Social connotations of cigarettes, cigars, and pipes

So TOTALLY judging the books by their respective covers, I'd say the following are typical stereotypes:
Cigarettes: Lower class American. Likely started in high school, if not before. Less educated than others. Took up cigarette smoking because they thought they looked cool.

Cigars: Pompous. Likely think they've arrived, and have no clue the person they look down their nose at probably makes ten times what they themselves make. Took up cigar smoking because they thought they looked cool.

Pipes: A bit affected. Like wearing a bow tie or horn-rimmed glasses. Think they are smarter than everyone else. Probably university educated. Took up the pipe because they thought they looked cool.
(Mostly tongue-in-cheek - no offense intended. I've smoked all three)

I've always liked this comparison:
Cigarettes are a Habit

Cigars are a Hobby

Pipes are a Religion

Rather than making a distinction based solely on the device, I would prefer to base it on whether a person is truly a tobacco lover or not. IMO, someone can be a genuinely discriminating tobacco lover regardless of whether it's cigarettes, cigars or pipes. Or they could not care at all about the quality of the tobacco regardless of which device they prefer.

Last night, I was watching behind-the-scenes bonus features for season two of 24. At one point Kiefer Sutherland is getting told he's needed. He's been relaxing. He takes a final drag on a cigarette and goes back to work. Now imagine he had been smoking a cigar or pipe. At a few other points, we see the writers or whoever they were (high ups, let's say) relaxing together, sitting back in their chairs. They're smoking long, large ring gauge (diameter) cigars. Now imagine they were smoking pipes or cigarettes, or a mix of all three.

It's a spectrum.

I have learned to make no assumptions of an individual based on something like his choice of tobacco.

Yo Per
So true. Stereotypes are so ........ typical.
hp

les

I'm sure I assume characteristics of people from their preferred smoke, but then I try to resist the stereotyping, which has become a sort of disease of its own. The very wealthy smoke cigarettes; some introverts enjoy huge lusty cigars although likely in private; and some pipe smokers are ... not who you associate with pipe smoking. I'll go with the line about pipe smoking being a religion, almost.

I don't judge people who smoke cigarettes but I would say it's the least healthy form of tobacco consumption, most pipe smokers and cigar smokers do it kind of as a ritual to unwind, whereas cigarette smokers are constantly smoking and seem to really need it. As a pipe smoker and cigar smoker, I average about 1-2 bowls a day and maybe 1-2 cigars a month. I used to smoke cigarettes but never really found them as addictive as people claim, I smoked for years then just quit one day, then about 5 years later picked up the pipe, then about 2 years ago seriously started with cigars. I do find cigarettes really stink, so do cigars of course.

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If you want some social commentary on tobacco use, you should have framed the question - "Social connotations of aros, Latakia, and flakes."

I judge the character of a smoker on how polite they are with their smoking in company. A cigarette smoker who asks those around, "Do you mind if I smoke?" is a much more polite person than one who simply lights up, regardless of those around. I have smoked cigarettes, cigars, and pipe, almost always in seclusion.

Labeling people based on their smoking habits? Seems like a waste of effort.

Pipes: A bit affected

Click to expand...

@jmatt ... just re-read that and LMAO! :mrgreen:
To the serious posts ... I think we are just having some fun here, guys. :wink:

Growing up I had zero exposure to tobacco, it was demonized, so if I see someone smoking anything I'm going to instinctively think they have no self control and are probably involved in illegal activity.

It's just a gut reaction but these things don't go away overnight.

A few years ago if I spotted a man in the warehouse district in the wee hours, carrying a pry bar and smoking a pipe, I would put my pipe in the "pursuit pack" before I "jacked" him up.

The post above whose refrain, for the big three uses of tobacco, is that all of them took up a practice because "it made them look cool" is correct, so far as this reason is applicable. We all adopt a public persona to the extent needed; those unsure of themselves use them more than those with more confidence. One with a dollop of insecurity persona-izes less than one with very little self-regard, which might be said to also imply more insecurity. One with a good deal of insecurity deceives others because he deceives himself. He doesn't so much adopt a persona as he is it, as he in fact probably doesn't know who he is. Said another way his identity is very shaky.
True or untrue, this is only one aspect of tobacco choice. Economics also plays an important part. Veteran pipe smokers who have enough pipes for their rotation and who have come to terms with their spending limits on acquiring fine pipes can smoke for at most a dollar or two a bowl, no matter how pricy their tobacco. But we all know that cigars can cost much, much more. Thus when a cigar smoker lights a pricy stick, both he himself and his current company can't help but think, at best, he can afford it, whether or not this is true.
Cigar tobacco, compared to pipe tobacco, is generally more robust, in nicotine and flavor. It has a harshness which cigar smokers must translate to savor. Think of the fact that so few women smoke cigars, that cigars are almost categorically regarded as the province of men. This is a bit of stretch, but it is worth noting that this harshness can be regarded as testimony to virility. And if one is more virile he is thus allowed a modicum of the swagger and dominance accorded to the long list of men who smoked cigars and whose wishes were obeyed. Swagger is control.
About 5 years ago I was in a smoking room usually populated by the same group of cigar smokers. The alpha walked in and sat down and lit up, and the atmosphere immediately changed. One guy ran past him a box buy they hadn't finalized, and the alpha responded tersely and confidently after he reviewed the numbers just given to him, tossing off his share of the money with a persona of decisiveness and nonchalance. He was dressed more formally as if he had just come from his corporate management job. Then he rerouted this last perception and told the group how he had just come from boxing at the gym. I thought hmmm, first he dominates by manner and dress and then warns anyone who would get in his way that he was a pugalist. He struck me as a feral with social skills. HIs swagger was control.
I won't speak to the persona pipe smokers would by their smoking project; the self-aware already know this

I have some worthless generalizations to offer.
Cigarette Smokers:
As a young non-smoking youth I worked as a conductor on the train that goes around Disneyland. There was no smoking allowed while on the train, so people would file by me holding out their "D" tickets and snuffing out there cigarettes as they boarded the train.
The round trip was about twenty minutes. It was a strange sight to see two hundred people get up to disembark and have a cigarette lit just as they stepped onto the platform. I thought they weren't so much enjoying the ride as waiting for it to be over so they could light up again. That was my introduction to nicotine addiction on a large scale and it made an impression on me.
Cigar Smokers:
As I started getting around middle-aged in the mid 80s I began to encounter cigar smokers. My boss would invite me to have one with him in his office while we talked business. I began working with more successful people who smoked cigars and I began to associate cigar smoking with wealth and success. This was especially true because in order to find a cigar that wouldn't choke me I had to spend a lot of money. I still am regularly offered a cigar from time to time at weddings. There was and still is that social aspect to smoking cigars that was lacking with cigarettes.
Pipe Smokers:
So now as I enter the final phase of life I find myself forsaking all other kinds of smoking save the pipe. This is something I do by myself for my own pleasure and entertainment. I find pipe smoking to be a pleasantly introverted and contemplative activity, best enjoyed alone. Yes, there are pipe clubs and pipe shows, but the actual enjoyment of pipe and tobacco seems to be a solitary one for me and that's just fine.
If anything I'm a little self conscious appearing in public with a pipe. I don't particularly want the comments I get even if they are complimentary most of the time, so it's not about looking cool =)