English Estates: Dunhill Harry Houdini Cumberland Dublin with Silver (4) (4/35) (2024) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz on March 24th, 1874 in Budapest in what was, at the time, the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1878, Houdini emigrated to America and later started a career as a magician in 1891, his card tricks and sleight of hand evolving into complex, daring escape attempts that would go on to earn him international acclaim. Houdini's work was typified by its routinely high stakes, with his death-defying escape artistry solidifying him as arguably the most famous magician ever to live. Houdini died on Halloween of 1926 at the age of 52, though his legacy is immortal and lives on in both contemporary pop culture and the acts of magicians that followed him.

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Houdini's birth, English marque Dunhill has crafted a special, limited-edition boxed set packaged inside one of the brand's iconic leather-bound book boxes. Centered around a singular, unique shape, each pipe in the series is a Quaint Dublin based on the brand's vintage "DD" profile in Group 4 size, affording these pieces more substance while keeping the weight light. The transition is wide, with ample space to drape a digit, and it gives way to a slim shank lined with four ridges in a diamond-shaped configuration. A broad band of sterling silver marks the junction to a sleekly tapering stem, and the accent itself is engraved with "Harry Houdini 1874-2024" in celebration of the anniversary. The ridges through the shank line the heel as well, firming up the lower walls of the bowl significantly before they flare out to a high-set waist marked with its own subtle ridge: defining a slight, rounded taper to the rim that's reminiscent of the Rhodesian. This particular piece is finished in the warm hues of the Cumberland finish, and it's serialized 4 out of 35 total examples made with the finish.

When Alfred Dunhill released his patented Shell Briar, he forever changed the pipe-smoking world at large. Dunhill has often been credited with being the first to offer sandblasted pipes (arguably the most popular finish today), and the Cumberland finish further displayed Dunhill's innovative spirit. Well received after its release in 1979, the Cumberland series was named for the English marque's warehouse on Cumberland road, and the line's signature, brindled vulcanite stem became so iconic, the warmly striated material is now referred to simply as "cumberland."