Dunhill: Christmas Pipe 2021 Shell Briar (85/300) Tobacco Pipe

A special Dunhill series in and of itself, the English marque's Christmas pipe is an annual series featuring a limited run of special briars accompanied by book-style presentation cases and specifically designed tampers cast in sterling silver. Thus far, the longest running edition of the collectible series was a thematic line inspired by the The Twelve Days of Christmas that was released annually between 1993-2004, each year based on an individual verse from the classic English carol. Dunhill's latest Christmas series, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, was introduced in 2011 and will run until 2022. The series is inspired by the popular children's story by German author E.T.A. Hoffmann as well as the famous ballet by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. This particular edition from 2021 is number 11 within the series and focuses on The Sugar Plum Fairies and their respective dance, a central moment within the story.

The pipe itself, chosen to represent the series in 2021, is a full-bodied Billiard with a wealth of substance about the stummel and a fairly compact length. The combination of shank and bowl are rather muscular, and both are capped with silver: the bowl with a circlet that rounds the rim but doesn't cover it, and the shank receiving a broad band of the precious metal at the junction to a tapering, jet-black vulcanite stem. A wide transition leaves plenty of room to drape a digit, and the bowl it leads to offers a comfortable feel in hand with its touch of taper to the rim, additionally providing plenty of room to display the crisp, inky sandblast of the Shell Briar series. A truly special release from the English marque, this particular example is number 85 of 300 total sets made.