A Casual Interview for Pipe Smokers

[frogdonovan]

Hey all! In my introduction a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was working on a bit of an ethnography of pipe smokers for an anthropology class that I'm in. If you feel like it, I've got some questions about your opinions on pipe smoking and your experiences with the craft. Feel free to pick and choose whatever question you'd like to answer.

• How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?
• How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?
• How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?
• Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it?
• What's your favorite tobacco, and why?
• Do you have an interesting experience with pipe smoking that you'd like to share?
• How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?
• How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?

Thanks so much!

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

A friend gifted me 4 pipes. After reading, Latakia caught my interest and that’s what I use.

I’m an older person so what others think matters less and less.

The “author “ shape is my favorite.

My alcohol is beer. The hard stuff makes me throw up.

I was influenced by Tolkien and Lewis meetings to discuss and have a pint .

 

[prairiedruid]

Started when I was 44, my father used to smoke a pipe so I decided to try it.

Smoking a pipe helps with my depression, the "ritual" of loading, lighting, and smoking a pipe slows me down and changes my focus inward. Just as with alcohol there is good and bad; up to the individual to determine what is reasonable.

Negatives; increase in chances of oral cancers and the like, having started in my mid 40s I'm not as concerned about long term effects as opposed to starting as a teenager

Favorite pipes tend to be cobs, although I have a rusticated Savinelli I'm fond of.

Favorite tobacco......varies depends on my mood and is somewhat seasonal

The only pipe smokers I interact with are here on the forum

The future looks more expensive with fewer choices. Pipe smoking will survive and remain a very small fraction of the population.

 

[Jaylotw]

1.) started when I was 13 or 14, by stealing handfuls of Carter Hall and corn cob pipes from a friends dad. He knew, of course, but it was only occasionally. When I was a little older, maybe 18 or 19, I bought a briar and my own Carter Hall. Then, when I was 20 I bought a tin of Balkan Sasieni and discovered the good stuff. That’s when pipe smoking became something I really pursued and got into, and here I am 14 years later on a pipe forum.

2.) It’s a combination of tool and consumable that’s really unique. You get attached to the pipes, and the endless amount of blends to try keep you engaged. The variety of flavors found in pipe blends is more vast than cigars, and certainly cigarettes-and the combination of which pipe with which blend is endlessly engaging. Add the whole ritual


3.) I get why people don’t like it. I really do. I understand why people don’t want smoke in their face and I’m obliging with any requests to move downwind. Pipe tobacco is a different beast, though, and people are generally less offended by it. The militant anti-smokers are just angry people who need to funnel their hatred into something and I ignore them.

4.) My favorite is a Comoy’s prince that I bought while up to my eyeballs in whiskey in Deadwood, SD. It smokeslike crap, but I had a good time buying it.

5.) Old Gowrie, cause it’s got everything I like in a blend.

6.) I know that pipes float.

7.) I interact here. I have one acquaintance who will borrow a pipe and enjoy it when we hang out, which is almost never. I’m here because I know no other person who I can talk to about pipes or tobacco.

8.). We’ll still be around. It’ll get more expensive, the range of blends will diminish, but we’ll still be here in the future.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

The “angry non smokers” are not perfect specimens. They don’t recycle all they could, can be intolerant, occasionally fail to clean the corners of their mouths, and can be helicopter parents. ?????

 

[autumnfog]

How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?
- I've been fascinated by pipes and appreciated the smell of pipe tobacco since a very early age.
There was some mystique about it that is hard to pin point. The fascination never left but has evolved.

How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?
- I consider pipe smoking more interesting on many different levels; taste-wise, aesthetics, historical, crafmanship etcetera.

How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?
- I don't see any negative aspects about pipe smoking and don't care about hysterical non smoking-activists opinions about it.

Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it?
- Right now it is my rusticated Eltang Basic.

What's your favorite tobacco, and why?
- Capstan Blue and Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake. Love the bready, malty taste spectrum.

Do you have an interesting experience with pipe smoking that you'd like to share?
- A few. The pipe shops in Denmark and the visit to Bo Nordh in the mid 90ies.

How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?
- Only here. More or less daily, especially since the pandemic.

How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?
- It's hard not to be pessimistic, considering anti-smoking legislation world wide.

