Dunhill 2021 Shell Briar (5) Quaint Sandblasted Diamond Shank Bent Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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 “Quaint Shapes” are a little different to the make’s standard output. The nature of these Quaints has, however, changed a couple of times over the last 100 years. For one, they are much rarer than Dunhill’s usual shapes, because Quaints are only made when one of the many briar blocks passing through Dunhill’s factory shows itself to be especially well suited to such a shape. This is as true now as it was in the first half of the 20th century. In the past, however, there was a large roster of Quaint Shapes that could be easily recognized not only because of their design, but because they were designated by letters, rather than numbers. For example, the “EK” panel billiard, or foursquare, was originally a Quaint Shape, whereas a “130” Dublin was not. Today, things are a little different. While there are established Quaint designs, just as there were in times gone by, the approach to making them appears to be a little more free, with many shapes seeming to be a kind of halfway between Dunhill’s standard shapes and its hand-turned Collector series. This may be why Dunhill Quaints today are relatively sparse in nomenclature, bearing no special shape codes or any explicit indication that they are Quaints. In fact, it’s quite the opposite; Quaints are identifiable by the absence of any specific designation as to the nature of their design, save for a group size and the name of the finish they wear.

This one, for example, is a very nice bent billiard rendition, one which is further distinguished by its unconventional, diamond shank, which serves as the principal aspect of its quaintness. It is also a little rarer than the “average” Quaint, as it is especially large. As a group 5, it sits around the top end of Dunhill’s size groups, among pipes which are already produced in lower quantities than those of Dunhill’s other sizes.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.68″ / 42.67mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g