Do you think pipe smoking is becoming popular again?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jul 3, 2015
43
21
35
Cabot Arkansas
I'm a 27 year old I've been smoking a pipe for 4 years and I've noticed a lot more people in their twenties are beginning to smoke a pipe I think and hope is coming back in popularity what do you think?

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
Judging by the shift in merchandise at my local B&M's, I would say that it is gaining in popularity again.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
This is why I'm an out-of-the-closet pipe smoker in public. I think people see, legitimize it in their minds, and are inspired perhaps to try it.

 

ray47

Lifer
Jul 10, 2015
2,451
5,610
Dalzell, South Carolina
You wouldn't be able to tell where I live. I never see other pipe smokers. That's odd because my local Tobacco Store sure sells a lot of blends and they've increased their pipe inventory. I guess we have a lot of closet pipe smokers here in my town. Of course I live in the deep south where cigarettes & dip rule the day.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
That's the challenge to us: pipe smoking is invisible because it must be done indoors at home for the most part.
Then again, there are plenty of public places where you can still smoke.
I used to hang out at my favorite coffee shack which had public seating out front where smoking was encouraged. Gotta love hipsters and their American Spirit (Lights, ugh) cigarettes.
But people drove by and observed. I'm sure they probably were more amused by my person than my smoking, but the image is out there, and we all know how image drives behavior!

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,207
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Where are you writing of that smoking must be done in the home? Not the case in Alaska. Nor Ireland when I was last there, two years ago. I smoke inside and out. There are public places where smoking is prohibited, in doors and out. On a trip across Canada and the northern tier states two years ago, I observed many smoking, cigarettes mostly. I was about the only pipe smoker over the eight weeks.
I have noticed that the smoking areas, inside and out, at various airports are considerably less populated than in the past. Outside of Ireland I have not seen a pipe being smoked in public in many years.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
Smoking is prohibited here inside all public buildings. Many outdoor spaces, including parks, do not allow smoking despite that being ridiculous in an open-air setting. And many do not smoke outdoors because they do not feel like paying the tobacco tax on their healthcare, which adds quite a bit to the cost to subsidize the 500-lb couch dwellers who smoke four packs of menthols a day and die young.

 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
Maybe, the problem is, I'm not sure if I want it to be "popular".
Culture swings are an interesting thing. The way it was put to me is "Synthesis, Antithesis, New Synthesis."

Every cultural norm is in part rejected, the next generation will always challenge the previous, and when the dust settles you have the new norm.

For the first half of the 20th century tobacco became incredibly popular, and then after the big wars were over the generations afterward started to recoil from the lifestyle established during those times.

Now, we're finally coming full circle. "Big Tobacco" is still shunned, but enough people are looking past that to wonder what on earth got people interested in the first place if this is all supposedly totally evil, as is now commonly to promoted by "the establishment". Oh the irony.

Thus the 21st Century Pipe Boom (it may be premature to say we're in a Pipe Boom right now, but it's probably not far off).
The problem is that people like me are so totally disconnected from tobacco use that it's like walking into a pitch black room that your parents have always told you is full of monsters. You know that monsters don't exist, but fairytales usually have some sort of principle that's applicable to life.
I say that I'm not sure if I ever want this to be "popular" because, as has been the bend of conversation around here lately (and I'm glad it has taken that turn), there are downsides to smoking a pipe. I can't light up a bowl without making my mouth mildly sore, even if I just light it once and put it down. Maybe that's just me, maybe I'm the exception and not the rule, but I'm certainly not going to be the only one. This isn't like trying foreign food or going to see a new movie, the subject definitely deserves careful consideration and cautious exploration, and when it comes to things being "popular" rational thought is usually one of the first things to fall off the bandwagon.

Total prohibition is outrageous and absolutely overkill, but, as sad as it is to say from a civil liberties standpoint, I'm reasonably satisfied with the way things are at this particular point. Social pressure can easily make people do things they would not want to do otherwise. I love my pipes, but mostly from a distance.

It's going to be very interesting to see how long it takes for the pendulum to gain momentum and how far it will swing.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
The way it was put to me is "Synthesis, Antithesis, New Synthesis."
I like Nietzsche's critique: this represents more social swings than recognition of reality. Fads, trends, etc.
I'm not sure if I want it to be "popular".
Ah! Now that's a very interesting question.
Should it remain "niche"? And if so, how big of a niche?
It's nice to fly under the radar, but with more acceptance comes more options.... and more taxes.

 

tinsel

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 23, 2015
531
7
"Popular"? I'd say no, definitely not.
When I was a cigarette smoker and smoked my pipe only occasionally at home, I almost never saw anyone smoking a pipe anywhere I went. Just cigarette smokers and maybe every once in a while someone smoking a cigar.
Now that I am a pipe-only smoker, I carry a pipe with me and smoke it everywhere I go that smoking is allowed. I converted one of my co-workers from cigarettes to a pipe, and I see him smoking his pipe everyday at work.
Other than me and my co-worker, I can count on one hand, without even needing all the fingers, the number of "random spottings" of pipe smokers I have had. The frequency doesn't seem to be going up as far as I can tell.
Also, other than me and the aforementioned co-worker, none of the pipe smokers I have spotted looked a day younger than 50 ... most appeared well beyond that in years.
I don't think other people in my area see many pipe smokers either, since I tend to get a lot of double-takes when people see me with mine. It doesn't seem like pipe smokers are something that people think of as commonplace at all.
All that being said, it wouldn't bother me at all if more people took up the hobby. Maybe then I'd get a decent B&M in my area.
EDIT:
but with more acceptance comes more options.... and more taxes.
I hadn't thought about the taxes thing. Dang. Maybe I would prefer it to stay a little less popular :)

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
Maybe then I'd get a decent B&M in my area.
This probably belongs in the John Galt thread, but there's a self-interest in un-self-interested activities.
Although, I share your concern on the taxes...

 

jkrug

Lifer
Jan 23, 2015
2,867
8
My local B&M reports a growth in business from the local university/college crowd. Hard to say if the interest will last but it would be cool if it did. :puffy:

 
  • Like
Reactions: Mdutson
Jan 4, 2015
1,858
11
Massachusetts
The term "Popular" is very misleading. Pipe smokers have been a small percentage of the population at large since the early 20th century. In the past there were more but pipe smoking was never popular if we define popularity as being a wide spread practice. I appears that it may be on the rise again but it will always be a small percentage of people. What is encouraging is that it remains a viable enough market to keep suppliers interested, in fact expanding. There is probably more quality pipes and tobacco on the market today than there has ever been. If you can't find a tobacco blend you like it's because you haven't look very hard.

 
Jul 3, 2015
43
21
35
Cabot Arkansas
Well where I'm from it seems like there is an increase when I go in the my local pipe shop there seems to be more and more younger people buying a pipe or looking at them.

 

michaelmirza

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 21, 2015
638
0
Chicago, IL
The combination of hipsters and the internet definitely seems to be sparking a bit of a resurgence in pipe smoking, which I'll openly admit to being part of. The Instagram pipe community in particular is absolutely exploding.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.