 

[anotherbob]

• How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?: When I was 16 I smoked a clove cigarette and really enjoyed it. I wanted to explore tobacco so I honestly tried every type I could get my hands on. Quit the cigs years ago but still use every type of tobacco other then that I can get my hands on.
• How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?: I can put it this way. Other forms of tobacco don't require experience to enjoy. A pipe does. You have to learn how to smoke a pipe. The trick to enjoying a pipe is to slow down and take your time. There is something meditative about it. The fact that the nicotine is sipped into your system also effects how your body reacts to it, this makes the effect of the nicotine more calming and relaxing.
• How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?: I feel like it's well earned. Cigarettes are why it's well earned. You can look at historical records and see that cigs are where the attitude towards smoking went from filthy and gross to down right horrible.
• Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it?: They're like my children I don't have, I love them all equally even if some of them smoke better then others.
• What's your favorite tobacco, and why?: GlPease Key Largo. It's always a great smoke and it's always interesting.
• Do you have an interesting experience with pipe smoking that you'd like to share?: Oh tons. It would be hard to pick one out. I'll pick one that's kind of funny. I was walking home and someone was walking their dog it was carrying a stick. The dog looked at me and I could see the gears turning in it's head. It dropped the stick and then held it in it's mouth sticking forward being held by where the molars would be in a human (I don't know dog teeth too well). I realized that when dogs see pipe smokers they think "now there is a human that knows how to enjoy a good stick".
• How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?: it's rare. It really is a play it by ear kind of thing. Sometimes we talk sometimes I just nod. If it's Cosmic I'll try to mess with him as much as possible, there is just something about that guy that needs to be knocked down a peg or several hundred.
• How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?: Growing. As cigs get less popular I think people will start seeing tobacco differently. I also see it doing what lots of things are doing which is getting more diverse. I mean that in everyway possible. I think in ten years a forum like this won't be quite so white and male and that is great. It is great because it means there will be more innovations, the larger the pool the more places to pull inspiration from. I think there will be a larger spread of jobs and life back grounds too (which is one of those the more things change the more they stay the same things). Because the internet means you don't have to know a pipe smoker to get initiated. It's funny you can see that on this forum. The older members are way more likely to say they got into to pipe smoking because of somebody. The younger members are more likely to say they found it interesting and started to do research about it.

 

[OneGoodBulldog]

Hey all! In my introduction a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was working on a bit of an ethnography of pipe smokers for an anthropology class that I'm in. If you feel like it, I've got some questions about your opinions on pipe smoking and your experiences with the craft. Feel free to pick and choose whatever question you'd like to answer.

• How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?
• How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?
• How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?
• Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it?
• What's your favorite tobacco, and why?
• Do you have an interesting experience with pipe smoking that you'd like to share?
• How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?
• How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?

Thanks so much!

1: I got started as a way to quit cigarettes, which I had smoked previously for 20 years.

2: Pipe smoking is more about the enjoyment of the hobby than it is facilitating an addiction. If smoking cigarettes is drinking a six pack of cheap beer everyday, then pipe smoking is having a fine whiskey after work.

3: The negative aspect of pipe smoking is completely overblown because it is lumped in with cigarette smoking. The true negative aspect of pipe smoking is that people think they ought to be able to tell you what to do with your body for the public good, ie; quit smoking tobacco to lower healthcare burdens. I pay exorbitant amounts for tobacco in Canada and our healthcare system has gotten worse, current events prove it.

4/5: I'm still pretty new so I'm reluctant to choose any favorites. Right now I like my Duca Carlo Lumberman and Mac Baren flake cuts.

6: Interesting experience? None really, it seems like tobacconists don't even want to sell pipe tobacco here anymore. Who can blame with them with the draconian laws we face?

7: Interact most with other smokers via an online forum.

8: The future of pipe smoking is unfortunately headed towards growing/procuring your own tobacco for home blending. Not even cheap American online retailers can fully alleviate the crushing taxes and restrictions on Canadian pipe smokers. Hopefully people will remain connected via the internet and be able to create their own communities centered around amateur tobacco production and distribution. There is also a lesson to be applied here from Prohibition. When vices are outlawed, they do not vanish. They merely go underground and become markets for less savory organizations. The backwards logic of creating more laws to lessen crime is as evident today as it was in the 20's.

