Dunhill 1986 Cumberland 5110 Partially Sandblasted Liverpool Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

What we call “cumberland,” i.e., red and black swirl ebonite, has featured on some Dunhill pipes since the 1930s, but it was not until 1979 that Dunhill introduced a dedicated series of pipes featuring such stems. Named after a London road where Dunhill’s warehouse was located, the new Cumberland series featured a red-brown sandblast and, of course, red and black swirl ebonite stems. It is even said to be thanks to this Dunhill series that pipe smokers and pipe makers used the term so commonly today.

This particular Cumberland comes from 1986, and is a particularly large example by Dunhill’s standards. The make’s typical size groups run from group 1, whose pipes feature something of a “coffee break” stature, and group 6, which could reasonably be termed “oversized” by traditional Anglo-French conventions. The majority of Dunhill pipes that are made, however, fall somewhere between groups 2 and 4, with larger pipes being far less common than their average counterparts. A group 5 Liverpool such as this one is, therefore, a nice, rare treat to behold, as is its crisp, ring grain sandblast, one that I’m a little surprised didn’t qualify for a premium “Ring Grain” grade. Then again, I’m not entirely sure when the Ring Grain (later known as the “Shilling,” before changing back to “Ring Grain” once more) was first incorporated into Dunhill’s sandblasted lines beyond the Shell Briar, so perhaps that could have been the reason this one missed out.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

Details: 

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.63″ / 41.40mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g