"No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land."

So goes the most famous and influential line of the Magna Carta, the Great Charter, the document which reigned in an out-of-control king 800 years ago, in 1215. Though it was originally created as a practical measure to quell a political crisis, and was written to apply only to the nobility, its most important ideals, those of a government restrained from trespassing upon the rights of the governed, would in time trickle down the social ladder to inform such concepts in English, and later American law as they applied to every single citizen.

Of course, not everyone would be happy with such ideas. King James I (a.k.a. King James VI), the late-16th to early-17th century English monarch who penned the brow-beating Counterblaste to Tobacco was not a fan of the Magna Carta, for example, as it made him subject to a common law, in opposition to his own notions regarding divine rights of a ruler over the ruled. Not enjoying his opponents quoting the text at him, he attempted to suppress any discussion of it, followed by his son King Charles I who did the same, who was followed, and decapitated, in turn, by the English Civil War.

So it is with great pride that Dunhill, the great English pipe marque, presents this year their own dedication to the Great Charter: the Dunhill Magna Carta. This presentation set comes with a limited-edition briar bearing a series-specific sterling silver band, a hefty sterling silver tamper modeled after the royal seal of King John (the fellow the Magna Carta was originally forced upon), one very impressive leather-bound box, a certificate of authenticity, and even a hardcover copy of Dan Jones's tome on the origins and legacy of the Charter.