Alfred Dunhill first had the idea of inserting a white spot on pipe stems in 1912 for practical reasons. The hand-made, vulcanite stems were so perfect that clients often had trouble knowing which way to insert them into the shank, so Dunhill solved this problem by placing a mark, a white spot at the end of the stem to show which way was “up”. Although Dunhill was brilliant at marketing his products, he certainly did not think of this as a possible trademark. Indeed, in 1923 he had to go to court to defend his original creation. In Dunhill pipes at that time the white spot was a thin, round ivory circle inserted into the stem, but today this is made of high-grade acrylic...read more
