"To smoke a pipe is not to be considered as a vice, it is art and a way of life!"

This nice little pipe I got from the eBay's pipe

department at a modest $ 27,50 plus shipping.

According to John Loring's excellent Dunhill monograph, Hardcastle was an

independent brand begun in 1908, and was bought by Dunhill's in 1946. In

1967, Hardcastle was merged with Parker, to become Parker-Hardcastle, Ltd.

Loring suspects that after 1967, Dunhill and Parker "seconds" were marketed

with the Hardcastle brand. So, was this pipe made between 1908 and 1967, or

was it made post 1967? Loring states that, in the absence of sales receipts,

or other items of provenance, Hardcastles cannot be accurately dated.

I'd suspect this pipe is made after 1967, but this doesn't weaken a bit its

smoking characteristics, which are very good!

A smooth Hardcastle's "Straight Grain". This pipe is

easy to classify as an Rhodesian looking at its

bowl and "diamond"-shank

"Straight Grain" from right. The Rhodesian shape is

perhaps better shown in this photo than in the preceding

The only defect in this pipe is that the smoke hole is too

too high from the bottom of tobacco chamber. It passes the

cleaner test without trouble, but the bottom cake is im-

possible to create. This does not mean a catastrophy, as

the puffs seem extraordinary mellow!

I would say that this pipe was an extraordinary good buy!

Dunhill, London, England

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Created October, 5. 1999