Tag Archives: Dunhill Pipes

Restoring a Dunhill Shell Briar 127 F/T Chunky Billiard with a replacement taper stem

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a thick shank Dunhill Dark Sandblast bowl with a replacement stem. It is in dirty but in good condition other than that as can be seen in the photos below. The underside of the shank is stamped and readable. It reads 127 F/T on the heel of the bowl followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar [followed by] Made In [over] England followed by a superscript 0. That is followed by a circle 4 S identifying the bowl size as a Group 4 and the finish as a Shell Briar. It has rugged sandblast finish that is very tactile on both the shank and the bowl. The shape works very well with the sandblast grain. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime deep in the finish that is darkened. However, the grain really stands out. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a lava coat on the top and edges. The replacement vulcanite stem is dirty, lightly oxidized and has light tooth marks and dents on the top and underside of the stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took a closer photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim. You can see the light cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the top and the inner edge.The stamping on the smooth panel of the underside of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. Even with the deep gouge in the left side of the bowl it is a real beauty.I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 127 is the shape number for a taper stem Billiard and the F/T is the stamp for the original Fish Tail stem. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The underlined, superscript number 0 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The circle 4S tells me that the pipe is a group 4 sized pipe and the S is for the Shell finish. The photo below is of the stamping on a Don shape but the stamping is similar on this one.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has 0 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”.I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The first column – suffix [0] led me to the next section. Since the 0 after the D in England is raised, the date of the pipe is 1960.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalogue pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I began working on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the third and fourth cutting heads to clean out the cake. I cleaned up what remained in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped it back to bare briar. I finished by sanding the inside of the bowl with a dowel wrapped in sandpaper. The inside walls are free of burn damage or checking so the gouge does not go all the way through. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to remove the debris in the finish. While there was some darkening it looked much better. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the oxidation and tooth chatter on both sides. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads to further adjust the fit of the stem to the shank. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1960 Dunhill Shell Briar 127 F/T Billiard with a replacement vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 127 F/T Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.48 ounces/42 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Restemming and Breathing Life into a Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful Dunhill Tanshell Billiard with a straight vulcanite saddle stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 59 on the heel of the bowl followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Following that it is stamped Made in [over] England with the number 8 underlined and in superscript after the D. Below the 8 there is a superscript underlined 9. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of brown stains that highlight the depths of the sandblast around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It was the wrong stem for the pipe as it was a Charatan Double Comfort Stem rather than a white spot stem. It will need to be replaced with a Dunhill stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it.   I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem.The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and is readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I need to fit the bowl with a new stem and will take photos then.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/tanshell1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 59 is the shape number for a Billiard. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish which is corroborated the T at the end of the stamping. The size of the pipe 4 in a circle is a Group 4. The 8 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. There is also a 9 down and to the right of the 8. The second number is typically stamped to show the date the pipe sold to a retailer.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has 8 following the D in England. That is followed by 9.

I followed the link following the “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column (suffix 5…9) led me to the section with an 8 after the D in England that a superscript. It is followed by a superscript 9. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1950 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1958. The superscript 9 is the date it went to the retailers – 1959.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Tanshell

The first lot was distributed in 1952 (usually made using Sardinian briar). The prototype was called “Root Shell “, produced in 1951. The Tanshell is a light tan sandblast. Sardinian briar was used for this sandblast. There is a distinct contrast in the sandblasts using Sardinian as opposed to Algerian briar. The Sardinian is much denser and much harder. The resulting pattern, when blasted, is far more even and regular both in terms of the surface texture and the finish.

