About a year or two ago, a stash of old Hilson pipes surfaced and was apparently sold off. I can't remember if these were entirely finished pipes or if they were carved bowl and shank briars awaiting stems, but they had been sitting around for decades after a Hilson factory closed. Lately, quite a quantity of Ropp pipes have arrived on the market after being discovered in the Chacom factory, as reported by smokingpipes.com. You'd think in a relocation or sale of an entire brand, someone would take these valuable assets in custody and sell them off for quick cash, to liquidate the property. This seems to happen fairly regularly. Anyone have any idea why pipes are vulnerable to being left unfinished and/or unsold? I don't expect to see a sale of old unused Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, and Saturns any time soon. Why pipes?
