Dunhill: Christmas 2024 Shell Briar (4114) (4/300) 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. Drawing from classic poetry and literature, Dunhill's Christmas pipe series often devotes several consecutive years to a particular theme, with each release exploring specific settings, characters, and motifs. In 2023, Dunhill began a new cycle, taking inspiration from the collection of children's stories The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) by Irish poet, playwright, and novelist Oscar Wilde. For 2024, the plot of the titular story is continued, as Dunhill infuses this release with the imagery of the tale's Swallow landing on a reed.

The shape chosen for this release of the Christmas pipe is the "4114" bent Dublin, a sinuous and agile profile that boasts a steep curvature through its shank and stem. The transition here is tight, and it gives way to a lifting, cylindrical shank that reaches out to meet a sleekly tapering stem of smartly downturned black vulcanite, poising this pipe for comfortable smoking and lending the silhouette a gracile character. At the junction, a broad band of silver highlights the combination of the shank and stem, and it's engraved with text that reads "20 The Swallow on the Reed 24" to denote the unique series. Up front, the bowl stands on a pronounced heel and grows subtly flaring walls that reach up to a chamfered rim. This style of rim is somewhat uncommon for many Dunhill pipes, and it includes a smooth finish on the interior that handsomely contrasts the inky sandblast of the stummel's Shell Briar finish. In addition to its fine silver band and beautiful Book-style case, this release of the Christmas pipe includes a stunning sterling silver tamper depicting the Swallow itself as it alights atop a bowed reed. Each pipe is serialized out of a total 300 examples, with this particular pipe being number four.