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Dunhill: Difference between revisions
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<blockquote><q>While Hener and Wilson are both insistent that there is little in common between Parker, Charatan and Dunhill pipes, they more passionately refute reports that Dunhill pipes are made anywhere other than the factory on St Andrews Road. The rumours that our Dunhill pipes are made in St. Claude, France, are completely false,” Hener bluntly states. While conducting a tour of the factory floor, Wilson shows two employees working with band saws, cutting blocks and shaping them into rough bowls, and adds, I think that those rumours started from other companies who are jealous of our position. They’re envious of our position and reputation in the market and they want to try to knock us down a little.</q> Pipes & Tobaccos. <ref name=pandt>Stephen A. Ross. Pipes and Tobaccos (Fall 2010), Vol. 15, No. 3. A century of excellence (pp. 9-10). USA: SpecComm International, Inc. [https://pipedia.org/images/8/86/Pipe-Tobaccos-10-4Fall.pdf P&T]</ref> | <blockquote><q>While Hener and Wilson are both insistent that there is little in common between Parker, Charatan and Dunhill pipes, they more passionately refute reports that Dunhill pipes are made anywhere other than the factory on St Andrews Road. The rumours that our Dunhill pipes are made in St. Claude, France, are completely false,” Hener bluntly states. While conducting a tour of the factory floor, Wilson shows two employees working with band saws, cutting blocks and shaping them into rough bowls, and adds, I think that those rumours started from other companies who are jealous of our position. They’re envious of our position and reputation in the market and they want to try to knock us down a little.</q> Pipes & Tobaccos. <ref name=pandt>Stephen A. Ross. Pipes and Tobaccos (Fall 2010), Vol. 15, No. 3. A century of excellence (pp. 9-10). USA: SpecComm International, Inc. [https://pipedia.org/images/8/86/Pipe-Tobaccos-10-4Fall.pdf P&T]</ref> | ||
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Seeking a better understanding of the current production, we talked to Chris Felts. He has been the U.S distributor since 2003 and he has managed all aspects of imported Dunhill smoker's products. He personally handpicks each pipe for the U.S every year, often making multiple trips to London to do so. | |||
<blockquote><q>The current pipes are much higher quality than decades before whereas many, many years ago they had different grades of briar which they would use a letter code, i.e A/B and so on. These days they only use plateau grade briar, only this kind for all of their pipes, therefore you can trust that each pipe is the same high quality as the next pipe. Quality control is much higher than in previous decades. With a small number of people in the factory, each pipe is scrutinized under a microscope to ensure the best quality.<br>The the factory in London produces each mouthpiece from a solid vulcanite rod, initially carved down by a lathe, the white spot is installed by drilling the hole and inserting white spot from a solid rod, bent by hand (they put the straight mouthpiece in a type of heater, then bend by hand), then the multiple stages of handwork are done to finish each mouthpiece to include final polishing (not entirely by hand, a lathe must be used for the initial shape, much like a band saw is used in the initial stages of cutting the briar prior to it being shaped by hand using a sandpaper wheel. Each mouthpiece is tailor-made for each pipe. You can have two identical pipes, the same shape, the same size, but you cannot exchange mouthpieces with both of those pipes. Each mouthpiece is different from the next).</q></blockquote> | |||
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