Pipes Magazine » General Pipe Smoking Discussion

1. 

   rmbittner
   

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   A number of years ago, the BBC posted these audio reflections (and slideshow) from avid pipe smoker and author Alan Sillitoe. I love this and thought it was definitely worth sharing with the community here (it's only about 4 minutes long):

   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/6748859.stm

   BTW, unless you were a contemporary English fiction major, his name might not ring a bell. He's probably best known in the U.S. for his short story "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," which used to be required reading in high school. But he's written a lot of novels and short stories. And his memories of how smoking has been a beloved part of his life are just wonderful. (I love the photo of the women in the pipe factory, each of them with a pipe in her mouth!)

   Bob

   Posted 4 months ago #
2. 

   rothnh
   

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   I enjoyed this. Thanks for posting it.

   Posted 4 months ago #
3. 

   bubblehead33
   

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   That was quite interesting, thanks for sharing Bob.

   Posted 4 months ago #
4. 

   05venturer
   

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   Very cool.
   My oh My How Times have changed

   Kent
   
   

   Posted 4 months ago #
5. 

   allan
   

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   I grew up with smoke in my life. Tobacco smoke to me gives an immediate sensory memory of 'good times'. My parents would have friends over and several smoked (my parents did not) and now the memory is ingrained in my subconcious somewhere.

   movie theaters, planes, bars, everywhere...

   I feel that I don't really fit in to this new modern way of being.

   Allan

   Posted 4 months ago #
6. 

   yadan
   

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   Great video - the narrative, the pics and the music - thanks for posting!

   "I'm always easy to please since I'm always satisfied with the very best." - Oscar Wilde

   Posted 4 months ago #
7. 

   cortezattic
   

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   10 pipes a day. My kinda guy! Thanks for posting.

   I find myself sitting idly on the line dividing past and future,
   as if I could kill time without injuring eternity. -- Thoreau
   .

   Posted 4 months ago #
8. 

   jwp159
   

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   10 pipes a day. My kinda guy! Thanks for posting.
   +1

   Posted 4 months ago #
9. 

   swhipple
   

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   Nice! It does seem somehow that we've lost something in our modern world.

   Posted 4 months ago #
10. 

    brian64
    

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    Great post...what a smoker's paradise it used to be.

    "What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning." -- Werner Heisenberg

    Posted 4 months ago #
11. 

    gwtwdbss
    

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    Great vid. thanks for sharing. I am feeling better from my common cold that has lasted a week now. Hopefully I will be able to light up and enjoy a pipe in another day or two. I love seeing pics of old guys smoking a pipe. It is very nostalgic.

    Man cannot survive except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon. But the mind is an attribute of the individual, there is no such thing as a collective brain. The man who thinks must think and act on his own. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot not be subordinated to the needs, opinions, or wishes of others. It is not an object of sacrifice. ~ Howard Roark (The Fountainhead ~ Ayn Rand 1943)

    Posted 4 months ago #
12. 

    anthonyrosenthal74
    

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    He is so right on. As a writer myself (ok... I'm still working on my first novel)since I started smoking the pipe, it does help me think and relax while I consider the next chapter. And when I'm done writing, it's quite enjoyable to sit back and read what I've written so far.

    and it makes me feel like Tolkien, or Jordan, or C.S. Lewis

    
    Cut me... I bleed black.

    Posted 4 months ago #
13. 

    anthonyrosenthal74
    

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    He is so right on. As a writer myself (ok... I'm still working on my first novel)since I started smoking the pipe, it does help me think and relax while I consider the next chapter. And when I'm done writing, it's quite enjoyable to sit back and read what I've written so far.

    and it makes me feel like Tolkien, or Jordan, or C.S. Lewis

    Posted 4 months ago #
14. 

    simenon
    

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    I know him from the novel 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' which was made into a popular film and was very influential at the time of its publication in the UK. (I picked it up in a used bookshop many moons later...)

    Alan Sillitoe died in 2010 at the age of 82, so it is safe to say that he had a pretty good run.

    He was quite a character.

    Thanks for posting that, Bob. I was not aware of this piece. It provided a great listen for a few minutes...

    Posted 4 months ago #
15. 

    rigmedic1
    

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    Thanks for posting this, that was really great. I have always relished the fact that by smoking my pipe, I am sharing in a ritual of a great many of the writers and thinkers of the past.

    Posted 4 months ago #
16. 

    fnord
    

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    Wow, Bob. Thank you for this. I saw the movie "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" long before reading the short story and became a Tom Courtenay fan for life.

    On a sidenote, I'd damn near pay three to one if that's not a very young Albert Finney with a go to hell grin at 1:31 of this slideshow.

    Excellent post.

    Fnord

    Posted 4 months ago #
17. 

    metalheadycigarguy
    

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    Nice little story with some great pictures.

    Posted 4 months ago #
18. 

    cygnusx1
    

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    Just think, at the rate we are going, we won't even be able to watch videos about smoking!

    Posted 4 months ago #
19. 

    eibhir
    

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    That made me smile. I really liked the last pic with him and his pipe writing with a fountain pen. A good film. Thanks!

    A smile will always keep them guessing.

    Posted 4 months ago #
20. 

    rmbittner
    

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    Surprised no one pointed out/lusted after the round tin of Three Nuns featured in one of the photos of the author. Can you imagine smoking, basically, one tin of that every other day? (And that's after he cut back to just 10 bowls a day!)

    Bob

    Posted 4 months ago #
21. 

    pipesicle
    

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    loved the narration and the postings. Thanks!

    Posted 4 months ago #

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