ROPP Classic Shape 141 Smooth Straight Apple Vulcanite Stem 9mm Filter Estate Pipe

Ropp built its name on cherrywood, not briar. This one is briar - a shape from the line the firm ran alongside its signature wood for most of the twentieth century.

This is a ROPP Classic, shape 141, a smooth straight apple with a tapered vulcanite stem and a 9mm filter fishtail bit. The ROPP name is stamped on the stem and remains legible.

Eugene-Leon Ropp patented a cherrywood pipe, turned from Prunus avium, in 1869, and opened his first workshop the following year at Bussang, in the Vosges. Around 1893 the firm moved into the former Sicard mill at Baume-les-Dances, in the Doubs - a site that came under the commune only from 1895. Export demand grew quickly enough that, shortly before 1914, A. Frankau & Co, the London house behind the BBB brand, took on exclusive distribution for Britain and its colonies. Cherrywood stayed Ropp's mainstay, but around 1917 the firm opened a second workshop at 8 Rue du Plan du Moulin in Saint-Claude to begin briar production, adding a polishing annex in 1923. Briar pipes ran alongside the cherrywood line for the rest of the company's independent life. GBA Synergie, under Bernard Amiel, bought Ropp in 1988 and held it until the firm closed in September 1991. Cuty-Fort Entreprises, parent of Chapuis-Comoy and Chacom, acquired the name in 1994; Ropp pipes made since have come out of the Chapuis-Comoy works in Saint-Claude.

THE MARKS
- ROPP logo stamped on the stem, intact and legible
- Shape number 141, the pipe's stamped model designation

Ropp's standard mark across most of its production was an oval ROPP stamp on the shank. On this piece the name is carried on the stem itself.

At 38mm across the bowl and 43mm tall, this is a compact, working-sized example of the shape rather than a display piece. Held in the hand, the shape's low center of mass keeps the weight over the palm rather than out at the bit.

The briar is finished smooth and reads brown under the polish visible in the photographs. A smooth finish is produced by sanding the turned bowl through successive grits until the surface takes stain evenly, then buffing with wax; it leaves whatever grain the block contained fully visible, unlike a sandblast or rustication that reshapes the surface. Grain: see the photographs.

Condition: estate pipe, pre-smoked, graded fair vintage condition by the seller. Scratches present across the briar surface. Dent marks on the vulcanite stem. The ROPP logo on the stem is intact and legible despite this wear.

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 144mm (5.8 in) - bowl height 43mm (1.7 in) - bowl width 38mm (1.5 in) - chamber depth 37mm (1.5 in) - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8 in) - weight 1.3 oz

Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.

SKU: 024