I’ve been doing this since late 1977 and have undoubtedly seen some odd pipes. In a number of ways, this may be the least explicable, and the intent hard to discern. The pipe has been listed as a Dunhill, and indeed, the bowl-shank-nomenclature properly declare it as such, although aren’t Tanshells a bit lighter than this? (They do darken with smoking, so we can give this pipe some latitude in this department.). But here’s the issue…the stem is pure Ashton brindle. I can see fitting a ruined Dunhill stem with an Ashton stem, but there are two problems with that as an answer. One is finding an Ashton stem that fits that is sitting idly somewhere (and what are the odds of that happening?) and two, if a different stem, any replacement stem, is cut to fit perfectly, as this stem does…a perfect, seamless fit…how is it that the blast on the end of the Dunhill shank is not impacted? Hardly any pipe maker that I know of can take a blasted shank and fit a stem to it without first smoothing out the end of the shank. They all have that smooth 1/8” or so. Not here. I have one guy I know I can ask about this and see what he says…in the meantime, I have to convince you to buy this pipe. I’m going to hold off pricing this until I find out more.
‍ ‍The pipe is in excellent condition. The size is Grp. 5, shape # 51031. The blast is good, deep and shows interesting character. The draw is wide-open. The sonofagun should smoke great.
5.8” long, bowl 1.95” tall. Weight: 1 5/8 oz., 47 grams.