Dunhill: Difference between revisions

'''Alfred Dunhill Pipes''' This is a work in progress. Please feel free to contribute if you are a Dunhill expert or knowledgeable enthusiast.

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<!--[[File:Yangpot.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Dunhill T - Shape Pot (1985) ©Forcióri]]-->

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[[File:Dunhill amber root unique piece.jpg|thumb|right|210px|Amber Root, Gold Band, 1999 By Emanuele Mauro]]

<font size="2">'''Addendum+:''' In 1976 Dunhill acquired (for U$2,185,000 + 106,000 £ after loan repayments)  Lane Limited which included [[Charatan]] (acquired by Lane in '62), [[Ben Wade]] (acquired in '65 and the Grosvernor Pipe (founded in '62 by Herman Lane). In 1987 Dunhill Sold the control of Lane Ltd to Rothmans (later merged with BAT).<ref name=balfour24>Balfour, Michael. (1992). Alfred Dunhill, One Hundred Years and More (pp. 176-178). London: Weidenfield and Nicolson.</ref><br>Dunhill allowed Preben Holm to use the Ben Wade name until his death, in 1989. Almost a decade passed before John Louis Duncan bought the name from Dunhill and relaunched the brand while still using the [[Dunhill Factory]] at Walthamstow. The [[Ben Wade]] brand was subsequently sold to Mr Peter Wilson, in 1998 (John Duncan, a grandson of the founder John Louis Duncan, sold the firm to his brother-in-law Peter Wilson)<ref name=dgl>Ferrara, Fabio (2000). La datazione delle CHARATAN. Retrieved 08 April 2020 from [https://digilander.libero.it/tempioedonismo/CHARATAN.htmsmokingpipes.com digilander.libero.it]</ref><ref name=pmrs>The Pipes Magazine Radio Show – Episode 178 and 225. Ken Barnes on Radio Show. February 9, 2016 and January 3, 2017. Retrieved 08 April 2020 from [https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/category/radio-talk-show/ pipesmagazine.com]</ref>

When J.B. Russell went out of business in 2002 Dunhill reintroduced Charatan and called on Colin Fromm of Invicta Briars and Castleford fame to produce Charatan freehands now. Since Colin Fromm and his foreman Colin Leeson, both belonging to the small number of English pipe artisans skilled in making high-end freehand shapes had already been making exquisite free-hands for Dunhill for a couple of years in Chatham, Kent.<ref name=ctm>Pipedia, Charatan - Milan 2014. Retrieved from [https://pipedia.org/wiki/Charatan_-_Milan_2014]</ref>

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Alfred doesn't mention to anyone, Mary reports, but he was investigating the pipe maker's craft from end to end</q> Mary Dunhill <ref name=mary15>Dunhill, Mary (1979). Our Family Business (p. 39). Great Britain, The Bodley Head.</ref>. Alfred Dunhill enticed Joel Sasieni away from Charatan (including Joe Sasieni who was to form his own distinguished pipe company in 1918. The first five Dunhill pipemakers all came from Charatan) and opened a small pipe workshop of his own at 28 Duke St on 7 March 1910. - two rooms upstairs providing the humble beginning. The focus was to use the finest quality briar, and expert craftsmanship to make pipes that would provide a superior smoke, and last a lifetime. The cost would reflect these principals, which was against the current trend of inexpensive pipes of lesser quality (the Bruyere finish is first introduced).

Loring also defended, at this time, that Dunhill Bruyere pipes were generally finished from French turned bowls until 1917, when the Calabrian briar started to be used, but not completely<ref name=jcl5>Loring, J. C. (1998) The Dunhill Briar Pipe - The Patent Years and After, The Beginnings (pp. 2-3). Chicago: self-published</ref>. Only in 1920 did Dunhill take the final step in its pipe making operation and began sourcing and cutting all of its own bowls, proudly announcing thereafter that "no French briar was employed".

And after March, with the factory ready to produce, most Dunhill pipes were completely made in-house.

<blockquote><q>The first pipes were made by two men on the upper floor of Nº. 28 Duke Street. By 1912, when the pipe was well and truly on the market, Father had about half a dozen hand-picked craftsmen in a workshop in Mason's Yard, a short distance from the shop. They worked from eight in the morning until seven at night and,  when required to finish pipes the shop would sell next day, later than that. No question of a five-day week or of water to wash with. Like every employee, they received a small commission based on sales and they worked hard because, with the ginger-haired man they called the Guv'nor bounding up the iron staircase several times a day, they were in no doubt about the urgency and importance of their work.</q> Mary Dunhill <ref name=mary22>Dunhill, Mary (1979). Our Family Business (p. 42). Great Britain, The Bodley Head.</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Kshws.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|Hener, K. S. Product Line Director - The White Spot Smoker's Accessory Division.]]   

For some time, rumours have been spread about outsourcing the production of pipes and that they are manufactured in France - even today. Mr Hener assures that production is in-house - this is just unfounded rumours, as we can see in an article By Stephen A. Ross for the Pipes & Tobaccos Magazine.

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= Just One More Thing = <!--T:47-->

  '''Alfred Dunhill Shop's Humidor Room.'''<br>

  Interior view of the Humidor Room at the Alfred Dunhill shop in the International Building at Rockefeller Center, New York, New York, mid to late 1941. The walls are lined with cases and boxes of cigars. (Photo by Bernard Hoffman/The LIFE Picture Collection).

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  '''Dunhill’s shop, 136 S. Rodeo Dr, in Beverly Hills in the early 1950s.'''<br><br>Rodeo Drive is a two-mile-long (3.2 km) street, in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles. Its southern terminus is at Beverwil Drive, and its northern terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills which is known for its luxury goods stores. The operating time and closing date is presently unknown.

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In an article named "The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking", Dr 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. <ref name=hanna>Hanna, Fred. (2002), The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking. Retrieved 19 March 2020 from [http://www.greatnorthernpipeclub.org/Myth.htm The Great Northern Pipe Club].</ref></blockquote>  

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<center>'''A Man Looking for a Dunhill Pipe.'''</center>

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