 

[Chasing Embers]

How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?

Started using tobacco at thirteen and picked up a pipe when 17 to try a new way of tobacco use. I use various forms of tobacco.

How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking,

Duration of use.

How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking

Never experienced it firsthand.

Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it?

Other than Dunhill, any of them.

What's your favorite tobacco, and why?

Other than heavy latakia blends, any of them.

How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?

Only on here. Outside of chat sites, many don't wish to converse while smoking.

How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?

Fifty years from now tobacco use will be a thing of the past.

 

[warren]

How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?

Selfish choice made in my teens.

How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?

Apples and oranges.

How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?

If you are addressing how the general population sees tobacco use, it's perfectly understandable.

How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?

Other than on this site? Vocally, as necessary.

How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?

The future of pipe smoking/tobacco use is of no interest. I prefer to live in the moment. I do hope my grandson finds other wee vices to spend his moneys on in ten years or so.

 

[olkofri]

How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?

 

[Toast]

How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking? I'd smoked cigarettes from 14 & I wanted to stop. Pipes tick a lot of boxes - I like fidgeting with them, they force me to slow down, & they give me something to get excited about (the hunt, finding out more about them, &c.). Pipe tobacco is also much much nicer than I thought it would be.

How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol? My brain is about the only bit of me I really like. Smoking doesn't impair my thinking, so for me it, & coffee, are far & away my drugs of choice.

How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking? Indifferent. Tobacco is bad for you, I don't mind it or me being looked down on. It being restricted to the level alcohol is seems reasonable to me. That said, as someone who used to run bars & has seen what alcoholism can do to families, I'm perhaps giving booze too easy a ride.

Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it? No, I've too many to play favourites. My first pipe was an Ardor though & I have more of them than any other maker. I tend to prefer smaller, shorter, straight pipes.

What's your favorite tobacco, and why? VaBurs. Because they taste nice.

Do you have an interesting experience with pipe smoking that you'd like to share? No. Sorry.

How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often? Here, that's it!

How do you picture the future of pipe smoking? Hard to say. In the UK it's rare enough that I don't think it will be affected much other than by badly written legislation aimed at vapers. Worldwide - which is the key thing if the tobaccos I like are going to survive - my big hope is that the Asian market will pick up a bit of the slack that we seem to be seeing with the US deeming situation.

 

[bullet08]

Back in late 80s, I saw campus preacher yelling his lungs out and said "Oh boy. I need a pipe smoke." No, that didn't happen, but it's an interesting piece of a lie. Pipe smoking started rather late in my life. Before pipe smoking, I smoked cigarettes mostly. I enjoy English/Balkan blends mostly, but try to smoke other types between them. There really isn't negative aspect to smoking other than the narrowness of those anti-smoking simpletons. We all die. Choosing a pipe is a very personal choice. I prefer Peterson pipes. Peterson bulldog/Rhodesian is what I enjoy the most. However, I do have others shapes that I enjoy smoking. I have about 3 people that I interact with outside of my family. And dogs. But I do enjoy this forum and interaction with other members.

 

[anotherbob]

Back in late 80s, I saw campus preacher yelling his lungs out and said "Oh boy. I need a pipe smoke." No, that didn't happen, but it's an interesting piece of a lie. Pipe smoking started rather late in my life. Before pipe smoking, I smoked cigarettes mostly. I enjoy English/Balkan blends mostly, but try to smoke other types between them. There really isn't negative aspect to smoking other than the narrowness of those anti-smoking simpletons. We all die. Choosing a pipe is a very personal choice. I prefer Peterson pipes. Peterson bulldog/Rhodesian is what I enjoy the most. However, I do have others shapes that I enjoy smoking. I have about 3 people that I interact with outside of my family. And dogs. But I do enjoy this forum and interaction with other members.

Our campus preacher is still here. IT's clear he's suffer some divine punishment.

 

[elnoblecigarro]

• How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?

- Started with cigars at 18 years old and fell in love with tobacco. At 19 years old I wanted something more affordable and easier to storage (I still love cigars). A pipe just popped into my head and I went and bought one and some tobacco. Here I am five years later.

• How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?

- The way I see it is it's an indulgence and pleasure as opposed to habit like cigarettes. I do not smoke cigarettes. I smoke pipe and cigars few times per week. I do not drink or use other drugs, I dislike being drunk. Only tobacco, tea and coffee for me.

