Dunhill Shell Briars...

[TastesLikeDirt]

In the 1960's & 70's, I used to smoke my father's Dunhill Shell Briar pipes. I never paid any attention to them, other than to think they fit my big mouth pretty well. In the early 1990's, I took all three pipes to the Dunhill store in San Francisco and had them cleaned, reamed, polished, and re-stemed with correct white dots. I have not smoked them since. In 1998, a clerk at the London Dunhill store stated he thought the pipes (I had brought one with me) were "pre-war," and that made them dicey to smoke because the briar would have been "very dry and brittle."

Do ya think this is true, that the pipes could crack now if I were to smoke them? Also, what's the value of pre-war Dunhill Shell Briars, assuming the clerk knew what he was talking about? The markings on the base of each pipe are nearly eradicated now, so I know the pipes are quite old. My dad was married in 1941, so he could have purchased these pipes a little before or after that year.

TIA

 

[Newfie]

snip.... In 1998, a clerk at the London Dunhill store stated he thought the pipes (I had brought one with me) were "pre-war," and that made them dicey to smoke because the briar would have been "very dry and brittle."....snip

I would think that a clerk working at Dunhill would know something more than me about pipes, but my first opinion would be to say that's a crock. Jeez, Briar has to be cured & dried for years before there's anything done to it.

As for value, hard to say. With new stems, much of the collectors value may be diminished, but who's to say!!!

One of the best pipe sites I know of is www.smokersforums.com. Browse around over there and maybe you'll find out.

 

[bilder]

Hope not.

I am going to finish up cleaning one of the old Grabow's I have and smoke a bowl or two from it tomorrow. It is either pre-war or a war time production as well. I doubt that it will have any problems.

Just take it nice and easy in the beginning. Smoke a half bowl or less to start with and work up to a full bowl over time.

 

[psyktek]

Smoking them should not be a problem. If they've been kept dry and away from sunlight the wood should be fine.
ebay prices would end up well above $100, possibly $200 depending on their condition and shape. Since they were restemmed by Dunhill, the value shouldn't change much, but since I'm not a Dunhill collector I'm only guessing.
The markings a collector would be concerned about would be on the shank of the bowl, and careful cleaning may make them more legible. Unless they've been subjected to a power buffer, they should still be there. Try an 8x loupe.

 

[bilder]

Here is a guide for dating Dunhill pipes:

http://www.rdfield.com/Articles/A%20Dunhil...pe%20Dating.htm

 

[TastesLikeDirt]

TY gentlemen...there are markings on the shanks. I can clearly see patent no. 417574 and suffixes. Looks like one of the pipes dates from 1935-1941...has a suffix of 17, and an 18 next to it!! Weird, why two suffixes?? Another pipe has a suffix which indicates manufacture date was 1942-1950. The third pipe has a Group Number (4S) which indicates the pipe dates from 1951. The original stems either broke or got so cruddy with use that they were replaced once upon a time with plain, black vulcanite (no White Dot). But when I decided to refurbish the pipes, I went with correct Dunhill stems. The only thing I changed was to install saddle-bit stems versus straight stems.

Ahh, the good old days, when I could smoke delicious Balkan Sobranie (black & white can) and Dunhill Std. Mixture-medium. What the heck ever happened to Sobranie's mixture No. 10; it was rough cut and tasted like cigar leaf. Are my taste buds failing, or have I become old and insufferably cranky??

Thanks again.