Pfeifenbox

Back...

Take a Bang for a change?

Your archetypical Dunhill collector wears tweeds whenever he can get away with it, has slightly juvenile fantasies of a country home and a dusty horde of vintage port, dislikes anything digital or plastic, discreetly disapproves of colours other than brown, and wishes he could get on a horse without falling off the other side. Right? Dead wrong.

Wolfgang Pointner from Mozart's very own Salzburg in Austria plays electric guitar in a big band, sports a ponytail and enjoys cooking. The professional musician detests tea and most other attributes of a supposedly English lifestyle, feels very much out of place in a stylish Dunhill store - and has exactly 160 white spot stunners on parade in his pipe cabinet. (Even that's probably dwarfed by the world's largest, secret Dunhill collections - but it's as many as supreme authority John Loring calls his own, according to Loring's website.)

"I studied in New York in 1993 and 1994," Wolfgang says. "That's where I met Sam Barnett, one of the organizers of the New York pipe show. He's the person who really got me started on Dunhills. I bought a lot of pipes from him - a super guy who's forgotten more than I've ever known."

Straight grain overrated?

Today, Wolfgang's collection features some ultra-rare pieces such as an ODA 832 Patent Shell or a Panel Bruyere 382 made in 1928. He buys many of his pipes on Ebay, but also from other collectors, saying that there is as much cooperation as competition among the true aficionados. His focus is on patent pieces made before 1955, as well as pre-1962 ODAs. "I'm not really interested in newer Dunhills," he explains. "If you can find one in my collection, you can be sure I got it cheap - very, very cheap." To finance his purchases, Wolfgang sells pipes he no longer wants.

Jess, Bo and Lars may be hallowed names for the rest of the pipe world, but they hardly impress a true Dunhill collector. Wolfgang Pointner confesses that he "never grasped the freehand boom." With the English mixtures he favours, he thinks that the traditional shapes do best. "I've got a couple of Bangs and always keep a few Castellos, but they're only there in case I fancy a change."

Taste-wise, the Scandinavians don't really impress him. "Many pipe smokers attach too much importance to straight grain, in my opinion. But as far as I can see, straight grain doesn't say very much about wood and smoking quality."

Countering criticism of Dunhill's lacklustre approach to the issue, Wolfgang says the tightness of the grain is more important than its pattern. The method of curing also plays a part, in his books, "and don't forget weight in relation to a pipe's size. Straight grain is a purely aesthetic value that doesn't influence smoking performance."

Old wood - not 'dead root'

He disagrees with modern producers, who play down the role of briar age. Though he grinningly admits that 'dead root' probably constitutes wood "that has been shot", Wolfgang is convinced that the briar simply spent longer in the ground in the good old days - and thinks this makes a difference. "You can definitely tell if you go back by 50 years … I'm always skeptical about the opinions of carvers and dealers [on this topic]. After all, they're trying to sell what is available today, so they adjust their arguments accordingly. But I'm not accusing them of anything. I can only recommend that smokers try things out for themselves."

So what constitutes a desirable Dunhill? The basic Pointner rule is simple: "If I can't smoke a pipe, I don't want to own it."

The rest is about keeping a collection in focus. Mind you, Wolfgang insists that he lacks the systematic approach of the philatelist ("I'm a musician and therefore more likely to be a bit chaotic."). He says that he doesn't buy pieces just to complete a certain range. "I buy them because shapes have changed over the years, and the older models appeal to me more." Prior to 1950, blasts were deeper, billiard stems were longer and panels had slimmer shanks, as he points out. "Collecting by catalogue numbers is not my style."

If it says 'Dunhill'… it's a Dunhill

A Dunhill range that Wolfgang doesn't value very highly is the freehand Collector series. He finds the style too Danish for his liking - and besides, the Collectors were launched in 1978, too late to attract his interest. He has some, "but if I get a good offer for them, they'll be gone."

Pedigree is not the point here. Though rumour has it that the Collectors are made for Dunhill in Denmark and some would question their breeding, Pointner doesn't really care. "As far as I'm concerned, if the stamp says 'Dunhill', it's a Dunhill. All the same, that doesn't imply that I'll buy it or collect it. Dunhill has made some rubbish, just like others - excuse the term. But in 100 years, a couple of slips are only to be expected."

One of Wolfgang's ambitions, on the other hand, is to own a Magnum. But the desire for such a piece is not haunting his dreams yet. "I sleep fairly easily," he laughs, "So I don't need to pay today's prices to get hold of one."

(Wolfgang Pointner's collection can be seen here: http://www.pipewolf.com)

(October 31, 2003)

Back...