• How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?

- At my rate of smoking I'm not concerned about potential oral cancer risk. I don't smoke everyday and never more than once per day. I realize that some people dislike the smoke so I try to be respectful, but I don't preach to others and expect not be preached to. I am not addicted and have never been.

• Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it?

- I have only few pipes and no favorite. All get smoked quite equally. They are dedicated to blend types.

• What's your favorite tobacco, and why?

- Can't name one. I like all kinds: virginias, aromatics and english blends. Depends on my mood.

• Do you have an interesting experience with pipe smoking that you'd like to share?

- Many pleasurable moments, but one in particular from the early days has stuck with me:
One of my favorite smoking related memory is with Rattray's Stirling Flake. It was a warm summer evening with warm wind and I was sitting outside on the lawn. The wind blew dandelion seeds all around me and dogs were enjoying themselves. Nicotine was hitting just right. Not a care in the world in that moment.

• How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?

- With other pipe smokers through this forum. Sometimes I chat with other people while smoking a pipe, but I have only met one other pipe smoker "in the wild". I've talked about it with people who used to smoke a pipe or at least tried it, they usually seem to be eager to engage in conversation.

• How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?

- Very bleak unfortunately. At least in my country. They intend to make it smoke free in 2030. Postal and online sales are already prohibited. Taxes are through the roof. I do not expect to be able to smoke a pipe decades from now... Unless a miracle happens. Well I don't know if I'm even going to be alive then so I'm trying to enjoy the moment. Live with minimum stress is my motto.



Here is a young pipe smoker's perspective. Hopefully this helps with your project. Hopefully you will present us in a good light

 

[Casual]

I’d just like to note that this is certainly not my interview. A Casual™ Interview would have more swears in it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I used the pipe as a way to ween myself off of cigarettes, but I've had many people in my family smoke pipes.

Pipe smoking is the most unique of all of the ways you could use tobacco in that it requires material things to accomplish the act. Then add in the plethora of pipe styles and tobacco styles and I'd have to say that it is the most diverse way to consume tobacco. It is also the most complex way, with a steep learning curve for many.

People that hate smoking have a right to do that. I am particularly pissed when a cigarette smoker gets smoke in the path that I am walking, forcing me to breathe not only their smoke, but their breath. I try to stay out of folk's way as much as possible when I do smoke, but I find more people reacting positively to pipes than negatively.

Yes!

I honestly prefer my homegrown tobacco. This last week, I have found myself dumping out a few commercial blends in favor of repacking with my own home grown.

Sure!

I have started a pipe club, but then after being made to be the president of the thing for year after year, I quit. Now, that someone else is running it, I will most likely start going again. I've also driven to meet up and smoke pipes with folks from the forum, and many have come to visit me also.

I think that tobacco in general is coming to a close. I have prepared my cellar to last me the rest of my life, so if they remove tobacco, I won't be surprised, and if it remains, I will be surprised. I really don't encourage people to smoke, and I celebrate when friends and family quit. I am not against folks using tobacco. I just know that it is much more of a challenge to quit, therefore deserves more kudos. It doesn't take an act of will or a really high IQ to start smoking. Any idiot could do it, and do.

 

[krizzose]

How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?

I used to smoke cigarettes (I quit in 1998, after about 6 years of everyday smoking, and many more of casual, adolescent smoking). I can honestly say it was one of the best things I’ve ever done for pure satisfaction, but that was all about the scratching the itch. The tobacco was just a nicotine delivery vehicle, and I took no interest in the tobacco beyond preferring fresh to stale. Cigars and pipes are the opposite. It’s all about the tobacco, the quality, the variety, the aroma, the taste.

I certainly enjoy drinking alcohol, and for many of the same reasons: quality, variety, flavor, etc. But for me, drinking alone is not that fun. I like the camaraderie of a beer session, for example. I suppose I’m lucky that I need to be feeling good to even want to drink, instead of trying to feel better by drinking. Pipe smoking is similar, with the exception I tend to do that alone, and it’s an activity that I like to concentrate on while doing it. And while I can be very picky about what I drink, it’s usually a complementary activity to other things: conversation and general good times with friends and family.

