Dunhill: Christmas Pipe 2022 Shell Briar (15/300) 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 2022 is number 12 within the series and focuses on The Fortress of Sweets, one of the locales visited in the second act of the ballet.

Released for Christmas of 2022, this represents the final iteration of the line as it pertains to The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and Dunhill have chosen a classic bent Billiard as the shape. Unlike many standard releases from the venerated English marque, this bent Billiard features a sterling silver military mount, though one that's been shaped to showcase a scalloped end facing the shank. This mount has additionally been etched with the name of this release and the year, the former in a flowing script. The shank tapers nicely as it reaches toward its end, the stem paired to it bent well to facilitate easy jaw-hanging and offering an extended length that emphasizes a sleekness about the aft end of this piece. Up front, the bowl sits atop a rather muscular heel, canting forward as the walls gently taper to the rim, with the rim marked by a firm ridge which denotes a far more pronounced taper to its edge, lending it a tall, domed shape. Dressed in the crisp, inky sandblast of the Shell Briar series, this piece is rather understated, with rich contrast offered by the silver mount, and is numbered 15 out of 300 total examples.