Tag Archives: Dunhill Tanshell Pipes

Restoring a 1955 Dunhill Tanshell ES Long Canadian

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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 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.

This Dunhill Tanshell 0543 Oval Shank Billiard Turned Out to Be A Lot Of Work

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by Steve Laug

This pipe came to us from a seller in Memphis, Tennessee, USA on 08/27/2024. It was a Dunhill sandblast Billiard with and oval shank. The pipe was stamped with the shape number 0543 on the heel of the bowl [followed by] Dunhill Tanshell [over] Made in England16. It was quite clear and readable but there was not any size stamp or circle T as would be expected as it may have been buffed off. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a heavy coat of lava overflow on the rim top. It looked like it may have some burn damage on the inner edge and rim top. The sandblast finish was dirty and dusty looking. The oval taper stem is vulcanite and is oxidized. There are tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Once I received the pipe I would find a lot more issues with the pipe but what is mentioned above is a good summary. Jeff took some photos of the pipe when he received it to show the general condition. Here is a close up of the bowl and rim top. You can see the heavy cake and the heavy, thick lava coat. The inner edge of the rim appears to have damage from burns on the front and back edge. It really looks to be in bad condition with some heavy damage but once it is cleaned I will know for certain. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, tooth marks and chatter in the stem on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl to show the interesting grain in the sandblast. The swirls and depths of the sandblast are intricate and quite beautiful. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and readable. There are a few faint spots but overall it looks very good. It reads as noted and explained above. 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 0543 is the shape number for a Billiard. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish. The 16 following the D of England gives the date the pipe.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 a 16 following the D in England. It is the same size as the D 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 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 second column (suffix 11…39) led me to the section with a 16 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1976. 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

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. At first glance the pipe looked good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the damage to top and inner edge. It is burned on the front inner edge and back inner edge of the bowl and the rim top. The top is not flat but there is a dip on the front and back in the burn. There also appears to be some cracks on the surface of the rim extending down the back side of the bowl. I will need to examine it further. I ran a finger on the inside of the bowl and the wall was damaged exactly under the cracks on the exterior. There was some significant damage that would need to be addressed. The stem looks quite clean with some light marks on both sides.I took a photo try to capture the stamping on the heel of the bowl and shank. It is clear in spots but also shows some fading. I took a photo with the stem off the shank to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.Now it was time to tackle all the damage on the rim top and edges and then the cracks in the bowl and the burn damage happening on the inside behind the cracks. It really was a mess that I was not expecting when I pulled the pipe out of the box to work on. I used a brass bristle brush to knock off the damage and clean off the remaining charred briar on the rim top. I needed to clean it so I could see the cracks. It was better but the cracks are not visible in the photo below. The first is in the middle of the rim top at the back in the photo below. The second one is not far from it on the right side. I have drawn arrows to point them out in the photo below. To further prepare the top for the repairs to the cracks across the rim and down the back of the bowl I decided to further remove the damage on the surface and inner edge. I used a wooden half sphere and some 220 grit sandpaper to flatten the top and clean up the inner edge. I then topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board to take care of the dips in the rim top that made it uneven. I wiped the bowl and rim down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and then used some clear CA glue to fill in the crack. I used a dental pick to trace it through the cracks on the bowl side and the rim top. I pressed some briar dust into the repaired areas to fill in the opening of the hairline crack. I pressed it into the glue with a dental spatula. I used a wire brush to knock of the high spots of the repair. I then used my Dremel and a burr to follow the patterns of the surrounding sandblast to blend the repairs on the surface into the surrounding briar. I used the same burr to clean up the repairs on the rim top and to approximate a sandblast style finish that I had removed to do the repairs. It came out looking quite good. I used a Maple and a Cherry Stain Pen to match the colour on the surrounding briar on the back side of the bowl and the rim top. The colour matched very well.With the external cracks repaired, I mixed up a batch of JB Weld to address the damaged area on the inside of the bowl behind the exterior cracks. I spread it over the damaged area with a dental spatula until the area was covered and the wall repair was smooth with no dips or divots in the surface. I set the bowl aside to let the repair cure. Once it cured I sanded the bowl walls smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once the repair on the inside had hardened to touch I gave the bowl a coat of Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to get it into the depths of the sandblast. I let it sit on the briar for 20 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. It looked quite amazing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the marks. I was able to lift some of them a lot and the those that remained I filled in with some rubberized Black CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once it had cured I used a small file to flatten it into the surface. I sanded the repaired areas with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better. I further sanded it with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. It began to look much better at this point.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 1976 Dunhill Tanshell 0543 Oval Shank Billiard with a taper fishtail stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The repairs to the rim top and back of the bowl look very good. The inside is once smooth again. The reddish-brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. 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 Dunhill Tanshell 0543 Oval Shank 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 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/34 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

