Dunhill: Difference between revisions

Alfred Dunhill went on to open international stores in NYC in 1921 and a store in Paris followed shortly afterwards. The 1920’s and 30’s were successful years for Dunhill. By 1924, 260,000 pipes were sold a year through the Dunhill shop on Duke St. Just two decades old, Dunhill Limited was becoming famous for supplying the most elite clientele in the world. Dunhill developed ties with the royalty, supplying George VI with tobacco through the thirties. Later during WWII, the company kept Winston Churchill constantly supplied with the cigars that would become such an essential part of the famous British icon.

World War II presented some problems for Dunhill. The Dunhill shop on Jermyn St. was destroyed during the Blitz and had to be relocated. The supply of briar became more tenuous. Italian briar was restricted by the Italian government to be used only by Italian carvers. The Algerian briar became more difficult to acquire. The war also left Europe in a shambles. Depressed financially, there was no place in Europe for high-end luxury goods. Consequently the American market grew and American taste determined the direction of Dunhill pipe making. Large pipes and traditional shapes were in demand and so Dunhill created a new line of pipes called the “800” OD series, recycling the old OD stamp....

....Dunhill has always been creative in its designs and finishes. It is however, Dunhill’s principle of absolute quality achieved through unrelenting quality control that has set Dunhill apart from the rest. Dunhill pipes regardless of shape, size, and finish must always smoke well. This principle laid down in the early days of the company continues today. At the Dunhill factory, just outside of London, pipes are made by 15 full-time expert craftsmen who boast a cumulative work experience of 260 years. Knowing a high quality product must begin with the best possible material, the briar used by Dunhill is from carefully selected burls from bushes a hundred years old. Even with selecting only the highest quality briar with the finest grain, once the briar bowls begin to be carved certain flaws are exposed and many bowls have to be discarded. At every stage of the process there are a mandatory quality checks that ensure a Dunhill pipe will smoke well from the first to last bowl of tobacco, regardless of age. Each step in the six-week process is done by hand. Over 90 different steps are required in a process that has changed very little since the days of Alfred Dunhill almost a century ago.