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buck17

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 14, 2018
180
116
I was just reading a thread here about smoking in public and there was a passing comment about a younger pipe smoker being assumed a hipster. I am in my mid thirties and work as a musician full time. I definitely look like it too. That said, I have a lot of opportunities to smoke “in the wild” being a worker in the night life, though I haven’t more than a couple times. Also, I have, because of my age and work hear the hipster call made often enough about people around me. I’m curious about the folks here- a) do you instinctively think there is inevitably something hipster about younger pipe smokers and b)- what the heck is a hipster to you? Through my experience it seems that most people take it to mean someone, usually a man, who dresses kind of fashionable and knows everything but usually I hear it thrown down before they even hear the accused speak so that seems like soley a visual judgment with an assumption of poor character based on clothing choices. If I have a funky style and smoke a pipe am I in most peoples eyes a - dun dun dun- Hipster Pipe Smoker??

 

economistandfisherman

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 11, 2018
257
3
Hi Buck; I don't use the word at all, really, but when someone does, I think of a modern hippy wannabe...someone you'd see wearing fake dread locks at a Phish concert sort of thing...
phish-fans-colorado.jpg


 

buck17

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 14, 2018
180
116
Funny, a lot people that get called it around me are wearing a lot of neon. I think it’s different everywhere.

 

economistandfisherman

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 11, 2018
257
3
I think it’s different everywhere.
I think you're right...the Urban Dictionary definition is very broad...
"Hipsters are people that try too hard to be different (and genuinely do think that they're being different), by rejecting anything they deem to be too popular."

 

prndl

Lifer
Apr 30, 2014
1,571
2,901
As Potter Stewart once said,...
..."I can't define it but, I know it when I see it".

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,993
26,606
New York
The shorts and the blond hair with a beard are sort of different. I don't think I would use the term 'hipster' but more like......... well best I don't say anything about smoking pipes!

 

haparnold

Lifer
Aug 9, 2018
1,561
2,389
Colorado Springs, CO
To me, being a hipster has always been about a strong aversion to anything that appears too 'mainstream', with an emphasis on individuality and a taste for things with little to no mass appeal. This is why hipsters are often associated with niche products that can be a little finicky to use: brakeless track bicycles, vinyl records, or even smoking pipes. All of these have their pros and cons, but all of them are undoubtedly more fussy than their more popular cousins (bikes with gears and brakes, an iPod, and cigarettes, respectively).

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
To me, it's not so much about using the niche items, it's the amount of smug superiority you assume and project about being into those niche products that makes a hipster. To the OP I would say, dress like a duck, style your hair like a duck, grow your beard like a duck, and get tattooed like a duck, and some people are bound to assume you're a duck.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Young people trying stuff out and looking pretty inauthentic in the process, I suppose is what many mean by "hipster." Just to lend some perspective, I live in Raleigh, which is hardly a trend setter in the national fashion and "lifesstyle" sense. Somewhat to the contrary. I am intrigued that when I go to one of our local classic Southern cafeterias for lunch now and then, among the really striking diversity of people I see are old ( aged sixties, seventies) bearded white guys all done up in bandanas, chains, tattoos, denim, and piercings; I don't just mean an affect, I mean a cultural immersion just walking past. Most of these guys were either hippies when that was new, or people who resisted for many years and finally took the plunge. So hipster can mean many things, and not all of those people are 22 years old. Do my old guys smoke tobacco pipes? Maybe not. I will point out that sometimes I have on my Missouri Meerschaum cap from the TAPS pipe show, so there's that!

 

georgebmcclelland

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 27, 2018
270
24
The term "hipster" comes from the beat movement in the 1950's and hasn't changed much in it's definition over the years. A hipster is someone who is hip. The definition of hip is of course dependent on the trends of time, but not much has really changed. Hipsters are very different from hippies, in fact almost the opposite end of the alternative spectrum. A hipster is a very clean-cut sort of edgy. A hipster very much cares about their appearance, and wants others to appreciate it. Think Ray Ban glasses with non-prescription clear lenses. Think Andy Warhol meets The Gap meets a record store clerk meets a coffee shop. Think Joy Division meets political correct-ness meets re-purposed furniture meets vintage flannel meets organic vegetables meets slip-on canvas shoes meets owning a typewriter that you never use meets way too much India Pale Ale with way too much hops.
The fact that pipe smoking would be associated with being a hipster is not at all surprising. The whole essence of being a hipster is to be more hip than your neighbor, and one of the best ways to be hip is to practice eclectic antiquarian habits for the purpose of yourself being the topic of conversation.

