Alfred Dunhill was a great businessman and entrepreneur, constantly reinventing the saddlery company he inherited from his father in 1893 through diversification. He had a keen eye for business and the customer’s needs, and, of course, moved from saddlery into a wide range of fields, not least tobacco and pipes.

The Alfred Dunhill name today remains widely respected thanks to the foundations the founding father established now more than a century ago. The move into tobacco began in 1907. That year, the first Alfred Dunhill tobacco shop opened, on Duke Street in London. This outlet quickly became the epicentre of a booming business that today is known throughout the world. The shop sold hand-blended tobaccos, cigars and Dunhill-made cigarettes, as well as French and English pipes.

Amid many other competing draws, the tobacco business was of great interest to Alfred Dunhill without him claiming any expertise. At the same time, after opening on Duke Street, he quickly realised that there was a gap in the market. Namely high-end, handmade tobacco pipes and bespoke tobacco blends. So an opportunity but also a challenge.

The key to establishing himself as a fresh presence was to achieve a new standard of quality. His first step towards earning a reputation for excellence was to be recognised as a tobacco specialist. He started to create blends for his customers and kept a book called “My Mixtures”. It shows today how Alfred tailored service to his customers’ needs with an offering reputedly of more than 36,000 different tobacco blends. Notable clients listed in order books include Queen Victoria and the writer, JB Priestley.

From tobacco, Alfred Dunhill moved onto pipes. Dissatisfied with the quality that was available on the market, Alfred began making his own pipes in 1910 using the finest briar available. These were priced accordingly and this approach meant customers had the strong sense of the quality and worth to an Alfred Dunhill product, compared to lower-quality pipes with a short shelf-life. With “Dunhill, Duke Street, S.W.” stamped on their sides (ahead of 1930, when a shape chart was introduced that used numbers and letters with each pipe marked to help a customer identify the size and shape), Alfred Dunhill pipes were a contrast to the norm and expected to last a lifetime on the back of innovations such as aluminium tubes. These were inserted into the pipe stem that, ahead of the invention of pipe cleaners,  allowed the user to replace this part of the mechanism when the pipe became blocked.

Alfred Dunhill’s next step was to refine the process of the tobacco blends. In 1912, he focused on creating Dunhill signature tobacco. He started with Royal Yacht, Cuba and Durbar. In the same year, he also introduced the Alfred Dunhill “white spot”. Dunhill‘s customers were experiencing difficulties when re-assembling their straight pipes, so the designs began to feature a white spot on the top of the stem to help them align the parts. This spot, known then among technicians and users as the “tube sign”, is today the symbol of quality it came to represent. (Indeed the white-dot guarantee, introduced in 1921, gave customers twelve months of protection).

During the First World War, Alfred Dunhill became well known for sending special, sealed boxes of tobacco and pipes to men on the front line, with the boxes marked as castor oil so people would not steal them. Also included was a letter in which Alfred suggested sharing with other officers. A consequence of this generosity and support for those in battle was French, Canadian, Belgium and American soldiers became familiar with the Dunhill name and quality produce. By 1921, pipe sales that were 10,000 in 1918 topped 276,000, internationally, bolstered by innovations like the  Shell Briar finish in 1917, which we discussed in a past blog (March 26th this year).

As well as hitting such sales, in 1921 Alfred started to supply tobacco to the then Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, Edward. A Royal warrant followed, which was a pinnacle for Alfred Dunhill who retired at the end of the decade with his brother, Herbert Edward and then the founding father’s son, Alfred Henry, taking the company chair.

As a company, Alfred Dunhill, itself, thrived throughout the 1920s and thereafter with the company growing and expanding, with this and acquisitions having a healthy focus on Tobacco products. At the start of the Seventies, the company concentrated on accessories so that the often-repeated saying “Dunhill pipes, regardless of shape, size, and finish, must always smoke well” still holds true to this day. The Dunhill of the modern era shares with the company of the past a culture where quality and detail are paramount.