 

[jewman22]

1: I got started on pipes when I was about 20, Smoked Cigars before that, but the pipe always appealed to me as a more sophisticated and more intellectual form of tobacco consumption.

2: Speed, hit, moisture, care, mental state. Only compared to cigars anyway, which I usually smoke on nice summer evenings with a tall glass of Zaya Gran Reserva 16yr Rum. Pipes are a garage thing that happens the rest of the year.

3: I dont care what people think of it, I tell them off either way.

4: Yes I do have a favourite, it is a Cellini Sabbiata by Brebbia bent bulldog.

5. Frog Morton Frog on a Log, It is literal perfection. It's smooth, balanced, and complex enough to keep me interested without being to much. I miss the Frog, and i'm low on supply.

6: I actually stopped smoking pipes until late last year, and for 2 reasons. The first being that hipsters started smoking pipes and I refuse to be associated to those filthy things. The second reason was due to a really bad experience with a certain Squadron Leader that turned me off pipes for the last 9 years.

7: I don't, just aren't any around, A good friend of mine doesn't bring his pipes out any more when we have a shoot, just sticks with cigars. He was the only other person around that I knew also smoked a Pipe.

8: Pipe smoking, although likely the least popular form of smoking will likely be the last to die. Taxes will kill tobacco entirely eventually, Cigarettes will be the fist to go, people don't really stockpile those filthy things. Cigars are way to expensive to be smoked regularly, especially in heavily taxed areas, but we do tend to keep a few sticks around in the humidor. And finally the pipe, we tend to keep a lot on hand, and it doesn't disappear that quickly, a bowl for me contains about 1/4 the tobacco as a Toro Cigar, so a tin lasts a while.

That was fun, first time somebody ever really made me think about all this.
Cheers.

 

[rajangan]

Hey all! In my introduction a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was working on a bit of an ethnography of pipe smokers for an anthropology class that I'm in. If you feel like it, I've got some questions about your opinions on pipe smoking and your experiences with the craft. Feel free to pick and choose whatever question you'd like to answer.

• How did you get started on pipe smoking? What keeps you smoking?
• How do you feel pipe smoking differs from other smoking, or other substances in general, like alcohol?
• How do you feel about the negative perspective of smoking?
• Do you have a favorite pipe, or kind of pipe? What is it?
• What's your favorite tobacco, and why?
• Do you have an interesting experience with pipe smoking that you'd like to share?
• How do you interact with other pipe smokers? How often?
• How do you picture the future of pipe smoking?

Thanks so much!

1. I and a couple friends wanted to be rebellious and try smoking. Cigarettes were nasty and pipe was much better. I enjoyed it enough to continue.

2. Pipe smoking tastes better. Pipe tobacco is higher quality. Since you don't inhale, you don't have strong nicotine cravings. Pipe smoking is relaxing. Cigarette smoking is merely to alleviate the need to acquire nicotine.

3. The negative effects of cigarette smoking are partly exaggerated because confounds are not controlled for adequately in studies I have read. There is extremely little if any research regarding the effects of pipe smoking which is different because of lower burning temperature, lack of paper, and lack of inhaling. It's unfair to lump all smoking in together, especially when the cigarette research is exaggerated to begin with. Risk of oral cancer is tripled if smoke is combined with alcohol, but we blame tobacco. Clearly biased.

4. I like straight pipes with traditional shapes - billiard, lovat, Canadian

5. My favorite tobacco is homegrown dark Virginia & bright leaf cavendish, plus either Latakia or perique

6. My interesting experience is the patience and persistence and experimentation required to eventually turn homegrown into something I'm happy with.

7. For twenty six years, I went to a tobacconist and interacted with pipe and cigar smokers. 15 years ago it became illegal, but we started smoking in private. The interaction is about conversation regarding our lives, interests, careers, tobacco, and non confrontational politics and philosophy. It was probably once our twice a week up until 6 months ago when I stopped entirely, and no longer interact with other pipe smokers at all.

8. Future pipe smoking will continue in the Americas forever because its a more important part of the heritage of the Americas than in the rest of the world. Private healthcare in the United States reduces governmental justification for prohibition. Canada's "respect" for Indigenous culture will prevent excessive regulation. Flavored tobacco will eventually disappear. More people will take up homegrowing.