The TanShell was Dunhill’s fourth finish and its first major post-war line addition. Introduced in 1951/1952 the TanShell was a naturally stained sandblasted pipe made exclusively from Sardinian briar through the 1960s. The TanShell apparently was not simply a light stained Shell but rather was also the product of “certain processes [unrevealed] not previously employed.” Initially, it appears that the pipe was to be named the Root Shell and a stamp to that effect was ordered and received by Dunhill in May 1951. Ultimately, however, the name TanShell was settled upon but the stamp for the TanShell name was not received by Dunhill until the beginning of December. Thus while the Tanshell was in production in 1951 it appears that most if not all TanShells made in that year did not enter into retail distribution until 1952 and were given a 1952 date code. Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline.Before I started working on the bowl I decided to see if I could restem it with an original Dunhill stem. I went through the boxes of pipes Jeff sent me and low and behold there was a Sasieni London Made 17 Billiard and it had a Dunhill White Spot taper stem. It looked like it would fit quite well. I removed the stem and checked it on the Tanshell. The tenon was a little large for the shank. I used a flat file and 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the diameter of the tenon to fit the shank.With that finished I inserted it in the shank and took photos of the fit. The diameter of the stem was very slightly wider than the shank. The flat bottom on the stem matched the flat portion of the shank. There were also some tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I filled in the tooth marks with black CA glue and set the stem aside to let the repairs cure on the surface. It took about 20 minutes to harden. Once it hardened I flattened it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to blend it into the vulcanite. I also worked on the diameter of the stem to reduce it to match diameter of the shank. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to further reduce the diameter of the stem. I worked it over further with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the scratches and blend in the marks to the surface of the vulcanite. I also wanted to really adjust the fit to the shank.I sanded the stem further with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It started to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I set the stem aside and turned to work on the bowl. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good at this point there were no burn marks and only light checking on the walls. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I continued scrubbing the bowl and rim top with Before & After Extra Strong Briar Cleaner. I scrubbed it with a brass bristle wire brush to clean out the rim top and the darkening on the backside of the bowl. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I put the stem back on the bowl of this 1958 Dunhill Tanshell 59 Group 4 Billiard with a newly fitted Dunhill Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that was deep and craggy and crisp. The Tanshell finish highlights a classic Dunhill rugged sandblast around the bowl and shank. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished lightweight Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.09 ounces/32 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I appreciate you taking time to read the writeup.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

New Life for a Dunhill Shell Briar 83 F/T Yachtsman with a Taper Stem

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Shell Briar Zulu or Yachtsman with a vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 83 F/T [followed by] Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. That is followed by Made in [over] England6 and a 9 slightly below the first number. It is followed by a stamping Circle 3S. The stamping is faint in spots but is still readable. It has rich Shell Briar Sandblast Finish with a blend of black, brown and oxblood stains on a richly grained sandblast finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. It was also spotty and possibly faded. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and there was a dark dot on the top that appears to be a brass circle like Orlik has on their stem or a darkened white spot. I will know when I clean it up. It is oxidized and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the underside of the shank is faint in spots but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 83 is the shape number for a Zulu or Yachtsman shape. The F/T gives the shape of the stem as a Fishtail on this taper stem. The Dunhill Shell Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England6 gives the year that the pipe was made the superscript 9 that follows that is the year it was sold to a retailer. The Circle 3S is the Group 3 size pipe and the S is the stamp for a Shell Briar.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 6 and 9. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1950+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1956 made pipe sent to a retailer in 1959.    I wanted to know more about the Shell finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill and how that fit the Patent stamp on the bowl. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Shell

The Shell is a deep, craggy sandblast finish with a black stain, traditionally applied to soft, beautifully grained Algerian briar. While perhaps not the first-ever use of sandblasting on pipes, the technique perfected by Dunhill is considered one of the brand’s most significant contributions to the art of pipe making. The development is documented in English patent No. 119708/17; preliminary work began on October 13, 1917, and the patent was granted a year later, just weeks before the end of the First World War.

The origin of the finish is famously recounted as an “Accidental Discovery” in early Dunhill catalogues. The story tells of Algerian briar blocks being inadvertently left near a furnace, causing the softer wood to shrink and the harder grain to stand out in a textured relief. The reality, as detailed in the patent application, was a deliberate process of steeping the briar in oil for weeks, followed by a heat treatment. Only then was the sandblast applied to cut away the softer wood, resulting in a durable, lightweight, and cool-smoking pipe.