This here is a brief introduction to the man behind this ethos and what remains a great company. The anthologies, “The Gentle Art of Smoking” and “The Pipe book” by Alfred Dunhill, contain further details. A fascinating read with Alfred sharing his thoughts on both pipes and tobacco and what we call now the art of slow smoking. As for the pipes, you will recognise the value and the passion in them whether you are a collector or an occasional smoker. Please browse our collection; I’m sure you will find your new lifetime companion.

My very best to you, whether already a pipe devotee or considering such a worthy path.

Until next time,

Christian

PS: I do wish we could still get hold of Alfred Dunhill’’s Durbar tobacco!

Erik Nording, whose pipes are a firm favourite with those of us who truly savour such a smoke, as well as a great starting point for anyone new to the pleasure, has a reputation for excellence built up over more than half a century. From beginnings that included working as a blacksmith in his family’s successful razor-blade business in Copenhagen, the Danish entrepreneur has proved himself to be an ingenious technician, still at the very top of what became his true calling.

A fun fact; Erik actually started smoking pipes when he was 15. In an attempt to make him stop, his mother bought a pack of cigarettes and forced him to smoke the lot. Even after the last one, he was still keen for his pipe. Defeated, his mother made a deal with him that he could smoke a bowl a day at home.

His mother was also central to Erik studying the engineering that has proved a backbone to his business endeavours. Back in 1955, when Erik was 16, he was sent to study the discipline. Erik’s father had passed away so the family concern needed the son and heir to become the figurehead.

By 1964, Erik was indeed that figurehead. He was also an expert pipe smoker and regularly visited a pipe shop in Copenhagen where a repair man called Skovbo was working. Knowing about Erik’s foothold in the world of metals, Skovbo asked about machinery for his new workshop and, specifically, a pipe-making machine. What Erik devised worked so well that Skovbo, who was struggling to cover what he owed for the improved technology, offered Erik a partnership.

This was the beginnings of Erik Nording we know today.  The new collaboration, originally named SON, began with a range of classically-shaped pipes. But business was slow. Moreover, Skovbo was not a natural artisan. Their contractual arrangement meant that on his departure from the company, Erik became the sole owner.

Amid these hard times Erik prevailed because he was genuinely ingenious, and with an abundance of youthful energy that he was happy to channel in a way that ensured he didn’t follow directly in his father’s footsteps. While he knew how to make a smokeable pipe, beautiful ones were more of a challenge to an engineer’s way of thinking. At the same time, as a blacksmith, he could replicate anything given the blueprint, which meant he could do the same with pipes. He started to visit every pipe shop in Copenhagen, or further afield but still within reach, to find customers who wanted bespoke pipes.

Erik’s  first client was looking for big pipes. The efforts in meeting this brief were good enough to secure a devoted follower. As he established his reputation, Erik retained the name SON for about two years. The switch to Nørding meant a name that nobody could take from him. From one happy client, the Nørding company expanded throughout the 1970s and following decade thanks to a growing interest through these years in Danish Freehand pipes, which for an engineer like Erik were relatively easy to make. The company grew to a 52-head payroll.

Today, Nørding boasts a more modest six workers. Yet thanks to production line innovations, the company manages to produce about 15,000 pipes a year, ranging from Freehand pipes to the more classically-shaped  “Handmades”. Freehands are fitted with vulcanite stems and Handmades feature an acrylic mouthpiece.

About a quarter (3,600) of the pipes currently made by Nording are handmade, including the largest one in the world, which, as well as a good idea to raise the profile of the pleasure a pipe can give, was testimony to Erik Nording’s tireless creativity. Unlike many traditional pipe makers, he doesn’t believe in ageing the briar as, to him, the wood is ready to be crafted for smoking once fully dry.

Overall, the pipes, of unparalleled quality and ever changing in design, are the result of Erik’s determination as a young man and the strength of personality he has always brought to his business. ”I enjoy everything I do,” he maintains. “I live hard, play hard, and I work hard.”

If you want a pipe that will outshine its competition, I strongly suggest a Nørding pipe. You are just a couple of clicks away from owning what is a  Danish masterpiece. Head over to our collection and select your own. As for what you might smoke, tor a complete Danish experience, I strongly recommend  Nørding tobaccos.

More insight into the wonderful world of pipes when I next share a story here with you.

For now, cheers.

Christian.