In reply to gethin_allen:
Well yes there are for sure in the sense that you have more hand positions. If you travel that road start reading up about dirt drops. The trouble with standard road drops is that they tend to be deep for aerodynamics and narrow. That means when you are riding offroad you have to bend your arms more on descents when yuo will be in the drops for stability. On long descents it means your arms will be spent as f*ck by the bottom. Flared drops allow you to have straight arms and are actually really comfortable. The drops are shallower which puts you much higher than a road drop. The width is also much wider than a road drop which is better for control.
There are lots out there now:
Salsa woodchipper
Salsa Cowchipper
Salsa cowbell 2 and 3
On one Midge
Alpkit Bomber (basically a midge)
Soma fabs ones
Velo orange Daija Far bar
A few I can't remember!
I have the midge, and whilst it's OK, I don't like the acute bend in the bar which means you can't reallyride the drop hoods. Also the drop is actually really short so if you have big hands like I do they are not so great. I got them as a cheap second hand replacement and have stuck with them mainly through being a tightwad. For the same reasons I'd not get the alpkits - they are nearlly the same bar it would seem. he wood chipper is somewhat similar but has much longer drops as are the soma. Might work, but some people like them and others hate them.
The cow bells are more a standard road geometry with slight flare. Really popular with out and out CX riders.
Cow chipper is in the middle. I would really like some, but they are £90!
Lastly the Daija - seems like a bit of everything thrown in there, and seems like maybe a good option? I might try some once I have a bit of spare cash! Either that or I'll just save more and go for the Cowchippers!
The real problem comes when you start considering gearing. Personally if you really want an MTB with drops, I'd stay with SRAM. I went Shimano and because the ratios are different between MTB and road gearing, its a total ball ache. But then I prefer the way Shimano shifts. So I'm on a bar end shifter for now.