Breathing Life into a 56 F/T Dunhill Tanshell Made in England 0 4T Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that came to us from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 08/09/2024. It is another Dunhill sandblast that is shallow really shows the grain underneath. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number 56F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England with the date number 0 after the D in England. After that it is stamped with a 4 in a circle [followed by] T for Tanshell. The stamping is faint in spots but is otherwise clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has some darkening on the rim top and edges of the bowl. There is some amazing grain under the blast that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and oily around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise looked good. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was light lava on what appeared to be a smooth rim top or edges. The edges looked to be undamaged and possibly protected by the lava. Cleaning would make that clear. The taper stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had scratches, light tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the wear and lava in the smooth rim top to show the general condition of the pipe. The photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem as noted above. He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to show the beautiful grain in the sandblast around the bowl. It really is a beautiful piece of briar that has a shape that follows the grain. The finish is nice but it also dirty with dust ground into the finish. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl and underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.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 56 is the shape number for a Bent Billiard. The F/T signifies a Fish Tail stem. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish which is corroborated the T at the end of the stamping. The size of the pipe is shown in a circle is a Group 4. The 0 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. 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 a 0 following the D in England. It is the same size as the D 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 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 first column (suffix 0) led me to the section with a 0 after the D in England that is the same size as the D. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 0 the same size as the D in England gives the pipe a date of 1970. 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.Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, shank brushes, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The smooth rim top and the inner edge of the rim look good. There is a darkening on the top and edges that I will address and see if I can lessen. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. There is light tooth chatter on the stem surface on both sides but otherwise it looks good.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping is faint in spot but otherwise it is clear and readable. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.The pipe was in excellent condition with a light blast around the bowl. It was clean and free of debris. I decided to see if I could lighten the darkening on the smooth rim top before using the Balm. I went over the top lightly with a brass bristle wire brush to see if the finish was sandblast. I examined the rim with a lens to see if I could see the finish. Surprisingly, it was a smooth rim top that should clean up well and lighten the darkening. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge of the bowl and smooth out the damage to the smooth crown rim. In the third photo you can see the grain in the rim top. It is going to be a great looking pipe when I am finished. I sanded the darkened top with 320-3500 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. The grain really stands out and it looks much better at this point.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the debris. It is looking much better after polishing. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horsehair shoe brush to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. There was some residual oxidation on the stem surface particularly around the button on both sides. I worked over the oxidation with cotton pads and Soft Scrub cleanser. It took some scrubbing but I was able to remove remnants of oxidation. I worked over the tooth marks on the button on both sides and on the stem surface ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper. I reshaped the button at the same time. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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. This 1970 Dunhill Tanshell 56 F/T Group 4 Bent Billiard with a Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that was shallow and distinctive. The Tanshell finish highlights a classic Dunhill sandblast around the bowl and shank. The polished black vulcanite fish tail 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 56 F/T Bent 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 1.45 ounces/41 grams. I will be adding it to the British Pipemakers Section on the rebornpipes store. 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.

