Dunhill: Difference between revisions

Among the brand lovers, there are always doubts as to the quality of the pipes and their relationship with the period when it was manufactured. It is often said that Dunhill only manufactured good pipes until mid-1968 and after that, the quality was compromised. The patents Era ended in 1954, but it is said that good pipes continued to be made until mid-1968. In an article called "The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking"[http://www.greatnorthernpipeclub.org/Myth.htm], Dr Fred Hanna brings to the light of our consideration what might justify this thought.

<blockquote><q>Dunhill is famous for its oil curing techniques and this is believed to be a source of its peculiar and particular taste and flavor characteristics. On the surface this sounds quite neat and tidy. But just a bit of analysis immediately makes such claims quite suspect. Does every Dunhill have that same character? I could find no evidence for this in the tastings that I have done with Dunhills. One vital question concerns when a particular Dunhill pipe was made. Bill Taylor of Ashton pipe fame has remarked that during all the twenty-plus years that he worked for Dunhill, that he never observed any oil applied to a Dunhill bowl. David Field told me on two occasions that he is convinced that oil curing stopped after 1968 and after that Dunhill pipes were quite different. Thus, Dunhills after the mid-1960s do not appear to have been oil cured at all and, on top of that, their bowls seem to have come from different suppliers.</q> Dr Fred Hanna - The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking.</blockquote>  

At the beginning of the 60th decade, the Italian government restricted the use of the Briar to Italian manufacturers and the Algerian briar became scarce (consequence of the Algerian War of Independence. 1954-1962), which forced Dunhill to turn to Grecian briar, as R. D. Fields said in [[The Art of Sandblasting]], "During the 1960s and ’70s Dunhill could not acquire the Algerian briar." Consequently, the company’s sandblast pipes were much shallower and less distinct. Perhaps, this factor also contributed to the construction of this concept of loss of quality. But as Dr. Hanna argues in his article, "briar from certain regions has different physical qualities, but this does not seem to be related to taste and smoking potential." Loring also mentions this briar change in his book:

<blockquote><q>Since the early 1960's Algerian briar has been largely unavailable to Dunhill and much harder briar (primarily Grecian) has had to be used for the finish. As a consequence since the mid-1960s, the Shell finish is generally found with a significantly shallower blast.</q>  Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).</blockquote>

Any definitive conclusion may be unfair. The metrics used in defining the concept of "quality loss" may be related to misperceptions of changes or purely subjective values. Even the process of oil curing, that was considered determinant in quality, it seems - in the end, it not so decisive, as we can see in another consideration of Dr Hanna:

<blockquote><q>Several Dunhill collectors have told me in no uncertain terms that the old patent Dunhills (before 1955) smoke decidedly better than the later models. So, which time frame owns the peculiar Dunhill character? This adds considerable ambiguity to the great taste of a Dunhill. Does oil curing make the difference? Probably not if Dunhill pipes have not been oil cured for perhaps 33 years, and Bill Taylor implies that after a while oil curing is not a factor anyway. Taylor, who oil cures his own Ashton pipes, has stated that the effects of oil curing can no longer be discerned in a pipe after 30 or so bowls of tobacco. In other words, after a sufficient cake has formed and the pipe is well broken-in, the influence of the bowl treatment or curing method becomes negligible. Now where, I ask, is that unique Dunhill character? The cake and the wood itself probably have more influence on taste than the curing method after many, many, smokes.</q> Dr Fred Hanna - The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking.</blockquote>

There are pipes from different periods that, due to the manufacturing process, present some minor irregularities, such as misaligned bowl drilling, white dot and funnel bore of stem - especially in the '90s. But that doesn't mean they weren't good pipes. Some criticism, it seems, is nostalgic. The brand continues to manufacture good pipes today, now called "Alfred Dunhill's - The White Spot".

<blockquote><q>I know many collectors who have told me personally that some of their Dunhills smoke great, while some do not smoke so well. I personally have owned a few Dunhills that were poor smokers and others that were fantastic.</q> Dr Fred Hanna - The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking.</blockquote>