Tag Archives: Dunhill sandblast pipes

Restoring a 1955 Dunhill Tanshell ES Long Canadian

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 Tanshell Canadian 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 a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads ES [followed by] Dunhill [over] Tanshell [followed by] Made in [over] England⁵ [followed by] circle 4T. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Tan and Brown stains on a deep sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime in the nooks and crannies of the rugged, deep sandblast. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat in the sandblast rim top and edges. The original white spot short taper stem is dirty and oxidized. 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 short taper stem ahead of the button. The stamping on the heel of the bowl 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. 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 Pipephill helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The ES is the shape of the pipe which I assume is a Canadian. The Dunhill Tanshell is the finish. Following the Made In England5 gives the year that the pipe was made. The circle 4 T is the stamp for a Tanshell finish.
I turned to Pipedia’s shape charts on Dunhills (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shape_Chart). I have included the shape charts from the site. The first is the chart as a whole and the second is a larger version of the centre column.
From the above information I could see that I was working on a Canadian shaped pipe. The chart shows that the ES is the stamping for Canadian.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp ⁵. I have included the chart below for you to follow (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column is where the 5-year suffix fits. Because the date code was a raised suffix, the suffix ⁵ is added to 1950 making the pipe a 1955 Tanshell long Canadian.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. The rim top was still darkened in the grooves of the sandblast.I scrubbed it further with Before & After Briar Cleaner and a brass bristle brush to work the cleaner into the grooves. I rinsed it off and repeated the process until it became cleaner. There is still some darkening in the sandblast that will not come out but it is clean and significantly 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 worked on the stem. I sanded the oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove all of the light tooth damage on the stem and the majority of the oxidation.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 stem and lightly buffed the sandblast bowl and shank 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 1955 Dunhill Tanshell CS Canadian. Even the darkening on the rim top does not detract from the beauty of the pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 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 sandblast. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Maker Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Dunhill Tanshell Briar 6475F/T Friendly Cherrywood

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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 Tanshell Cherrywood with a vulcanite saddle stem. It is in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on a smooth heel of the bowl and reads 6475 F/T [over] Dunhill Tanshell [over] Made in England¹¹ [over] circle 4T. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Tan and Brown stains on a Shell sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime in the nooks and crannies of the sandblast. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the smooth crowned rim top and edges. The original white spot saddle stem is dirty and oxidized. It had a white Delrin replacement tenon that seemed to be loose. 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 heel of the bowl 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. 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 Pipephill helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The F/T is the stamp for a fishtail type stem. The Dunhill Tanshell is the finish. Following the Made In England¹¹ gives the year that the pipe was made. The four digit shape number is a bit of a mystery.

I turned to Pipedia’s shape charts on Dunhills (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shape_Chart). I quote what was written there and have included the shape charts from the site.

The standard catalog currently encompasses thirty-five distinct shapes, each designated by a two-digit numerical code. From time to time, however, the inherent characteristics of a particular piece of briar lend themselves to the creation of a form that exists outside this established repertoire. These unique, non-standard shapes are collectively referred to by the term “Quaint”. The modern four-digit identification system has been successfully in place for more than three decades, serving Dunhill, its commercial partners, and its clientele with proven efficacy.From the above information I could see that I was working on a Cherrywood shaped pipe but the shape number above did not match that. The chart shows that the Cherrywood was a 20 but there is no 20 number on the pipe I am working on. From there I turned to the next chart on the site which gave a digit by digit breakdown of the shape number. I include the chart below and then underneath I give the break down on the number.

The shape number of the pipe is 6475F/T using the chart above here is what the numbers tell us.
The first digit 6 is the group size of the pipe making it a large Group6.
The second digit 4 is the mouth piece which in this case is a ¼ bent taper but the pipe I am working on is a ¼ bent saddle stem which should be a number 5.
The third + fourth digit 75 which does not match anything on the chart above. Even the shape number on the first chart above identifies a Cherrywood as a 20.

From there I turned to another link on Pipedia which gave shape numbers and names on the pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shapes_List). The site listed that the shape I have in hand is one know as a Group 6 size 475 which is known as a Friendly.