Breathing new life into a 1965 Dunhill Tanshell 250 F/T Group 2 size Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that came to us from a seller on eBay from Harrison Township, Michigan, USA on 08/22/2024. It is another Dunhill sandblast that is in decent. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number 250F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England with the date number 5 after the D in England. After that it is stamped with a 2 in a circle [followed by] T for Tanshell. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has some darkening on the deep sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and oily around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise looked good. The bowl had a thick cake and there was lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The edges looked to be undamaged and possibly protected by the lava. Cleaning would make that clear. The taper stem was lightly oxidized, calcified, dirty and had scratches, tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl, lava overflow and the general condition of the pipe. The photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem as noted above. He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to show the beautiful grain in the sandblast around the bowl. It really is a beautiful piece of briar that has a shape that follows the grain. The finish is nice but it also dirty with dust ground into the finish.  Jeff took photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl and underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. 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 250 is the shape number for a Billiard. The F/T signifies a Fish Tail stem. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish which is corroborated the T at the end of the stamping. The size of the pipe 2 in a circle is a Group 2. The 5 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. 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 a 5 following the D in England. It is the same size as the D 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 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 a 5 after the D in England that is the same size as the D. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1965. 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.Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, shank brushes, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The top and the inner edge of the rim look very good. There is a little darkening on the top that I will address and see if I can lessen. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. There is light tooth chatter on the stem surface on both sides but otherwise it looks good.I took a photo of the stamping on the heel of the bowl. The stamping is clear and readable. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. I also took a photo of the tenon end as the inner tube had snapped off in the tenon and seemed to cause no issues. The pipe was in excellent condition with a deep blast around the bowl. It was clean and free of debris. I decided to see if I could lighten the darkening on the rim top before using the Balm. I used a brass bristle wire brush and a tooth brush and Before & After Briar cleaner to see if I could reduce the darkening. I rinsed it with warm water. It looked better and the blast was very clear.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horsehair shoebrush to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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. This 1965 Dunhill Tanshell 250 F/T Group 2 Billiard with a 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 fish tail 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 250 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 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 .85 ounces/24 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.

