kind of “gold standard” for what a good billiard should be, which brings us to the Dunhill “LB” variations. The LB (“large billiard”) was a shape first offered by Dunhill in the interwar years, and would become a staple in the make’s catalogs for much of the 20th century. It was a rather stout design, especially during the time it was conceived, but it proved to be very popular. After the Second World War, Dunhill created a few new shapes that played on that same LB theme, one of which was 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. Like the LB, the LBS would go on to become an archetype of sorts regarding the construction of a good billiard—one that, for our evolved, modern tastes, has all of the right angles and proportions.

This particular LBS, however, is a little more special than even the “average” LBS, on account of its sterling silver army mount. In addition to the extra touch of class lent by the silverware, it also trims down the weight a little, all while maintaining the shape’s signature muscularity.

The condition is very good. Some rim darkening and chamber slightly over-reamed, but nothing major.

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.66″ / 42.16mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g