Pipe Handedness

sablebrush52 · Jun 7, 2014

The tenor of this forum has turned serious of late, what with discussions regarding views of history, politics, the gruffness of Bostonians and the shortage of Esoterica. It is in keeping with these weighty matters that I ask you the following question. When holding your pipe while lighting and/or smoking it, do you favor one hand over the other or are you an ambidextrous smoker? When clenching do you favor one side of you mouth over the other? The fate of the world could rest on the strength of your answers.

sidious · Jun 7, 2014

Lol, good question. I always hold the pipe in my left hand and light with my right. After the pipe is lite I try to remember to move it around in my mouth and not favor any side. I do tend to favor the right side when clenching and in general. I am ambidextrous and find holding the pipe in either hand feels "right".

latbomber · Jun 7, 2014

I'm probably 60/40 for the right side, although I usually flip it around depending on what side of the book I'm reading.
This problem is of course cause by thaT DAMN ESOTERICA HOARDING BARACK OBAMA AND THE ILLUMINATI!!!! :twisted:

settersbrace · Jun 7, 2014

What's it to 'ya!? Can't I just smoke my pipe without somebody asking me how I hold it??
Lol, good post Sable.
I'm right handed and right sided where I clench and grip my pipes. I've purposely tried to make it work on my weak side just to try and protect my tongue and mouth but it's no use. I can't shoot left handed either. Hell, I can't pick my nose left handed.

phil67 · Jun 7, 2014

I have to grab on with both hands when I’m doing it.
As for a pipe... left side of mouth 90% of the time, and always light with my right hand.

condorlover1 · Jun 7, 2014

An excellent question! I am left handed for the purpose of writing but I hold my pipe in my right hand before striking the match and putting the pipe in the right hand side of my mouth and lighting said pipe. I have often wondered about this but since I have a pipe notch in my right hand side it makes sense that the pipe goes on that side. I did use the left hand side once years ago but since I have an absence of teeth on that side it would more likely prove to be a little problematic these days! Now to further our good friend @sablebrush52 line of questioning, gentlemen, which hand do you use to ………. never mind!

curl · Jun 7, 2014

I guess there are two ways to answer this question.

dread · Jun 7, 2014

Left in hand and 90% of the time clinching opis on the left side. I try to remember to move it atound but I always forget and it stays in the left side.
And I'm talking about a tobacco pipe and nothing more.
Curl . . .

escioe · Jun 7, 2014

Pipe is almost always on the left side of my mouth. I'm not a real regular clencher, so I move it around a little. Almost always held in the left hand. I think it originates from college, where I'd be reading a book most of the time while smoking, and annotating it with the pen in my right hand. I still do that.

rmbittner · Jun 7, 2014

I am right-handed by nature/nurture. BUT, I always hold and cradle my pipe in my left hand. And if I'm clenching it in my mouth (something I don't do that often), it's always on the left side.
I think that's so I have my right hand free to tamp and light matches. But the left hand just feels natural to me. It also frees up my right hand to make notes and edit whatever manuscript I'm currently working on, much like Escioe does.
Heck, I can't do anything else with my left hand, so it might as well be a pipe holder!

Bob

voorhees · Jun 7, 2014

I am left handed when writing by nature, but throw right handed. SO, the pipe is left sided clenched and lighter is handled by the right hand. No change ever.

apatim · Jun 7, 2014

Hold with left while light with right - clench on left
Try clenching on right but my teeth don't cooperate although I do occasionally hold in right side of mouth with right hand to draw.
You are right... this is very important stuff! :mrgreen:

faust · Jun 7, 2014

I like to keep the pipe guessing, I never let it know which hand I decide to hold it in and just when it thinks today is gonna be a right handed day BAM left hand. It keeps the pipe's mind from ageing and will keep your pipe fresh if you give it mental games like this every so often

mso489 · Jun 7, 2014

I'm right handed and tend toward the right hand and right side of my mouth, but I do regularly

shift for variety and to use the left side of my taste buds and probably nostrils. I'd say I go left

about 30% of the time. As a child, I broke my right wrist doing a foolish acrobatic stunt (teeter

board) and wrote (badly) with my left hand. I sometimes eat left handed.

derfatdutchman · Jun 7, 2014

I'm right handed also, I hold my pipes with my left to light them. After that I'll hold my pipe with either hand it depends on what I'm doing. If I'm working in my shop I tend to clench on the left, but all the times I clench on the right. Whew! That was a lot of thinking for as Saturday.

prndl · Jun 7, 2014

growing up in appalachia, I learned at a young age to grab food with whatever hand I could grab it with first.
I tend to pipe the same way.

claypipesarchaeologist · Jun 7, 2014

Ha! Great post, sablebrush. I'm most comfortable using my right hand, as I am right handed. But, I make a conscious effort to switch the pipe over to my left almost half the time, not so it can be in the opposite hand, but so I can be drawing smoke in the opposite side of my mouth. I find I get the best flavor this way, giving the taste buds on one side of the tongue a type of "resting" period, compared to the side that draws the smoke in, anyway.

bowler1 · Jun 7, 2014

I am a lefty and clench and smoke exclusively on the left side.

faust · Jun 7, 2014

This thread is too upbeat and happy.. we need someone to ruin it with politics xD

larrylegend · Jun 7, 2014

I'm right handed. I hold my pipe in my left hand, light with my right and clench on the left side of side and don't really switch.

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