6475 Friendly (=475?) 4 5½” 1950, 1969

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp ¹¹. I have included the chart below for you to follow (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column is where the 2-year suffix fits. To arrive at the date the suffix ¹¹ is added to 1960 making the pipe a 1971 Tanshell Cherrywood with a saddle stem – a Dunhill Friendly.I also am including a link to a similar pipe in the shape number 475 on the blog that is very similar to the one I am working on.

https://rebornpipes.com/2018/11/09/restoring-an-amazing-1963-dunhill-tanshell-cherrywood-475/

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 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 over the rim top with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the rim top down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The crowned smooth rim top looks good.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 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 worked on the stem. I sanded the oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove all of the tooth damage on the stem and the majority of the oxidation.While I was working on the stem the white acrylic replacement tenon came out in my hand. It had not been glued in place in the stem so it easily slipped out. This was actually great because I wanted to replace it with a black tenon. I went through my Delrin tenons and found one that was perfect and looked more like the original. I fit it in the shank and to make sure it all fit together correctly.I glued the new tenon in place in the stem with Black CA Glue. Once the glue set on the tenon I worked over the tenon surface with a flat file and 220 grit sandpaper to get a snug fit in the shank. I wiped down the stem and tenon with some Obsidian Oil and it began to look very good. 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 stem and the smooth portions of the Cherrywood 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 Dunhill Tanshell 6475F/T Cherrywood Friendly. 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 ½ 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 this beautiful little Dunhill sandblast. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Maker Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Tired and Cobbled Dunhill Shell Patent Era Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table came to us from one of Jeff’s hunts. It is a Bent Bulldog with a copper/brown variegated acrylic stem and a rugged sandblast around the bowl. It has an oxblood/brown/black finish that highlights the grain in the sandblast. When I first took the pipe out of the box to work on it this morning I thought that the blast reminded me of early Dunhill pipes but the band and the acrylic stem made me not connect it to Dunhill. Later when I turned the pipe over to try to decipher the stamping with a light and lens I was surprised that it was indeed a Dunhill. It is stamped on the flat underside of the shank and reads P12 followed by Dunhill Shell [over] Pat. No. with the numbers and the rest of the stamping blurred out with what looks like the previous owner’s initials DAV or DAN carved by hand. So it is a Patent Shell with no way of dating it and having an aftermarket band and acrylic stem. The acrylic stem and silver band were well fitted to the shank and matched the angles. From my experience it is unusual to see this kind of workmanship in an aftermarket stem and band. It is always a shame to me when a very old and well-made pipe is changed this much! Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup.He took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake and the heavy lava overflow on the top. It is an incredibly dirty pipe. He also captured the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the deep blast around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank and the carved initials near the stem/shank junction. He also took a photo of the stamping on the silver band on the shank. I turned Pipephil’s helpful Dunhill section to see if I could at least establish parameters for the age of the pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/index.html).

From there I knew that the Dunhill Shell was introduced in 1917 and the Patent stamped lasted from 1920 until 1954.

From the shape lettering chart I learned that the P stamp was correct for a ½ Bent Bulldog (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes-l.html_).

I turned to Pipedia and looked up the specifics of the Shell line. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Shell)

