What exactly is shell briar?

[Cool Breeze]

I've been looking today on eBay at Dunhill pipes and have seen the "shell" series often. They are at the lower end of the price range for Dunhills and I was just wondering if the shell briar is a lesser quality product.

Are these still good pipes or are they inferior?

I would love to own a Dunhill and these can be had for under $200 regularly. Just wondering if they're worth it.

[droy1958]

I don't know much about them, but I recently auctioned off 3 of them. There was quite a price difference as they sold for $100, $280 and $420.....

[Lynn]

I've been looking today on eBay at Dunhill pipes and have seen the "shell" series often. They are at the lower end of the price range for Dunhills and I was just wondering if the shell briar is a lesser quality product.

Are these still good pipes or are they inferior?

I would love to own a Dunhill and these can be had for under $200 regularly. Just wondering if they're worth it.

.......If you are talking Dunhill pipes:
- Shell briar is a line that is sandblasted with a dark stain.
- Root briar is a line that is smooth with a light stain.

[Cool Breeze]

.......If you are talking Dunhill pipes:
- Shell briar is a line that is sandblasted with a dark stain.
- Root briar is a line that is smooth with a light stain.

So it's more about the finish and not about the actual briar?
I suppose with the unfinished look, they could use the less attractive wood to make them and use the top notch, more aesthetically pleasing wood for the smooth. I guess that could explain the price difference.

That way both would still be the same actual real world quality.

[Lynn]

So it's more about the finish and not about the actual briar?
I suppose with the unfinished look, they could use the less attractive wood to make them and use the top notch, more aesthetically pleasing wood for the smooth. I guess that could explain the price difference.

That way both would still be the same actual real world quality.

need to sell more product, someone get a hammer, now we have 2 lines of product.....

[Haebar]

The story I read once went something like this. Somebody at the Dunhill factory was moving a box of loose sandblast pipes and they were rattling around and someone said something to the effect of " It sounds like sea shells rattling" and the name shell stuck and it refers to their sandblast pipes. I read that somewhere a long time ago, probably in the Pipe Smokers Ephemeris; the exact details may be somewhat different but that's what stuck in my mind.

[NeverBend]

So it's more about the finish and not about the actual briar?
I suppose with the unfinished look, they could use the less attractive wood to make them and use the top notch, more aesthetically pleasing wood for the smooth. I guess that could explain the price difference.

That way both would still be the same actual real world quality.

Hi Paul,

Sandblasting is done to bowls that have flaws after the shape has been finished. It could be argued that this makes them seconds but the blast process is like a torture test for the briar, if the flaw was more than superficial then it would blow through (make a hole in the bowl). I consider sandblasts to be first quality for this reason. The same isn't true of carved or rusticated pipes.

Sandblasting reveals the grain of the pipe in relief. The increased surface area of a sandblasted pipes is believed, by some, to better radiate heat away from the tobacco chamber (and this give a cooler smoke).

Shells are generally less costly than the smooth Root or Bruyere finishes of Dunhill but the briar should be similar in the same era. Make sure that it has an original Dunhill stem (the white dot doesn't guarantee this) because they are hand made and excellent quality. The wide price differences are generally related to the collectability of the pipe and condition.

Trying a Dunhill is something of a right of passage, great mystique.

Regards,

Pete

[Pipe Smoker]

So it's more about the finish and not about the actual briar?
I suppose with the unfinished look, they could use the less attractive wood to make them and use the top notch, more aesthetically pleasing wood for the smooth. I guess that could explain the price difference.

That way both would still be the same actual real world quality.

Exactly right. The shell briar with excellent ring grain will likely be somewhat more expensive.

[Haebar]

Trying a Dunhill is something of a right of passage, great mystique.

Regards,

Pete

So true, Pete. I'll never forget when I smoked my first Dunhill. I was at a friend's house where he was teaching me how to replace stems (he had a shop) and he had a few Dunhills. I had always kind of thought that the mystique around Dunhill pipes was all hype, that they were just status symbols, etc. He whipped out a group 4 Bruyere billiard and instructed me to load it up with a tobacco that I had never heard of, 1Q. When I fired it up, it tasted wonderful and cool. I was impressed! He ended up selling me the pipe and it was my first Dunhill. They DO smoke good! At least the older ones. Can't speak about the newer ones because I've never bought a new one. I couldn't figure out what it was about the pipes that made them smoke so well. Another friend, a tobacconist in Nashville, told me of the many steps in the manufacturing process, some of which were trade secrets. He told me that one of the secrets was boiling the bowls in whale head oil, something that is no longer readily obtainable. It made sense to me.

[Cool Breeze]

I've been looking at ones from my birth year on ebay.

Don't know when I'll be able to pull the trigger on one, but I think my first will be a 1980 model.