Dunhill 1978 Shell Briar 51091 Sandblasted Canadian Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

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 mid-1970s to mid-1980s was an interesting time for Dunhill from the perspective of pipe design. This was the period when Alfred Dunhill Ltd. rolled out its new, standardized shape system, compressing the scores of shapes within the make’s catalog into a modular schema. Each major component of a pipe shape, from as its overall size, to the style of the bowl, to the cut of the mouthpiece, being assigned a number and a position in a simple sequence of digits; almost every pipe shape that Dunhill made could be expressed in such a sequence. While the bulk of today’s Dunhills are specified using four-digit codes, however, between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, Alfred Dunhill Ltd. used five-digit codes, with that last digit serving to note variation on the base shape specified by the first four. I think this “51091” (a group 5, tapered mouthpiece Canadian rendition) is more or less the same as the “5109” that would ultimately succeed it, though I can’t help but notice a slightly more squat stature than the latter, with the pipe’s bowl almost verging into the territory of the brandy. It is possible that this variation is a little different to the base shape it sprang from.

Either way, it’s a little more uncommon than most. After all, it’s a group 5 Dunhill, taking on a size that is typically produced in far fewer numbers than counterparts in the group 2-4 range. The finish is Dunhill’s classic Shell Briar sandblast, seen here giving the bowl a very nice, ring grain relief.

The condition is good. Some rim darkening, chamber slightly over-reamed, and some finish fading.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.57″ / 39.87mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g