English Estates: Dunhill Root Briar (56) (4) (R) (1974) Tobacco Pipe

Dated to 1974, this vintage "56" bent Billiard from Dunhill pairs a tall, stocky bowl to a high-kicking shank and a demurely curved mouthpiece, resulting in a pipe with an active stance and a gestural profile. In Group 4 size, this piece offers a comfortable in-hand fit, the soft contours of the bowl nicely accommodating wrapping fingers. It's dressed in the warm Root Briar smooth finish, highlighting pinpricks of birdseye across the flanks of the bowl.

The highest honor for a Dunhill pipe is to receive the prestigious Root Briar appellation. Root Briars have been coveted by pipe smokers ever since they first debuted in 1931, due to the fact that each pipe must boast briar completely free of even the most minor of blemishes. Dunhill has the strictest of standards and expectations for quality with all of their pipes, and so any block of briar that comes to bear the Root Briar stamp must indeed be superlative.