Cleaning up a Dunhill Tanshell Quaint Tomato

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that came to us from the group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a seller of an estate collection in Superior, Montana, USA on 12/28/2024. It is another Dunhill sandblast that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the heel of the bowl with the Group size of the pipe 4 in a circle. Underneath is a Dunhill in an oval [over] Tanshell. Under that it is stamped Made in England with the date number 05 after the D in England. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The original box bears the label Tanshell 4 QNT. The pipe has a mix of tan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The rim top was in excellent condition with a little darkening around the inner edge. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The taper stem was lightly oxidized, dirty and had light chatter ahead of the button. It came with the original double box, a pipe sock and original paperwork that came in the box. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. There is a moderate cake in the bowl and darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. He also captured the condition of the stem when it arrived. There is a tooth mark on each side ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to show the beautiful grain in the sandblast around the bowl. It really is a beautiful piece of briar that has a shape that follows the grain. The finish is nice but it also dirty with dust ground into the finish.Jeff took photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl. It is clear and readable and reads as noted above.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 pipe has no shape number on it but the box is stamped with QNT which means QUAINT. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish. The size of the pipe is given by the 4 in a circle making it a Group 4. The 05 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. 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 a superscript 05 following the D in England. The chart below (column one) instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made posterior to 1954. 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 fourth column (suffix 00, 01, 02…) led me to the section with a 0 followed by a number after the D in England that is the raised above the D. It is a 05. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 2000 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 2005.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. Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. The photos show the box within the box and the pouch and pipe itself it is a beauty. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The top and the inner edge of the rim look very good. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. There are two tooth marks – one on each side of the stem ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the heel of the bowl. The stamping is clear and readable. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. The pipe was in excellent condition with a deep blast around the bowl. It was clean and free of debris. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horsehair shoebrush to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the two deep marks on the stem surface with black CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once cured I smoothed out the repairs with a small file. I sanded it further with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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. This 2005 Dunhill Tanshell QNT Group 4 Tomato with a Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that was deep and craggy and crisp. The Tanshell finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank through the depths of the blast. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. 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 Dunhill Tanshell QNT Tomato 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: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 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 over another beautiful pipe. I have a friend who has the right of first refusal for this pipe. It is totally in his wheelhouse.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this 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 an old Estate 1966 Dunhill Tanshell 35 FT Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that came to us from the group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow selling an estate collection in Long Island, New York, USA on 04/16/2024. It is another Dunhill sandblast that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number 35F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England by the date number 6. After that it is stamped with a  3 in a circle [followed by] T for Tanshell. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and oily around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. There was some wear on the rim top and the front outer edge of the bowl where it had been knocked. The bowl had a thick cake and there was lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The taper stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had scratches, tooth marks and chatter 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 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 faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I removed the stem and took a photo to give a sense of what the pipe looked like.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 35 is the shape number for a Billiard. The F/T signifies a Fish Tail stem. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish which is corroborated the T at the end of the stamping. The size of the pipe 3 in a circle is a Group 3. The 6 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. 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 a 6 following the D in England. It is the same size as the D 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 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 a 6 after the D in England that is the same size as the D. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1966.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. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second 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 cleaned out the inside of the shank, mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the tars and oils in them both. I used a lot of both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to clean them as they were both very dirty.Before I scrubbed the externals of the bowl I decided to smooth out some of the roughness on the front and the back side of the outer edge. I cleaned up the outer edge with a brass bristle wire brush. I put a few drops of clear CA glue in the roughest areas of the damaged edges on the front and the back and added some briar dust to the finish. My goal was not to rebuild the edges but to rather smooth out the damage and remove the torn and rough edges. I worked it over again with a wire brush to knock of the excess. I would do some more of that after I cleaned the exterior. I scrubbed the surface of the briar with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the rim top and the damaged areas on the front and back of the bowl. I rinsed off the bowl with warm running water to remove the grime. Once it was finished it looked much better. I worked over the surface of the bowl and the rim top with the brass bristle wire brush once again. That included the rim top and the sides of the bowl and shank. It looked much better at this point. At this point 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 scrubbed the oxidation, calcification and debris off the surface of the vulcanite with Soft Scrub on cotton pads. It looked much better once it was finished. I sanded out the majority of the tooth marks with 220 grit sandpaper. I filled in the light tooth marks that remained with black CA glue. I set the stem aside to let the repairs cure. Once they cured I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing process with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I let it soak in.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. Once again I wiped it down between each pad with Obsidian Oil. I further polished it with Before and After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. It looked very good. This 1966 Dunhill Tanshell 35F/T Group 3 Billiard with a Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that was deep and craggy but now slightly worn. The reddish brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The outer edges are a bit worn but I have chosen to leave them as part of the pipe’s story. 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 Dunhill Tanshell 35F/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 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inch, 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 over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Great Looking 1967 Dunhill Tanshell P F/T 4T Half Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 8, 2024. It is a Dunhill Tanshell Bent Bulldog that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number P F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. That is followed by Made in [over] England. Next to the D in England it is stamped the date number 7. Stamped after that is a 4 in a circle followed by a T. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a tan or light brown stain on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. It also had some darkening on the bowl sides where hand oils had darkened it and on the rim top. The bowl had a thick cake and there was some light lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The taper stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He 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 photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. It is a beauty.The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. 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 P is the shape number for a Half Bent Bulldog and the F/T is for a fishtail stem. The Dunhill Tanshell is the finish. The number 7 following the D of England gives the date the pipe as 1967.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 a suffix of underlined, superscript 22 following the D in England. That number 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 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 that sections suffix. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1967.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:

The 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. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The bowl is in excellent condition and looks very good. There is some darkening on the rim top and some light damage to the front inner edge of the bowl. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo clearly shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.I worked over the sandblast finish with a brass bristle brush to clean up the darkening on the rim top and in blast on the sides of the bowl. I scrubbed the rim top and the darkening on the cap and the sides of the bowl with some Before & After Briar Cleaner that Mark Hoover recently sent me. It worked well to remove the darkening on the briar. It looked much cleaner with the darkening lightened. I worked on the inner edge of the bowl to bring it back to round using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I gave it a slight bevel to accommodate the damage. I stained the top, edge and cap of the bowl with a Maple stain pen to match the rest of the bowl.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. 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. The tenon was in great condition and it appeared to have been made for a Dunhill filter. I tried a 6mm filter and it was too large. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in what remained with clear CA glue. Once the repair had cured I sanded it smooth to blend it into the surface of the vulcanite with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and once finished the stem looked much better.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 1967 Dunhill Tanshell P Half Bent Bulldog with a Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/red finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. 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 Dunhill Tanshell P Half Bent Bulldog 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 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

Preparing a 1962 Dunhill Bamboo “Whangee” Tanshell W60 Lovat  so that I can enjoy it!

