Dunhill: Cumberland (4645) (2021) Tobacco Pipe

Dunhill's "45" and "44" shapes are affectionately known as the "Don" and "Duke," respectively, and are striking departures from the storied English marque's shape chart. This "4645" showcases its unique build quite well, presenting with an extremely trim shank that's fitted with a small domed mount of cumberland, meeting a slender, push-style tapered stem of the same material: the "6" in the shape code denoting an extended, Churchwarden-style stem. This nearly absent shank lends the entire aft side an unmistakable gracile character, while the bowl stands, forward canting, atop a flattened heel. Its tall, cylindrical build offers a firm, comfortable feel in hand, its walls dressed in the earthy, pastoral hues of the Cumberland sandblast, revealing handsome grain.

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."