In 1986, Dunhill introduced a premium version of the Shell finish called the ‘Ring Grain’. These pipes feature a particularly deep blast reminiscent of the classic style of the 1930s to mid-1960s, applied to briar with a superior grain pattern. The ‘Ring Grain’ name was later changed to ‘Shilling’ in 1995. Regarded by many enthusiasts as among the finest modern Dunhills, these pipes are produced in limited quantities and are exceptionally rare.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Shell Briar 83F/T Yachtsman with a replacement Taper Stem that was made in 1956 and sent to a retailer in 1959.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.  I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I worked on the area around the spot on the top of the stem. What first appeared to be a brass circle became obviously a Dunhill spot-like insert. I believe that it is a darkened white spot that is shrunken slightly and has some grime around the edge. I examined it carefully with a lens and bright light and it is definitely not a ring but a spot. It looks like I have an original stem on the pipe.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished vulcanite taper stem and the 1956 Dunhill Shell Briar 83 F/T Yachtsman bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The dark spot/darkened white spot on the stem is very visible. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Shell Briar 83 F/T Yachtsman with a Taper Stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .95 ounces/27 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Shell Briar. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.

New Life for a 1975 Dunhill Root Briar147 Diamond Shank Bulldog with a Taper Stem

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Root Briar Small Straight Bulldog with a vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads 147 [followed by] Dunhill [over] Root Briar. On the right side it is stamped Made in [over] England15. That is followed by a stamping Circle 4R. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Root Briar Finish with a blend of brown stains on a richly grained smooth finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. The original white spot taper stem is dirty and oxidized with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the saddle stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank are clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 147 is the shape of the pipe which I assume is a Bulldog. The Dunhill Root Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England15 gives the year that the pipe was made.  The circle 4R is the stamp for a Group 4 in a Root Briar finish.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 15. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1960+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1975 pipe.    I wanted to know more about the Root Briar finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Root Briar

Dunhill introduced its third major pipe finish, the Root Briar, in 1931. The new line was developed specifically to showcase briar with a particularly beautiful and pronounced grain. To this end, it was made exclusively from Corsican mountain briar, a wood characteristically prized for its fine grain, a practice that continued into the 1960s.

The pipe was finished with a light, natural stain to allow the beauty of the wood to show through. A particularly distinctive feature of the early Root Briar was its unique mouthpiece — a marble-grained, brown vulcanite bit — that became known to collectors as the ‘bowling ball’ bit. This style, however, was discontinued with the onset of the Second World War.

Because the Root Briar finish requires a perfectly clean bowl with exceptional graining, it has always been one of Dunhill’s rarer and more expensive lines, typically available only at the company’s own stores or through its principal dealers. Its nomenclature was identical to that of the Bruyère, except for the use of an ‘R’ stamp instead of an ‘A’. Straight-grained versions were graded on various scales over the years, evolving into the modern ‘DR’ one-to-six-star system.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Root Briar 147 Bulldog with a Taper Stem that was made in 1975.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scraped the rim top with the Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove as much of the lava coat as I could. I followed that up with a 320 grit sanding pad. It was beginning to look much better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I sanded the exterior of the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the scratching in the finish. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to look much better. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to develop the shine. It began to look very good. It had a rich shine in the finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished vulcanite saddle stem and the 1975 Dunhill Root Briar 147 Taper Stem Bulldog bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Root Briar147 Bulldog with a Taper Stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.16 ounces/33 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Root Briar. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.