 
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warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,206
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
People feel the need to label and classify. It makes it easier to like/dislike people. For many folks, particularly elders, "different" makes them/us uncomfortable. Sorting and classifying eases the angst, protects the comfort zone. Labels are forever expanding and shrinking depending on the classifier or the writer who has been assigned to come up with a definition for a column or story. Mostly, the most outlandish looking and behaving of the next generation are simply going with the flow, trying to find an identity, fitting in with their friends who are all following their selected "alpha".
My classification for the bearded blond above would be ... androgynous. But, one could look at the picture and think "Halloween". frat party, entertainer, confused, individualist, all sorts of descriptive terms. Each of which makes the oddity, easier to handle and dismiss. Such terms are a way to simply "write off" those who make us uncomfortable. For some, everyone else must fit into a readily identifiable niche. That's much simpler than taking the time and making the effort to know the individual. Or, even to ignore. We prefer the company of our "own kind." However we define that.
For a many elders writing off the younger generations is simply a way of life. The elders had it harder, that's a given for the elders. The whippersnappers have it too easy and rather than making the world a better place, are destroying it. Perhaps they are simply making it their own, much as we tried to do. At least until many of them age a bit, marry, have kids and a profession or job. Then they morph into elders, decrying the younger generations and how easy they have it. But, we all know someone in our generation who never changed, couldn't make the jump to fully functioning member of society. Think Bellamy Brothers "Old Hippie" trilogy.
Lastly, the pipe as part of the "hipster" identity is most likely noticed only by pipe smokers. I doubt many "hipsters" have any interest in the pipe. Probably no more nor less that any other segment of the population.

 

blackadderlxx

Can't Leave
Jun 17, 2018
369
10
I define hipster as a person with a big beard, neatly groomed with all kinds of beard product, but cannot change a tire.

 
May 9, 2018
1,687
86
Raleigh, NC
Been accused of being one for a long time. Just my style and tastes make some believe that's what I am. Never had heard of it before until someone labeled me as such.
Although I have also been labeled a "lumbersexual" before, whatever that is.
I wore flannel and jeans in high school, still do. I have had facial hair and been shaving since I was 12. Decided to let the beard grow before it was cool.
My mom and dad worked all the time, so I was raised by my grandma and all her brothers and sisters. I worked a garden, helped can vegetables, listened to old Hank Williams records on an old 1950's Era record player which I still own and it works today. I grew a fascination of the old things. I percolated my coffee. I just lived and enjoyed the same things they did and now in my mid 30's I get called hipster all the time. I don't go for the stuff the mainstream doesn't just because they don't, I go for it because it's what I truly love and choose. I'm always told that people know what I'll choose if given a choice between items. I mostly choose the different item because I like that it's different for me, not for anyone else.
I reckon if all that makes me a hipster, then so be it, but my tastes in things don't really change. Once the hipster fad goes away, I'll still be here, wearing flannel, jeans, listening to the old records on my record player when I choose to and smoking whatever tobacco I want in whatever pipe I want, no matter what it makes me in the eyes of others.

 

unkleyoda

Lifer
Aug 22, 2016
1,126
69
Your mom\\\'s house
To me a hipster is someone that does things ironically, including dress. They dress or do things to get attention, rather than for function.
I live in a hipster mecca of the midwest, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. There are a lot of 20-30 somethings that do things, and dress in clothing purely for the look and reaction.
Yes, we all do this to some extent or another, but when you haul a typewriter into a Starbucks, bring a spinning wheel into a cart dealership, walk around listening only to cassette tapes on a Walkman, or dress in outlandish decades old clothing, you are a hipster.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Lots of good observations above. To me, hipster isn't a look, it's an attitude. A hipster is fascinated by current cultural trends, maybe in fashion, maybe in thought, maybe in activities, and seeks to be involved in it either as a joiner or as an originator. And there's nothing new about this. Before hipsters there were hep cats, and before hep cats there were the aesthetes, and before them there were the dandies, and so on and so on.
And while hipsters are often defined by their appearance, there's more to it. And defining by appearance can be tough to do as the cutting edge is a constantly moving target. As a particular look becomes more mainstream the hip move on, and a lot of those you think are hipsters because of their look actually aren't at all.

 

buck17

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 14, 2018
180
116
There are some great opinions here. I love thinking about how people tick and see others. Interesting stuff for some reason. Probably because I write songs. Gotta say though, the thread of people with their animals is amazing!

 
Jan 8, 2013
7,493
733
Most hipsters these days come from the same generation that can't open up a can of chili without watching a Youtube video on "How To Open A Can Of Chili." I have a beard, often wear flannels, but have worn flannels all my life. These days, I'm enjoying looking into old fashioned fashions, but not because I'm a hipster, just because I'm bored these days with the normal. I certainly don't follow the hipster crowd, and I've always tried to do my own thing. I also make my own beard and mustache products... not because I'm a hipster, but because if you're going to wear a beard, you may as well take care of it. I could care less if someone called me a hipster though, I'd probably laugh it off, because they obviously don't know me very well.

 

brassmonkey

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 6, 2018
125
12
Nothing new to see here - dandies, beatniks, bodgies, rockers, hippies, punks, grunge, goths, emos, hipsters... and on it goes. Once the 'alternative' becomes trendy then the next 'new' thing will appear. Though I think the hipster thing has partly come about because of a dissatisfaction with current consumerism and the throw away society we live in. For example I shave with a double edge safety razor that is older than me, rather than plastic razors and I prefer to fix up an old thing that was built to last by a previous generation than to buy a new thing that probably wont last anyway. The other positive aspect from the hipster movement is that I can now get my haircut at a barbers rather than at a hair salon. But i will never have my hair in a top-knot.

 
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