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Blog by Steve Laug

Back in 2020 I met with a friend here in Vancouver, Alex, whose pipes I often worked on to enjoy a visit and some good tobacco. He showed me this pipe and I immediately was taken with it. I told him that if he ever wanted to part with it he should call me first. This week I received an email from him that he was ready to part with it. We talked about it for awhile and arrived at a price and I paid him online. Yesterday (Thursday) I picked it up from Alex. It was exactly as I remembered it. I have included a few photos of the pipe to show what it looked like when I gave it back to Alex. It still had the unique beauty that I remembered and now looked forward to enjoying myself. It had some great patina on the Bamboo and a darkened Tanshell finish that had only become richer with Alex’s use. This morning I went back to the original blog describing the restoration of the pipe. I am including the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/08/refreshing-a-dunhill-tanshell-w60-t-1962bamboo-lovat-for-alex/). Give it a read. I am quoting my introductory comments in that blog below because they capture well the feelings I had when I first saw the pipe and the information that I could gather on it.

I carefully took it in my hands and examined it. While I have several Stanwell Bamboo pipes and older KBB Yello Bole Bamboos this is the first Dunhill that I had seen up close and personal. Alex told me that these bamboo-adorned pieces were referred to as “Whangee” pipes. I learned later that the term comes from the Mandarin word for bamboo, huáng lí and was used to describe canes and umbrellas with bamboo handles throughout the early to mid-1900s before being attributed to pipes — Dunhill’s in particular. I learned from reading on line that bamboo came to into use in pipemaking during the briar shortage that accompanied and followed WWII. As a means of saving on briar, pipemakers would extend the shank with bamboo.

The pipe was stamped on the heel of the bowl with the following nomenclature: W60 over a circle with a T next to it. T is the designation for Tanshell pipes. I assume that the circle with what looked like a 4 faintly in the center which was the size designation. Next to that is a superscript underlined 2 which I believe designates the year of manufacture – 1962. So now I knew the date on this interesting Bamboo.

Alex had reamed the pipe and cleaned it up very well. He had already enjoyed smoking it and was hooked on it. I even offered to buy it from him and he gently declined! He asked if I could take it home with me and see what I could do about the finish on the bowl. I told him I would take it home and have a go at it…

When I got home yesterday afternoon I laid it aside and this took it up to work on it. I enjoyed going over it carefully to see what I had purchased from Alex. You can see from the four photos below that the dark spots on the left side of the bowl had blended in better and were looking better. They seemed to be stains from the bowl coming in contact with some substance. It was deep in the finish. The right side of the bowl had some darkening toward the top of the bowl and the rim top was clean but still had a bit of darkening. The vulcanite spacer between the bowl and the bamboo shank was cleaned. The patina on the Bamboo shank had darkened and the crackling in the finish looked very good. It was quite stunning. The stem was in good condition other than a few small tooth marks and chatter on both sides just ahead of the button. The pipe had a light cake and smelled of good tobacco. Overall the pipe was in good condition. 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. Alex had taken great care of this old pipe.The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show beautiful sandblasted grain around the bowl and the patterns in the briar. The Tanshell finish had darkened a lot on the pipe and I really debate whether to let it darken naturally or stain it with a Shell Briar style of stain. It is a nice looking pipe. I took the stem off the bamboo shank and took a photo. It really is a beautiful Bamboo shank Lovat in my opinion.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/shapes-l.html). The stamping on the shank heel is interpreted as follows: W stamp is the shape code for a Bamboo followed by the number 60 which is a number for a Billiard, however I would call the elongated shank and bowl combination a Lovat. The 2 following the W60 gives the date the pipe. The Circle 4 T refers to the size of the pipe being a Group 4 and the T is the stamp for a Tanshell designation.

