Dunhill 2006 Bruyere 5101 Smooth Apple w/ Bamboo 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.

During and after the Second World War, pipe makers across the world suffered a briar shortage. Different companies solved this problem in different ways, with one solution being to make the briar part of a pipe smaller (meaning less briar was used) and making up the rest of the length with some kind of extension. One of the extension materials used was a type of bamboo, which came from Asia. The shorthand for this type of bamboo (along with a variety of others) is whangee. Whangee originally comes from a Mandarin term, 黃藜, or huáng lí, in pinyin. Following the war, Dunhill began using bamboo shank extensions, with these pipes stamped with a “W” for precisely that.

Once the briar shortage eased, Dunhill continued to utilize bamboo in their pipe designs, though much less frequently, and without the Whangee appellation. Instead, these pipes were reserved for things like the “Collectors’ Range” and other occasional releases. This 2006 piece, for example, is a beautifully grained, large Bruyere, one whose bowl certainly had no problems when it came to the quality of the briar used. While the exact hue of the Bruyere has changed a number of times over the decades, I do find that the darker finish from a 2000s make like this one creates a lovely tritone palette between the reddish brown of the bowl, the black of the mouthpiece, and the white gold of the bamboo.

The condition is good. Minor rim darkening, a few handling marks and a little oxidation on the vulcanite.

Details:

Length: 6.8″ / 172.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.42″ / 36.06mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g