Dunhill Christmas Pipe

Dunhill Christmas Pipe is the limited-edition pipe series the house of Dunhill (White Spot) has released every December since 1980. The idea is simple: a single model per year, a small number of numbered pieces, and a theme belonging to that year. This simplicity has turned the series into a fixed entry on collectors' calendars for more than forty years.

The First Thirteen Years

The first link in the series appeared in 1980, with a run of a few hundred pieces; this number was not enough to cover the entire distribution network. According to records, the same run was prepared with three different mouthpiece shapes, so the habit of collectors chasing variation was born in the very first year. The presentation side settled into place in 1982: the pipe began to be accompanied by a book-shaped leather box, and this box became the unchanging signature of the next forty years.

What sets the first thirteen years' releases apart from those that followed is the lack of a narrative thread linking them; each pipe belonged solely to that year's December. Like all the releases, this period's pipes too were worked from briar blocks. Today this early period is the hardest section of the series to complete. According to records, the 1981 release being withdrawn from the market earlier than expected has made that year the link most often left missing by those pursuing a full collection.