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 a 2  following the W60 number. 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 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 second column (suffix [1…4] or [11…39]) led me to the section with a 2 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1962.I googled Dunhill Bamboo Wanghee to get a bit of background on the that brand and found a link on Smoking Pipes that had some helpful information that I will quote below the link (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=235695).

It’s not everyday you come across a Dunhill Whangee, the marque’s classic bamboo-shanked pipe. Though originally incorporated into Dunhill’s lineup several decades back, when briar was in short supply, these eccentric designs caught on, and many collectors have even built entire rotations around them. You will occasionally find one on the estate market, as we do here, but they tend to sell quickly, especially if it is an older example like this ’62 edition — in part due to their general rarity, but also because of their overall unique aesthetic. You can’t find classic English designs fitted with oversized bamboo extensions everywhere, after all…

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the light cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls of the bowl are smooth. I scrubbed the inside of the bamboo shank and the mortise with alcohol and pipe cleaners. I also cleaned out the airway in the stem the same way. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. 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 comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the tooth marks and chatter in the stem surface. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I wet sanded the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. 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. Once I finished with the Dunhill Bamboo W60 I put the stem back on the shank and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish using a lightly loaded pad and a soft touch. I wanted the shine but not the grit filling in the crevices of the sandblast bowl. I used even a gentler touch on the bamboo. I gave the stem a vigorous polish being careful around the white spot. I gave the bowl and bamboo several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a great piece of pipe history and looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .95 ounces/ 26grams. I am glad to say that I plan on loading a bowl of Friedman & Pease Fool’s Cap later today and enjoying my “new” addition. Thanks Alex for calling me on this one.

Cleaning up Another Dunhill Tanshell – a 577 Made in England 2 Saddle Stem Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 3, 2022. It is another Dunhill sandblast that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number 577 followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England by the date number 2. After that it is stamped with a 2 in a circle [followed by] T for Tanshell. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and oily around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was some light lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The saddle stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had scratches, tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He 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 photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain and the unique Tanshell coloured finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty.  The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. 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 577 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 2 in a circle is a Group 2. The 2 following the D of England gives the date the pipe.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 a 2 following the D in England. It is the same size as the D 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 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 second column (suffix 1…4) led me to the section with a 2 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1962.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. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some scratches, tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. 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 to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. The heat lifted the tooth marks significantly. I filled in the marks that remained with clear CA glue. Once it cured I used a small file to flatten the repairs. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing with a 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. 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. My daughter’s dog Frankie came for a visit this afternoon and took up his chair next to my desk. He is my little buddy and loves to hang out and watch me work on the pipes. As I turned my attention to finishing up this one he came to supervise!This 1962 Dunhill Tanshell 577 Billiard with a Saddle Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The reddish brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. 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 Dunhill Tanshell 577 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 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .85 ounces/24 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

Cleaning up A Dunhill Tanshell Briar 250 F/T Made in England 4 Taper Stem Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 3, 2022. It is another Dunhill sandblast that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number 250 F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England by the date number 4. After that it is stamped with a 2 in a circle [followed by] T for Tanshell. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and oily around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a thick cake and there was some lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The taper stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had scratches, tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He 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 photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain and the unique Tanshell coloured finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty.   The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. 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 250 is the shape number for a Billiard. The F/T identifies the stem as a Fishtail. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish which is corroborated the T at the end of the stamping. The size of the pipe 2 in a circle is a Group 2. The superscript 4 following the D of England gives the date the pipe.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 a 7 following the D in England. It is the same size as the D 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 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 second column (suffix 1…4) led me to the section with a 4 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1964.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. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some scratches, tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. 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 to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. The heat lifted the tooth marks enough that I sanded out the remnants of the tooth marks on both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing with a 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. 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 1964 Dunhill Tanshell 250 F/T Billiard with a Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The reddish brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. 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 Dunhill Tanshell 250 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 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inch, 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 over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.