Dunhill: Shell Briar Quaint Bent Billiard (4) (2019) Tobacco Pipe

Dunhill's Quaint series offers unique pipes that fall outside of the English marque's standardized shape chart. This bent Billiard is one such design, and it's presented in robust Group 4 size. It features a tall, forward-canted bowl with a jutting, slightly pronounced heel. Said bowl rises at the fore of a demurely curved shank-and-stem arrangement that ebbs out of the low-set transition and strikes a comfortable smoking posture out back. The oval shank and svelte mouthpiece work in concert to slenderize the aft side of the composition and keep most of the visual weight with the bowl. The dark Shell Briar sandblast dresses the stummel and brings vivid definition to the briar, save for the rim, which is left smooth and stained a ruby hue for contrast.

The Shell Briar's addition to the Dunhill catalog was a pivotal moment in pipe-smoking history. Before 1917, pipes with sandblasted finishes had never been made, and Alfred Dunhill's innovative mind created arguably the most popular finish for pipes today when he unveiled the Shell Briar. With its dark, reserved color palette and delightful texture, it's no surprise that it's still wildly popular over a century later.