A Quiet Turning?

[OverMountain]

This is an anecdotal datapoint but I’m seeing more and more of my 30-40yo friends on FB with pics of them enjoying pipe tobacco.

The much heralded death of this hobby may be postponed.

Anybody else seeing things like this?

Makes me wonder about industry numbers, and whether things are growing.

 

[woodsroad]

Not seeing that. At all.

 

[sean.]

While the cigarette and cigar markets are diminishing, the pipe tobacco market is increasing and is forecast to keep growing! The largest growth per demographic are young people between 18-26.

 

[DanWil84]

Me being 40 this year can chime in on this. Ive been smoking cigars since C19 hit and a pipe a year after that. When C19 hit the stuff I liked to do were closed so I had to find another hobby and stress outlet. Being a ex cig smoker, which I quit then 15 years, I turned back to tobacco without wanting to start smoking cigs again and vaping didnt seem to appeal to me at all.

I think there are people turning back to old times. I could say im a bit more traditional than others even before picking up a pipe or cigars, which doesnt make me special at all, but going back to habits our grandparents could have (at least the "good" ones) are in a bit of comeback. I think pipe and cigar smokers are still a outlier in statistics on millenials born between 82 and 96, but it could explain this habit they created.

The market has changed a bit with products that could be more desireable for millenials, like special releases in tobacco (pipe and cigars), easy to be obtained via their smartphone or even a monthly subscription and dropped on your doorstep, being up to date with cigar and pipes on social media. Also a social media pressence with a more pipes and tobacco themed way of posting pictures or video's is I think a reason its getting back in favor with young people. I have a bunch of young people on my insta feed which show what they smoke or young pipe makers which show their work.

 

[Infantry23]

I am DEFINITELY seeing more pipe smoking amongst 25-40 yr olds in the circles I run in. Some of that is because I have shared pipes and knowledge with friends who join the pipe smoking community and some of that is a group of people that are more "traditional."

There is a strong gravitation of 20-40 somethings to things "of yesterday." Whether that be values, traditions, hobbies, etc. There seems to be a wholesale rejection (by some) of the force-fed crap this world is giving us day in and day out.

 

[OverMountain]

While the cigarette and cigar markets are diminishing, the pipe tobacco market is increasing and is forecast to keep growing! The largest growth per demographic are young people between 18-26.

Where’s this coming from Sean?

 

[Chasing Embers]

While the cigarette and cigar markets are diminishing

You really don't want that. Much pipe tobacco is dependent on crops primarily grown for chew and cigarettes. Once those go, pipe tobacco will go with them.

 

[warren]

While the cigarette and cigar markets are diminishing, the pipe tobacco market is increasing

That is a scary, unsupported but, still scary. Cigarette smoking keeps the industry as a whole more or less solvent. Pipe smokers are such a tiny portion of the world-wide market for tobacco.

I'd love to see the data Sean used to support his conclusions.

 

[K.E. Powell]

Like the OP, I've no hard evidence to share. But going by strictly anecdotal evidence and my own perception of things? There seems to be a small but noticeable interest among Millennials and older Zoomers for pipes and pipe tobacco. But does that mean anything? Fedoras came back in vogue briefly in the early 2000s and were just as quickly ousted out of vogue when they became associated (perhaps somewhat unfairly) with misogynistic dudebros. (To this day, "fedorabro" is a epithet used online, even though the fedora fad has largely fizzled out.) So, is this a real thing with meaning? Or another fad being glommed onto due to its seemingly anachronistic aesthetic?

I'd say it's a mix of both. The cigar shops I frequent are showing an increase in pipe smokers and are selling more pipe tobacco products. That's definitely a good thing, and it makes sense; a person interested in cigars would naturally want to try other premium tobacco products. These shops are typically filled with your older Gen Xers and Boomers, but I'm seeing a lot of people my age (older Millennial) also frequent them, and doing so with full investment into pipes and cigars both. Such people, and I count myself among them, are likely in it for the long haul. And again, this is strictly my perception here, but we are a rather homogenized lot: a lot college-educated white men that occupy the lower-middle to middle classes. Nothing wrong with that! Just something I notice.

On the other end of spectrum are those who are clearly glomming on to a fad solely for its aesthetic qualities. Nothing wrong with that, either! Let people enjoy things, I say. But these people don't strike me as ones that are going to be in this for the long haul. There's a big explosion right now in the men's fashion and self-care industries that are purposely selling the idea of a kind of, ahem, let's say "antique masculinity." These products tap into the collective disappointment many younger men have with the disposability of consumer culture, and also taps into their desire to express their masculinity in a way that resonates with them. Well, right now, popular media is replete with images of vikings and tough-guy early 20th century gangsters in bespoke suits and tweedy caps. So, pipes are just another extension of that kind.

 

[Auxsender]

Since the world is upside down and on fire, I would imagine many young people are in the “fuck it” stage of managing the existential dread and grief of an increasingly uninhabitable earth.
Perhaps it’s forever wars.
Perhaps it’s climate catastrophe. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ll likely never own anything of substantial value in their lives.
Whatever the triggering issue is for the young individual, I imagine part of coping with it might be “Why not enjoy tobacco? The burning earth is going to engulf me anyway, might as well give it a go.”

Also, JRR Tolkien.

 

[kcghost]

I don't see that at all.

 

[anotherbob]

This is an anecdotal datapoint but I’m seeing more and more of my 30-40yo friends on FB with pics of them enjoying pipe tobacco.

The much heralded death of this hobby may be postponed.

Anybody else seeing things like this?

Makes me wonder about industry numbers, and whether things are growing.

At least seeing that a lot of college kids like seeing a guy smoking a pipe. Seriously at least once a month I get compliments on the pipe and a couple times I get asked about where to get them and how to learn how to use them (wonder if any of them are lurking here). I smell pipes around my neighborhood sometimes. And met a small handful of younger people who do already and seem to know more about smoking then I did when I was smoking as long as they have been. It seems like there is a lot of shyness about smoking openly in public with a pipe. Which is weird because cigar smokers aren't like that.

 

[anotherbob]

I think the biggest problem is that a pipe is a commitment. You don't like it you have this useless pipe you bought. You buy a lighter and cigar and hate, you can still burn things with the lighter. You have to really decide you want to try a pipe. A lot of us knew a pipe smoker and saw them regularly. For me it was neighbors and friends of parents.

 

[fireground_piper]

Hopefully not. Especially if the suggested 18-26 demographic had any real standing as that would mean a growing number underage smokers, which ultimately leads to further regulatory intervention to stop such a pandemic of smoking youth. Nothing good comes from that.