New Life and a New Stem for a 1973 Dunhill Red Bark N792 F/T Canadian

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Red Bark Canadian missing the original stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads N792 F/T [followed by] Dunhill [over] Red Bark. That is followed by Made in [over] England13. That is followed by a stamping Circle 4R/B. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Red Bark Sandblast Finish with a blend of red/oxblood stains on a richly grained sandblast finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. It appeared to have a crack in the shank on the topside that extended into the shank about ½ inch. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and edges. I was excited to work on the pipe and forgot to take photos before I started working on it. I had a tarnished Sterling Silver Band that would fit the shank well so I heated it and pressed it in place. Then I remembered that I had not taken photos before the band. I took photos of the pipe with the banded shank to show what it looked like before I started working on it. The stamping on the underside of the shank is readable as noted above. I took a photo of the stamping.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The N792 is the shape of the pipe which is a Canadian. The F/T designates a Fishtail stem. The Dunhill Red Bark is a red stained sandblast finish. Following the Made In England13 gives the year that the pipe was made.  The circle 4R/B is the stamp for a Group 4 in a Red Bark finish.

From the above information I could see that I was working on a Red Bark Canadian shaped pipe.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 1. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1960+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1973 pipe.I wanted to know more about the Red Bark finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Red Bark:

Red Bark: Introduced in 1972, the Redbark was a sandblasted finish characterized by a reddish stain and is arguably the most famous of Dunhill’s discontinued lines. Initially, the stain was a medium red, but a few years after its introduction, it was changed to a significantly brighter, almost pinkish hue. This new colour proved unpopular, causing sales to plummet. In response, the company reverted to the original, darker red stain in 1976. The Redbark finish was officially discontinued in 1987.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Red Bark N792 which original would have had a Taper Stem that was made in 1973 and was only made until 1987 before it was discontinued.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I worked on the darkening on the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush and some Before & After Briar Cleaner. I worked it into the grooves on rim top sandblast and let it sit for 5 minutes. I repeated the process four times and when finished I wiped it off. I was able to remove the majority of the darkening with this method. I polished the band with micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil Cloth to clean it up and add to the shine. I cleaned the Sterling Band with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and protect the silver from further tarnishing. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to deal with the stem. I had a stem in my can of stems that would work on this pipe. I fitted the stem to the shank. It did not take any adjustments to the tenon or the stem. It is a perfect fit to the shank.I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished newly fit Sterling Silver Band and the new vulcanite taper stem and the 1973 Dunhill Red Bark N792 F/T Canadian bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Red Bark N792 F/T Canadian with a Taper Stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.38 ounces/38 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration and restemming with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Red Bark. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.

New Life for a 1964 Dunhill Shell Briar 142 F/T Dublin with a Taper Stem

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Shell Briar Dublin with a vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 142 F/T [followed by] Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. That is followed by Made in [over] England4. That is followed by a stamping Circle 4S. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Shell Briar Sandblast Finish with a blend of black, brown and oxblood stains on a richly grained sandblast finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. It was also spotty and possibly faded. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and edges. The original white spot taper stem is dirty and oxidized with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank are faint but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 142 is the shape number for one of many Dunhill Billiard shapes. The F/T gives the shape of the stem as a Fishtail on this taper stem. The Dunhill Shell Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England4 gives the year that the pipe was made. The Circle 4S is the Group 4 size pipe and the S is the stamp for a Shell Briar.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 4. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1960+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1964 made pipe.    I wanted to know more about the Shell finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill and how that fit the Patent stamp on the bowl. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Shell

The Shell is a deep, craggy sandblast finish with a black stain, traditionally applied to soft, beautifully grained Algerian briar. While perhaps not the first-ever use of sandblasting on pipes, the technique perfected by Dunhill is considered one of the brand’s most significant contributions to the art of pipe making. The development is documented in English patent No. 119708/17; preliminary work began on October 13, 1917, and the patent was granted a year later, just weeks before the end of the First World War.

