Dunhill 1974 Shell Briar 715 Sandblasted Stack Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

To veteran pipe smokers, Dunhill needs no introduction. Beginning in the first decade of the 20th century, 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 “715” is an uncommon and rather unusual one. You needn’t take my word for it—that’s how the Alfred Dunhill company itself characterized the shape, back when it was in production. It was, per catalogs from the time, a “Pipe of Unusual Design” and, later, one belonging to the “Collectors’ Range,” meaning it was outside of the norm as far as Dunhill’s standard shaping conventions went, and produced in far fewer quantities. I’ve seen it described as a “Scandinavian billiard,” which isn’t too far off the mark, so long as we think of Scandinavian pipes from the 1950s and early 1960s, rather than those that came later. After all, it is something of a functionalist, featherweight stack rendition, with a slightly tall (for its overall size) yet fairly narrow chamber. It’s not quite as narrow as, say, a Pibe-Dan Dan shape, but the comparison is still fairly apt. This one is dressed in Dunhill’s signature Shell Briar sandblasted finish, which manages to be nicely craggy, despite the bowl’s decidedly slight proportions.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening and slight finish fading, but it’s nonetheless held up well.

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 18.54mm

Bowl Depth: 1.55″ / 39.37mm

Weight: 0.7oz / 20g