Restoring and Re-Stemming a 1944 Dunhill Patent Shell 36/1

As any student of the 1940s history will tell you, British production of just about anything not directly in support of the war effort was halted or severely curtailed while the United Kingdom devoted every resource to defeating Hitler and Nazi Germany. The Blitz obliterated a great deal of London, including, in 1941, the Alfred Dunhill shop. This image, linked from the Dunhill Pipedia page, shows Henry Dunhill, son of founder Alfred Dunhill, selling pipes from the rubble of the bombed-out shop.

Dunhill managed to produce only a relatively small number of pipes during World War II and immediately after the end of hostilities, with recovery rally only beginning in the early 1950s. The relative rarity of WWII-era Dunhill pipes creates a little bit of excitement when one enters the shop for repair or restoration. For me, these briar and Vulcanite creations are a testament to the UK’s resilience and defiance in the face of a seemingly unstoppable enemy. For those interested in learning more about Dunhill during the war years, this article on Pipedia is a concise summary.

The pipe on the bench today, gifted to its current steward, arrived at the shop in need of a good reaming and cleaning but otherwise in remarkably good condition, albeit without a stem. Perhaps the loss of the original stem is what kept the pipe in such great condition for its age, but it was now time to restore this lovely old pipe to its former glory.

The chamber was significantly reduced in size due to a thick layer of carbon cake in the bowl. A thorough reaming would be necessary.

The stamps on the smooth underside of the shank, though dirty, were clear and legible. The pipe is stamped “36/1”, the shape code for a Liverpool, followed by “Dunhill Shell Made in England ⁴“. A second line of text under the first read ” Patent N^o 417574/34″. A quick look at the Dunhill Dating Guide on Pipephil.eu tells us that this pipe was made in 1944.

The gold-filled shank band is marked with “AD” in a diamond, the initials of the company founder, Alfred Dunhill.

With the provenance of the pipe established, it was time for me to begin work on the restoration, starting with a reaming and cleaning of the stummel. The old carbon cake surrendered easily to my reamer, while a handful of pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol removed the tars, dirt and other deposits from the shank and airway.

A quick but gentle scrub with a wire tire brush revealed the sandblast texture of the rim, once hidden under a layer of carbon. Much improved! I’ll also note that I did not alter the inner rim line in any way here. This pipe was really well taken care of by its previous steward(s).

A scrub with Murphy’s Oil Soap removed the dust, dirt and old wax of decades past from the exterior of the stummel, revealing the famous Shell finish. A few small dings in the outer rim of the bowl also showed up after the cleaning. I’d touch these up later in the restoration.

There are generally two options when re-stemming a pipe. The more economical course is to use a pre-cast Vulcanite stem blank, which comes roughly shaped with the airway and slotted button pre-formed. These are a real time saver, but the downside is a rather generic shape that needs a certain amount of customization to fit the target pipe.

The other, more expensive, option is to hand cut a new stem from solid Ebonite or Acrylic rod. The advantage of the Hand Cut route is that the stem can be custom shaped from the get-go, so replicating the exact profile of a vintage stem is entirely possible. The flip side of the Hand Cut coin, of course, is time and cost. A Hand Cut stem requires hours of work, specialized tooling and a high level of craftsmanship, all of which combine to create a price tag that can be 4 times or more than that of a pre-cast stem replacement.

As you can see in this next image, the pipe’s steward elected to use a pre-cast stem blank for this project. The stem has been turned on the lathe to size the tenon properly for a snug-but-not-too-snug fit in the shank, and the stem face cut flat and perpendicular to the tenon for a tight fit against the shank face.

Normally I would also turn the body of the stem to closely match the diameter of the shank, but this stem blank was only slightly oversized. I’d remove the remaining excess material by hand with files and sandpaper.

Before I got too far into shaping the stem though I decided to install the famous Dunhill White Spot on the top of the stem near the shank face. After carefully marking and drilling the hole, I added a drop of CA glue and pushed the end of some white rod stock into the shaft.

I let the glue cure completely before filing the stub of the rod flush with the surrounding Vulcanite. I also used an assortment of small files to remove the molding marks from the sides of the stem blank and began refining the size and shape of the stem to fit the shank. Note the wrap of clear hokey tape over the gold shank band and briar. The tape is sturdy enough to withstand an errant file stroke, protecting the 81-year-old shank and band from accidental damage.

Moving to finer files, I matched the stem diameter to the shank and refined the button and V-slot to get the new stem as close to a classic Dunhill profile as possible. When I was happy with the overall shape, I sanded out the file scratches with a progression of sandpapers from 220-grit through to 2000-grit.

Then it was time to take the pipe to the buffer where a run on the Red Tripoli wheel smoothed out any remaining scratches. Moving to the White Diamond wheel brought up the shine, while a few finishing coats of Carnauba wax to the entire pipe raised the shine even more and gave the entire pipe a fresh glow.

This 1944 Dunhill Shell is once again clean, fresh and, more importantly, whole and ready to be added to its steward’s rack and rotation. It’s a lovely pipe from a classic British pipe house, and a fabulous piece of pipe history that any pipe smoker must appreciate. May it serve its new steward well and faithfully for another 80 years!

Thanks for joining me for this estate pipe restoration. This project is a great example of the results that can be achieved within a reasonably thrifty budget. I hope you enjoyed watching this lovely old Dunhill come back to life.

Until next time, Happy Piping! Here’s the finished pipe.