The origin of the finish is famously recounted as an “Accidental Discovery” in early Dunhill catalogues. The story tells of Algerian briar blocks being inadvertently left near a furnace, causing the softer wood to shrink and the harder grain to stand out in a textured relief. The reality, as detailed in the patent application, was a deliberate process of steeping the briar in oil for weeks, followed by a heat treatment. Only then was the sandblast applied to cut away the softer wood, resulting in a durable, lightweight, and cool-smoking pipe.

In 1986, Dunhill introduced a premium version of the Shell finish called the ‘Ring Grain’. These pipes feature a particularly deep blast reminiscent of the classic style of the 1930s to mid-1960s, applied to briar with a superior grain pattern. The ‘Ring Grain’ name was later changed to ‘Shilling’ in 1995. Regarded by many enthusiasts as among the finest modern Dunhills, these pipes are produced in limited quantities and are exceptionally rare.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Shell Briar 142F/T Dublin with a Taper Stem that was made in 1964.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished vulcanite taper stem and the 1964 Dunhill Shell Briar 142 F/T Dublin bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Shell Briar 142 F/T Dublin with a Taper Stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/34 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Shell Briar. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.

Breathing New Life into Dunhill Shell 360 F/T Billiard on New Year’s Morning 2026

1 Reply

by Steve Laug

This New Year morning’s pipe on the table came to us from a seller in Cleveland, Ohio, USA on 04/26/2022. I am having fun working on this lot of Dunhill pipes. You may be getting tired of reading about them but I have to say it is a pleasure to work on this lot. The current one is a Dunhill Shell Billiard with a saddle stem. Overall it looks very good. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 360 F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar [over] Made in [over] England9 [followed by] 14. The stamping is faint in spots but still readable. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a Shell Briar sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the nooks and crannies of the rugged sandblast. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was lava in the sandblasted rim top and edges. The original stem is on the pipe is oxidized and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 360 is the shape number for one of many Dunhill Billiard shapes. The F/T gives the shape of the stem as a Fishtail on this saddle stem. The Dunhill Shell Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England9 gives the year that the pipe was made. That is followed by 14. The 14 is the year which the pipe was sold – 1974. Thus, made in 69 and sold in 74.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 9 as well as the second stamp 14. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1960+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1969 pipe that sold in 1974.I wanted to know more about the Shell finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill and how that fit the Patent stamp on the bowl. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Shell

The Shell is a deep, craggy sandblast finish with a black stain, traditionally applied to soft, beautifully grained Algerian briar. While perhaps not the first-ever use of sandblasting on pipes, the technique perfected by Dunhill is considered one of the brand’s most significant contributions to the art of pipe making. The development is documented in English patent No. 119708/17; preliminary work began on October 13, 1917, and the patent was granted a year later, just weeks before the end of the First World War.

The origin of the finish is famously recounted as an “Accidental Discovery” in early Dunhill catalogues. The story tells of Algerian briar blocks being inadvertently left near a furnace, causing the softer wood to shrink and the harder grain to stand out in a textured relief. The reality, as detailed in the patent application, was a deliberate process of steeping the briar in oil for weeks, followed by a heat treatment. Only then was the sandblast applied to cut away the softer wood, resulting in a durable, lightweight, and cool-smoking pipe.

In 1986, Dunhill introduced a premium version of the Shell finish called the ‘Ring Grain’. These pipes feature a particularly deep blast reminiscent of the classic style of the 1930s to mid-1960s, applied to briar with a superior grain pattern. The ‘Ring Grain’ name was later changed to ‘Shilling’ in 1995. Regarded by many enthusiasts as among the finest modern Dunhills, these pipes are produced in limited quantities and are exceptionally rare.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Shell 360 F/T Billiard with a Saddle stem that was made in 1969 and sold in 1974.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I used a brass bristle brush to clean up the sandblast on the rim top. I was able to remove the debris built up in the grooves of the sandblast. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I also worked it over with a brass bristle brush and the soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and the tooth chatter and marks on the surface. I scrubbed the surface with Soft Scrub Cleanser and took off the oxidation that had been loosened by the sanding. It looked much better.I sanded the stem and tenon surface with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished vulcanite saddle stem and the 1969 Dunhill Shell Briar 360 F/T bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful 1969 Dunhill Shell Briar 360 F/T Saddle Stem Billiard that sold in 1974. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.06 ounces/29 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill sandblast. This will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for looking.

