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Chapuis-Comoy: Given how many generations they've been around, just how many decades-old, never sold, French-made stummels can this pipe-making operation have lying in storage? This has been an important question to us, since it is these very same long-obscure briars that make up the resurrected Ropp brand.
Every time Sykes goes to visit Antoine Grenard at Chapuis-Comoy, the answer that comes back seems to be "more than we thought." This is, then, inevitably followed by the arrival of hundreds more vintage French pipes. The most recent trip Sykes took to St. Claude was a particularly interesting one: it turned out Antoine and Chapuis-Comoy had at hand an entire building Sykes hadn't even seen before, on his previous trips. And sure enough, inside that building were the unfinished stummels of tons more pipes.
So, that means after they were finished, we received some more horn-stemmed Vintage sandblasts — and also the introduction of Vintage smooth pipes, and a military-mount sporting line, the Bonaparte. But there was also something even better that Antoine Grenard had in store for us. They were special pipes.
What made them special? When their stummels were turned back in the 1970s, the results were free of even the tiniest fill. Chapuis-Comoy produced perfect, classic shapes made from select-grade briar and then, for reasons unknown, the pipes never left that building. They sat unfinished for decades.
Roughly forty years later, that loss is our gain, as Antoine and Sykes struck a deal, Chapuis-Comoy finished and fitted these superior stummels with horn stems, and we are now able to pass them on to you for a steal, relative to the quality of briar and standards that originally went into them. Can't say we were terribly imaginative with the name, though. We just called them what they are: the Vintage Superior.
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Comments
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I don't see a tag for your St. Claude pipes, but these Ropp seem to be of the same general group? Anyway, what I wanted to post has to do with the very nice St. Claude Billiard I purchased awhile back from smokingpipes.com. It was on of the horn stems with an aluminum tenon and cork shank seal. Well being a clarinet player back in my younger days, I remembered the cork grease used to keep the cork joints from drying out, sticking and getting destroyed in my clarinet. I lightly rubbed a bit of the cork grease on my St. Claude pipes cork tenon seal with a Q-Tip. I am sure it will keep the pipes cork in fine shape, as it has on my clarinet which is at least 40 years old now and I have never lost a cork seal. I just thought this might be helpful information. Oh, any music instrument store that sells woodwinds should have the cork grease, very inexpensive and a little goes a long way. It comes in a "Capstick" tube. "Chapstick" might work also, I'm just not sure if the ingredients in it would degrade the cork over time, I know the instrument cork grease works.
@Ambush We're so glad you like it mate, and thank you so much for the tip, we'll have to track some down and try it out!
I have discovered in my attic a bag of unfinished stummels which are at least 50 years old. They are 2 styles. Can you tell me anything about them or their value or maybe you would like to make an offer on them.
@Ellen, that's fascinating! Please email me: [email protected]
Want to say how much I enjoy my two Ropp pipes, a rusticated square cut and a Ropp Superior with a bone bit. I got very friendly with the rustcated pipe (for which I paid an indecntly low price--thank you, Smokingpipes), it was so light in the mouth and cool smoking that I hankered after another, a hankering I recently satified with the purchase of the forementioned Ropp Superior--again, thank you Smokingpipes), a gem of a pipe in every respect: lovely to look at, well fitted, light in the mouth, and cool draw. It's now my favorite pipe.