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 catalog 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 knew that the Dunhill Shell pipe I was working was made between 1920-1954. I probably would not get much closer than that for a date on the pipe. I also knew that the previous owner had not only personalized the pipe with his initials but had also added a Sterling Silver band for decoration (no cracks or damage to the shank visible) and a variegated acrylic stem that looked very 1970s. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done his usual thorough cleanup on the pipe. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He cleaned the internals and externals of the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I took a photo of the rim top and stem to show the condition. They cleaned up really well and the burn damage on the top of the rim at the front and left side are visible. The rest of the rim top is worn with the sandblast smoothed out. The inner edge of the bowl had some low spots and damage that would need to be addressed. The acrylic replacement stem was well crafted and fit very well with the shank and angles of the shank. The stem surface looked very good with light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the left and underside of the shank. It read as noted above. You can see the wear on the stamping and the DAV initials just ahead of the tarnish silver band.I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. It is a well shaped bent Bulldog shape that looks craggy and inviting.Now it was time to do my work on the pipe. I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl and gave it a slight bevel to minimize the damage. It also brought the bowl back into round. Since it was clean and looked good I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the sandblast bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. It helped to give depth to the stain around the bowl. The final buffing would bring the pipe alive. I polished the Sterling Silver band with a jeweler’s cloth to remove the remaining oxidation that was on the silver. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the tooth chatter and marks and blend them into the stem surface. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This beautifully sandblasted Dunhill Shell Bent Bulldog with a variegated copper and brown acrylic replacement saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. I was able to minimize damages on the edge of the bowl and rim. I gave a bevel to the inside edge of the bowl to remove the burn damage and out of round bowl. The rich Shell coloured finish came alive with the polishing and waxing. The dimensions of the sandblast really popped. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Bulldog is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. Even though the stem and band are aftermarket it still looks good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Restoring an Amazing 1963 Dunhill Tanshell Cherrywood 475

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff picked up a pair of Dunhill pipes somewhere on his journeys. He becoming a very selective Pipe Hunter and this twosome are really quite nice. I am working on the first one of those at this time. It is a Dunhill Sandblast in a Cherrywood/Poker shape. It has a nice rugged blast with a smooth, rounded rim top and bowl bottom. It is stamped on the bottom of the smooth bowl. It reads 475 (shape number) over Dunhill Tanshell. Under that is stamped Made in England followed by a 3. Underneath that it has a 4 in circle and a T next to that. The stamping tells me that the pipe is a Tanshell (both the name and the T). The 475 is the shape number (I wonder if the 4 on the front is the size). The circle 4 is the size of the pipe. The 3 following the England stamp tells me that the pipe was made in 1963. Jeff took the following photos to show the condition of the pipe. The finish is dirty as can be seen in this photo.The stem is oxidized and there was a chip missing out of the white spot. The finish is dirty as noted above. There is an overflow of lava on the crowned rim top and a thick cake in the bowl.He took two photos of the rim top to show the thick lava overflow on the inner edge of the rim and the top of the bowl itself. You can also see the thick cake in the bowl.The deep grooves of the sandblast are dirty and there is debris in the grooves and crevices of the finish.The stamping on the underside of the bowl is very readable and gives the information that is written in the opening paragraph of the blog. The photo of the stem shows the chip in the white spot on the top of the stem. The white spot was slightly yellowed.The stem showed tooth chatter, marks and wear on the button on both sides. Jeff had reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils, lava and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. The rim was thoroughly cleaned and without the grime the finish looked really good. The rim had some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. The vulcanite stem would need to be worked on but I really like the profile it cast. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem. You can see the condition of the rim top and bowl in the first photo. Jeff was able to remove all of the tar and oils but you can now see the darkening around the inner edge. The vulcanite stem had tooth chatter and some light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem both on the surface of the button and just ahead it. There was one deeper tooth mark on the topside near the button.I started my refurbishing work by addressing the darkening on the rim top and inner edge. I first lightly sanded it with a worn piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I find that using a bit more tired piece of sandpaper works wonders on the dark edge without scratching the rim surface like a new piece. I followed that by wet sanding it with 1500 grit micromesh.I rubbed down the smooth and the sandblast briar with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the smooth surface of the briar on the rim and the bottom of the bowl. I worked it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast on the bowl and shank with my fingertips and with a horsehair shoe brush. I wanted to make sure that the balm got into the deep crevices to do its work. The balm works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let it sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The rim looks much better than when I started but still needs to be polished and buffed to raise a shine on it. I sanded out the tooth chatter and tooth marks on the stem surfaces. I put a drop of clear superglue in the chip on the white spot and sanded it smooth.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I the polished stem and the smooth portions of the 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 pipe in terms of shape and finish. This is a nice looking Dunhill Cherrywood pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill sandblast. It will soon be heading to India to join Paresh’s collection. Thanks for looking.