Philosophizing on a Dunhill -Apples to Oranges (or potato’s)

[DocAitch]

So I picked up a Dunhill Ruby Bark in Chicago after Premal gave me a generous price.
I have been intrigued by these pipes since returning to the pipe smoking community.
I have to admit that it is a very nice smoke, but so are most of the other pipes added to my collection over the last year or so.
As far as shaping and finish, it does not match the recent stuff by RickB, Doug535, Adam Bybee or a couple of other newer pipe makers, and doesn’t hold a candle to Todd’s, Jason’s or Scottie’s pipes for fit and finish. ( I don’t include other more established makers because I can’t afford their stuff).The internals of the airway are pretty crude.
The transition is soft and sloppy, the cheeks asymmetric.


So in summary, I have to compare this acquisition to my first and only parachute jump.
I’m glad I did it because it adds to my street cred and alcohol fueled story telling, but I am not going to do that again.
DocAitch

[LatakiaLover]

No mystery here. Dunhill pipes run the full spectrum from exquisite to laughable in both shape/conception and execution.

The bell curve shifted left or right depending on the era, and truly good ones were MUCH harder to find after the late-60's re-org, but that's about it.

[Sasquatch]

That's pretty ugly for sure, and would be shat on in the gallery here.

But you could easily flip it for exactly what you paid, cuz Dunhill.

[Bluesytone]

.. i'm feelin pretty good about my work right now.. reminds me again how good this place is for makin newer guys like myself reach for the moon

[caskwith]

Sell it. There is a case of "Dunhill Blindness" amongst casual collectors.

[RickB]

.. i'm feelin pretty good about my work right now.. reminds me again how good this place is for makin newer guys like myself reach for the moon

This, on the nose - though admittedly I'm flattered but not sure I belong in that original post quite yet. I was talking just the other day on IG with another pipe maker about how this place and the sort of school of pipe making it represents push for unwavering quality and near-perfection - and how that's a double edged sword in some ways. On one hand, setting the bar so high that excellence is the expectation makes us all better carvers (and it weeds out the people who aren't cut out for it early), on the other - as a new carver with artisan dreams it can be hard to see very good pipes selling for $200-300 that are being held to a higher standard than pipes that easily sell for 5-10x that much (I was amazed when I saw my first Former in person and his slot looked worse than mine do).

So - bear with me because this tangent is actually going somewhere - some of you have read my intro posts or whatever and know that I play guitar on occasion (which is not much these days) and worked as a luthier's apprentice for a few years, and y'all know I'm a tinkerer at heart who can't leave well enough alone and is going to constantly be pushing to make whatever little improvements I can. As a direct result of that, I've got a few really good sounding guitars that I either built from scratch or from parts. Over the last 20 years, I've accumulated some very decent, very good sounding equipment. I use a '69 CryBaby that I modded for a light volume boost. I've found through trial and error that I like my little Xotic EP Boost and I want it on all the time. I've got a decent cabinet that I've wired up with good speakers in a way that sounds great in my bedroom but would be impossible to mic. I'm running through a vintage Ampeg V4 and a Marshall Super Lead (which I'd coveted since I was 13) simultaneously. I can play well enough to impress people who don't play, but I'm not a good guitarist by any stretch. However, my rig with my tone - even with my big dumb meat hands - sounds like the Voice of God. As fantastic as it is to be able to have something so close to the ideal tone I carry in my head, there's a huge downside too - as it's gotten better and better over the years, I've found myself less and less impressed with guitar tones that used to set my hair on end. I've come so close from chasing "that" sound, that as I get closer and closer to what's ideal in my head and in my ears, even a lot of my guitar heroes don't make me shiver in amazement of their tone anymore. The recordings haven't changed, but my frame of reference has.

Similarly, as I've gotten better at building pipes, it takes so much more to impress me now than it once did - though when I am impressed I'm really impressed. Like with the guitar tone, in some ways that loss of being easier to please is sort of sad in a way - because if I'm being honest, it's almost like it has resulted in a net reduction of enjoyment of something I love. Have to keep chasing that high and it takes more and more (or something better and better) to get me there.

How's that for philosophizing and comparing something to potatoes?

(PS: some guitar still gives my jaded old self some goosebumps: https://youtu.be/eOCtHjQKySw)

[Doug535]

.. i'm feelin pretty good about my work right now.. reminds me again how good this place is for makin newer guys like myself reach for the moon

I'm with Blue and Rick, thanks for the props Doc. I don't feel I'm doing any kind of high quality work, yet. Although I can see improvement with every one I make. I'm still lacking in a few areas, but I have made a few smokable stumps.

[DocAitch]

Sell it. There is a case of "Dunhill Blindness" amongst casual collectors.

I plan on keeping it. It is a nice smoker, and I do suffer some of the “Dunhill blindness” (-good term, that).
On reflection, that blindness is exactly what engendered my OP. The white dot and the fervor that colors the evaluations of the brand’s advocates caused me to jump on the pipe when I saw it lying there on the table. A more objective evaluation while fondling it while sitting in my front office caused the “philosophizing”
Among other things, it will help me control my impetuosity when a “pretty” catches my eye.
DocAitch

[PeskyPrussian]

Thanks for the mention, Walt. I'll say that it seems like a very good compliment to this community in general that even fairly novice pipe carvers are educated enough in the craft to identify and focus on the details. There's a lot of good pipe making going on right now and the openness of the pipe community is the driving force behind it.

Speaking generally, I've never really enjoyed the overall aesthetic of newer dunhill pipes. They've always seemed to feature really exaggerated radii on their transitions that, in my opinion, make them look lumpy and "unfinished" to an extent.