New Life for a 1964 Dunhill Root Briar 6252 F/T Billiard with a Saddle Stem

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Root Briar Saddle Stem Billiard. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads 6252 F/T [followed by] Dunhill [over] Root Briar. On the right side it is stamped Made in [over] England4. That is followed by Circle 4 R. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Root Briar Finish with a blend of brown stains on a richly grained smooth finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. The original white spot saddle stem is dirty and oxidized with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the saddle stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank are clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 6252 F/T is the shape of the pipe which is a Billiard. The Dunhill Root Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England4, the 4 gives the year that the pipe was made.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 4. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1960+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1964 pipe.    I wanted to know more about the Root Briar finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Root Briar

Dunhill introduced its third major pipe finish, the Root Briar, in 1931. The new line was developed specifically to showcase briar with a particularly beautiful and pronounced grain. To this end, it was made exclusively from Corsican mountain briar, a wood characteristically prized for its fine grain, a practice that continued into the 1960s.

The pipe was finished with a light, natural stain to allow the beauty of the wood to show through. A particularly distinctive feature of the early Root Briar was its unique mouthpiece — a marble-grained, brown vulcanite bit — that became known to collectors as the ‘bowling ball’ bit. This style, however, was discontinued with the onset of the Second World War.

Because the Root Briar finish requires a perfectly clean bowl with exceptional graining, it has always been one of Dunhill’s rarer and more expensive lines, typically available only at the company’s own stores or through its principal dealers. Its nomenclature was identical to that of the Bruyère, except for the use of an ‘R’ stamp instead of an ‘A’. Straight-grained versions were graded on various scales over the years, evolving into the modern ‘DR’ one-to-six-star system.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Root Briar 6252 F/T Billiard with a Saddle Stem that was made in 1964.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top and remove the lava build up. It looked significantly better.I sanded the exterior of the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the scratching in the finish. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to look much better. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to develop the shine. It began to look very good. It had a rich shine in the finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend in the tooth marks and chatter as well as remove the oxidation and spots on the surface of the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.  I the polished vulcanite saddle stem and the 1976 Dunhill Root Briar 6252 F/T Billiard bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the stem and the bowl several coats of Carnauba Wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Root Briar 6252 F/T Saddle Stem Billiard. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Root Briar. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.

New Life for a 1973 Dunhill Red Bark 142 Dublin with a Taper Stem

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Red Bark Dublin with a vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 142 [over] F/T [followed by] Dunhill [over] Red Bark. That is followed by Made in [over] England13. That is followed by a stamping Circle 4R/B. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Red Bark Sandblast Finish with a blend of red/oxblood stains on a richly grained sandblast finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. It was also spotty and possibly faded. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and edges. The original white spot taper stem is dirty and oxidized with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank are faint but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 142 is the shape of the pipe which is a Dublin. The F/T designates a Fishtail stem. The Dunhill Red Bark is a red stained sandblast finish. Following the Made In England13 gives the year that the pipe was made.  The circle 4R/B is the stamp for a Group 4 in a Red Bark finish.

