$25 Cased French Briar Ropp Golden Burl

[Briar Lee]

For only $25 plus an additional $10 for mailing and taxes to the dad blasted gubbermint I won this velvet lined leather cased French Briar Ropp Golden Curl that wasn’t smoked much, or that ancient, unstained, unvarnished, unpainted, oil cured Pre 54 Algerian briar would have mellowed and colored to a shade of oxblood, as it soon will once it arrives.

Plus, the stem and button look brand new.




French pipes are undervalued, I think.

All my meerschaums are cased, but this is my first cased briar pipe.

 

[Questionable Source]

Nice score!!!

 

[xrundog]

The case is a lot older than the pipe. Nice buy for the money.

 

[Briar Lee]

The case is a lot older than the pipe. Nice buy for the money.

Never say never, but I’ve found that every case I own for my meerschaums was individually hand built for the specific pipe that came in it. That is nearly certainly a custom built case for that Ropp.

I suppose there was some briar harvested on the south of continental France but there might be a few pineapples in California and not Hawaii, too.

The French considered Algeria as a part of France, until 1962.

That leather came from French Morroco.

The French Briar from the Department of Algeria.

The vulcanite from the Weimar Republic.

That pipe just whispers the twenties.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Case does appear to be for a similar, yet different pipe.
Nice score regardless, that should be a good smoker.

 

[Lumbridge]

French pipes are indeed lots of bang for the buck. They usually fly under the radar while people are going gaga over Savinelli or whatever.

 

[huntertrw]

C'est magnifique !

 

[SBC]

This is one of the nicest scores for the money you've posted.

If I were starting over again knowing what I know now, I'd focus completely on French pipes.

 

[judcole]

Lovely old Ropp.
I have to join the chorus in praise of French pipes.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I always click the latest deal Mr. Lee has found. When I search eBay for bargains, I usually find chewed up stems, cracked shanks, beat up stummels, or at least shapes I don’t care for

 

[nostrum01]

For only $25 plus an additional $10 for mailing and taxes to the dad blasted gubbermint I won this velvet lined leather cased French Briar Ropp Golden Curl that wasn’t smoked much, or that ancient, unstained, unvarnished, unpainted, oil cured Pre 54 Algerian briar would have mellowed and colored to a shade of oxblood, as it soon will once it arrives.

Plus, the stem and button look brand new.

View attachment 389913View attachment 389914View attachment 389915View attachment 389916View attachment 389917View attachment 389918View attachment 389919View attachment 389920View attachment 389921


French pipes are undervalued, I think.

All my meerschaums are cased, but this is my first cased briar pipe.

Haha I was watching this one- looking to pick something up

 

[Piping Abe]

Great pickup. Vintage French pipes are the best smoking instruments. I also recommend modern day French pipes for the best smoking Factory Pipes over Italian and Irish.

 

[nostrum01]

I fell asleep and was about to bid on this lmao

 

[driftedshank1]

I'm a fan of French pipes and agree that there can be a big bang for your buck with an older French pipe.
One cautionary note- many older French estates have mortises that have been drilled differently from what I would call "traditional" or "standard" mortises in order to accomodate a variety of stingers which may or may not be intact when these pipes are offered for sale today.

If you don't care for stingers then you have these large and sometimes long mortises which, in my view , in combination with pre-molded stems may produce a less than optimum smoke. Although it may often be difficult to see this when looking at a pipe on ebay for example, try to find a French pipe with a "standard" mortise where the tenon comes reasonably close to the mortise floor.

 

[LeafErikson]

I'm a fan of French pipes and agree that there can be a big bang for your buck with an older French pipe.
One cautionary note- many older French estates have mortises that have been drilled differently from what I would call "traditional" or "standard" mortises in order to accomodate a variety of stingers which may or may not be intact when these pipes are offered for sale today.

If you don't care for stingers then you have these large and sometimes long mortises which, in my view , in combination with pre-molded stems may produce a less than optimum smoke. Although it may often be difficult to see this when looking at a pipe on ebay for example, try to find a French pipe with a "standard" mortise where the tenon comes reasonably close to the mortise floor.

Yep. I just traded in a few Ropps for store credit because of the wind-tunnel-esque draws. It’s because the stummels were originally drilled for stingers, as you said. The stems are also very cheap vulcanite and oxidize if you so much as breathe in their direction. The frustrating thing with those SP Ropp pipes is that not all of them are actually drilled to accept a stinger so some have draws that are too open and some have perfect draws. They are very comfortable clenchers though with small to medium bowls, which I liked. I might end up getting more French pipes in the future with acrylic stems.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

You've had a result there, mate. $25 isn't gonna get you much where new pipes are concerned. Nice.

 

[anotherbob]

I always click the latest deal Mr. Lee has found. When I search eBay for bargains, I usually find chewed up stems, cracked shanks, beat up stummels, or at least shapes I don’t care for

that's because unlike Mr lee you don't have a team of trained badgers to scour e-bay for good pipe deals. (it's a hillbilly thing).

 

[towhee89]

French pipes are indeed lots of bang for the buck. They usually fly under the radar while people are going gaga over Savinelli or whatever.

I have quite a few French Algerian Briar burners and they all are great smokers. This is my father's old Omega Crown.

 

[towhee89]

that's because unlike Mr lee you don't have a team of trained badgers to scour e-bay for good pipe deals. (it's a hillbilly thing).

What drives me mental is knowing how often I look and when I am searching sold listings, I wonder...."did that sell in the 5 minutes I WASN'T on ebay??!?!" A good way to drive yourself crazy, I tell ya

 

[Lumbridge]

I have quite a few French Algerian Briar burners and they all are great smokers. This is my father's old Omega Crown.View attachment 390363

Nice one! It's cool that you can continue to enjoy a pipe that belonged to your dad. I hope my dad lets me have his old cob someday.