English Estates: Dunhill Root Briar (660) (4) (R) (c.1960s) Tobacco Pipe

This 1960s Billiard shape from Dunhill personifies the elegant simplicity of classical pipe making. Bearing the designation "660," this pipe fits lightly in hand with its proportionately short shank and compact bowl size. The slight forward cant of the bowl is balanced in profile by the straightness of the shank and saddle stem, giving the piece a litheness and sleek grace. Finished in Dunhill's superlative Root Briar finish, this piece is dressed in a warm mahogany stain that reveals birdseye on either flank of the bowl, with an especially plentiful field on the left flank.

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.