Dunhill 1980 Dead Root 2 Star XL Smooth Bent 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 has, since its earliest days, always maintained a reputation for offering pipes that were a cut above the rest—pipes that were, for lack of a better word, special. But even among Dunhills, some pipes are more special than others. Ever since the 1910s, the centerpiece of Dunhill’s premium output has been the “Dead Root” pipe, a line distinguished from even the Root Briar line by its unmatched straight grain patterns. And ever since the Dead Root’s inception, such pipes have been marked by the “DR” stamp on their bowls, with mid-century production introducing an alphabetical grading system (e.g., DRA, DRB, etc.). By the end of the 1970s, the Dead Root grading system had moved to the “star” system seen here, with an increase in the number of stars corresponding to an increase in grade. This pipe, for example, is a two-star Dead Root, or DR **, though it also looks to be a little different from many other Dead Root pipes, in that it is a rather freeform shape, more in line with Dunhill’s hand-turned Collector series than the standard and Quaint shapes Dead Roots are often rendered in. One might consider it an acorn of sorts, a Zulu, or simply an unusually supple bent billiard.

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening, chamber slightly over-reamed, and minor handling marks.

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.95 / 24.13mm

Bowl Depth: 1.40″ / 35.56mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g