By Al Jones

This Dunhill Shell billiard belongs to a member of the PipesMagazine.com forum, and was found at small antique store in Tennessee. He collects antique tools and pipes and spied this sitting on a shelf while searching for tools.

The small, two digit date stamp is a bit worn, but I identified it as a 25. The pipe is a Shape 6103 Shell, and that two digit stamp tells me it was made in 1985. The handy Pipepedia Dunhill dating guide confirmed the date. The nomeclature told me to add 25 to the 1960 start date.

The four digit 6103 shape number breaks down to:

Group 6 size

Tapered stem

03 Billiard shape

The pipe had some heavy build-up on the bowl top and a very heavy cake. The stem was oxidized and it had some teeth indentions on both sides of the button. The pipe is just under two ounces, and clenched, teeth indentions would have been inevitable. Below is the pipe as it was received.

I used a piece of Scotch-Brite with water to remove the build-up on the bowl top. That lightened the stain, so I used some Fieblings Medium brown to match the rest of the bowl. The cake was removed with the largest bit in my Pipenet reamer set, and the bowl was in excellent condition. I soaked the bowl with alcohol and sea salt. Following the soak, the shank was scrubbed with a bristle brush dipped in alcohol.

I used a heat gun to lift some of the teeth indentions. The remaining indentions, on the bottom, were shallow enough to let well enough alone. The stem was mounted and the oxidation was removed with 600, 800, 1500 and 2000 grade wet paper. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish. I used Halcon wax on the sandblast finish for the final buff.

Below is the finished pipe.