From the above information I could see that I was working on a Red Bark Dublin shaped pipe.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 1. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1960+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1973 pipe.I wanted to know more about the Red Bark finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Red Bark:

Red Bark: Introduced in 1972, the Redbark was a sandblasted finish characterized by a reddish stain and is arguably the most famous of Dunhill’s discontinued lines. Initially, the stain was a medium red, but a few years after its introduction, it was changed to a significantly brighter, almost pinkish hue. This new colour proved unpopular, causing sales to plummet. In response, the company reverted to the original, darker red stain in 1976. The Redbark finish was officially discontinued in 1987.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Red Bark 142 F/T Dublin with a Taper Stem that was made in 1973 and was only made until 1987 before it was discontinued.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I worked on the darkening on the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush and some Before & After Briar Cleaner. I worked it into the grooves on rim top sandblast and let it sit for 5 minutes. I repeated the process four times and when finished I wiped it off. I was able to remove the majority of the darkening with this method. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished vulcanite taper stem and the 1973 Dunhill Red Bark 142 F/T Dublin bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Red Bark 142 F/T Dublin with a Taper Stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/34 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Red Bark. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.

New Life for a 1959 Dunhill Root Briar 83 F/T EX Zulu with a Taper Stem

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Root Briar Small Zulu with a vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped verically on the left side of the shank and reads EX next to the bowl followed by 83 F/T [followed by] Dunhill [over] Root Briar. On the right side it is stamped Made in England9. That is followed by a stamping Circle 3R. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Root Briar Finish with a blend of brown stains on a richly grained smooth finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. The original white spot taper stem is dirty and oxidized with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank are faint but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 83 is the shape of the pipe which is a Zulu. The F/T designates a Fishtail stem. The Dunhill Root Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England9 gives the year that the pipe was made.  The circle 3R is the stamp for a Group 3 in a Root Briar finish.

That still left a mystery for me – what does the EX mean on the left side stamped vertically against bowl shank junction. I turned to John C. Loring’s, The Dunhill Briar Pipe book. On page 47 I found what I was looking for. I quote:

“EX”. A randomly placed “EX” occasionally found on either the reverse shank side of smooth finished pipes or on the bottom of Shell shanks signifies that the pipe was given in exchange pursuant to Dunhill’s one year guarantee. On might speculate that this stamping began with the formal commencement of the guarantee policy in 1921 but Dunhill had informally exchanged pipes for some time preceding, probably since inception, and it is well possible that the EX stamping around during that earlier period.

From the above information I could see that I was working on a Root Briar 83F/T Zulu shaped pipe. The EX gives another exciting bit of information that the pipe was given to the owner as a replacement or exchange for a broken pipe still under guarantee.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 1. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1950+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1959 pipe.    I wanted to know more about the Root Briar finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Root Briar

Dunhill introduced its third major pipe finish, the Root Briar, in 1931. The new line was developed specifically to showcase briar with a particularly beautiful and pronounced grain. To this end, it was made exclusively from Corsican mountain briar, a wood characteristically prized for its fine grain, a practice that continued into the 1960s.

The pipe was finished with a light, natural stain to allow the beauty of the wood to show through. A particularly distinctive feature of the early Root Briar was its unique mouthpiece — a marble-grained, brown vulcanite bit — that became known to collectors as the ‘bowling ball’ bit. This style, however, was discontinued with the onset of the Second World War.

Because the Root Briar finish requires a perfectly clean bowl with exceptional graining, it has always been one of Dunhill’s rarer and more expensive lines, typically available only at the company’s own stores or through its principal dealers. Its nomenclature was identical to that of the Bruyère, except for the use of an ‘R’ stamp instead of an ‘A’. Straight-grained versions were graded on various scales over the years, evolving into the modern ‘DR’ one-to-six-star system.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Root Briar 83 F/T Zulu with a Taper Stem that was made in 1959 and was given to the original owner as an Exchange or replacement pipe for one unrepairable but still under Dunhill Guarantee.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I worked on the darkening on the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkened areas on the top and inner edge of the bowl.I sanded the exterior of the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the scratching in the finish. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to look much better. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to develop the shine. It began to look very good. It had a rich shine in the finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished vulcanite taper stem and the 1959 Dunhill Root Briar 83 F/T Zulu EX bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Root 83 F/T Zulu with a Taper Stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.06 ounces/30 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Root Briar. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.