English Estates: Dunhill Root Patent (126) (1946) Tobacco Pipe

A vintage, Patent Dunhill is hard to beat, and when it's a vintage Root Patent with a rare bowling ball stem, well, I'm not sure that can be beat. Crafted back in 1946, this "126" is a robust yet compact take on the timeless shape chart standard, featuring stout chamber walls and a bit of extra mass around its transition. It's around a Group 3 in size, topped off with a vintage stem fashioned from bowling ball material, the term denoting its definitive swirling pattern. Dunhill used this occasionally on early Root Briars, but the material would eventually be set aside with the arrival of brindled vulcanite, typically referred to as "cumberland."

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.