I have a question, though. Part of my excitement comes from the history of these Ropps. Does anyone have any indication - other than the blurb at SP.com - that these are from the earlier part of the 20th century? For example, did Ropp stop using bone for stems at some point? I have tried to research this on my own, but there is scant information out there.
It's somewhat more complicated than that, but the stummels (the 'heads,' the raw bowls) are from the early 20th century (perhaps creeping into the mid-20th century; it's tough to tell what was made exactly when at this point). They're made by the Chapuis-Comoy factory today (maker of Chacom, owned by Antoine Grenard), who acquired the brand, some machinery, the stamps and old bowl and briar stock from Ropp when it closed decades ago.
Antoine and I decided to use the Ropp brand for this, but we weren't chasing specific Ropp shapes or styles from a particular period. We put together (and are still putting together; this has been more evolutionary, across discussions and emails for a couple of years now, than it probably seems from the outside) a bunch of shapes and styles that are evocative of early 20th century French pipes. So, lots of horn stems, lots of smaller, straight pipes, simple stains.
The reason that we can do this with existing bowl stock is a) a lot more pipes were made in St. Claude 75 years ago than is the case today, and b) tastes shifted towards larger, bent pipes in the 1960s and 1970s and have sort of stayed that way. So, during that period, they found themselves awash in bowls for which there was little demand.
Recently, smaller pipes have become more popular again--really, it's still a niche project; we're talking perhaps 1,000 pipes a year--and the magic of the internet makes a project like this possible.
As for finding sources other than the blurb at SP.com, there's not going to be a whole lot out there (except that which comes by way of us or Antoine), since this was conceived in its present incarnation by Antoine and me.
Best,
Sykes
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