@kendodan, a suggestion. Why don't you go into one of the bars that permits smoking, take out a good looking pipe and smoke a nice-smelling tobacco? You might soon attract attention and maybe make some friends/converts !! LOL
A Vanishing Breed? - Any Converts? Any Disciples?
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I go to a small conservative liberal arts college and have a few friends who smoke a pipe (plus plenty of other students and professors who I am not personally acquainted with), but I wonder how long they will end up sticking with it after school. One likes his cigars too much, a couple let significant others get in the way, and some may just see it as a "college thing." Still, it's better than nothing.
@erich, it is indeed !! One would expect that the 'professors' will continue with the hobby. It seems to me that when people really 'get into' the pipe and the vast range of smoking experienced that different tobaccos offer they are likely to stay with it. So, hopefully some of your friends will continue after college.
On our epic Italy trip last month, we started with a wedding in Oxford, Ms- I took 6 cobs- gave them all away at the rehearsal dinner with 2 oz samples of a blend from Benningtons in Sarasota. I always keep two cobs on hand when we have a dinner at the house or we're out in public. If anyone has an interest, I pack it, stick it in their hand, and light it....(What can I tell you- I came from a long line of traveling evangelists)
I got a friend of mine on board. Gave him a refurbed pipe and I always manage to throw a bit of bulk his way to keep him interested. He's expressed some interest in accessories stc. but hasn't really started to fill out his rotation. Maybe I'll send him home with a cobnext time he is over. Take care.
I do agree that pipe smokers are a few and far between these days.. I do see folks smoking pipese here and there, but not too many.. I have one good friend that i shoot archery/hunt/fish with, that is also a pipe smoker, but other than that he and I are the only ones out of our crew of friends..
A noble effort Flakey!
I visit a lot of East Coast pipe shops (Boswells, Wingeroths, Park Lane, Cigars International, JB Hayes (2 shops)). Other than Boswells, it is very rare, almost non-existent to spy someone smoking in those shops. Friday, in JB Hayes in Alexandria, the shop was packed with cigar smokers. I was the lone pipe smoker. I was viewed quite curiously by everyone there, despite being surrounded by new and estate pipes and a lot of pipe tobacco. On the way out, paying for a few tins, another pipe smoker came in to make a purchase and we chatted for a few minutes. I've been to that shop at least a dozen times in the past two years and other than the owners, he was the first pipe smoker I've encountered there. Zero pipe smokers at Park Lane of the big Cigars International Super Store in PA (save for the Pipe Guild meeting)
Same for Russ O's old shop in Albany, where his good and all of the P&C pipe lines were available. Other than pipe night, I never saw another pipe smoker in a dozen hour-long visits to that shop. I always find that puzzling.
At Boswells, I almost always find at least one other pipe smoker, sometimes many more.
I visit a lot of East Coast pipe shops (Boswells, Wingeroths, Park Lane, Cigars International, JB Hayes (2 shops)). Other than Boswells, it is very rare, almost non-existent to spy someone smoking in those shops. Friday, in JB Hayes in Alexandria, the shop was packed with cigar smokers. I was the lone pipe smoker. I was viewed quite curiously by everyone there, despite being surrounded by new and estate pipes and a lot of pipe tobacco. On the way out, paying for a few tins, another pipe smoker came in to make a purchase and we chatted for a few minutes. I've been to that shop at least a dozen times in the past two years and other than the owners, he was the first pipe smoker I've encountered there. Zero pipe smokers at Park Lane of the big Cigars International Super Store in PA (save for the Pipe Guild meeting)
Same for Russ O's old shop in Albany, where his good and all of the P&C pipe lines were available. Other than pipe night, I never saw another pipe smoker in a dozen hour-long visits to that shop. I always find that puzzling.
At Boswells, I almost always find at least one other pipe smoker, sometimes many more.
I'm a young pipe smoker (aged 22) and I just converted my 23 year old fiancé to be a pipe smoker as well!
Down here in Alabama, there are still plenty of places that you can smoke, restaurants, bars, etc. outside of the major cities. I make sure to have my pipe handy, and I've had a few wives come up to our table and ask me what I was smoking and if they could join me to savor the aroma(something a cigarette smoker never hears). At our last outing, I had a fellow's wife knock him in the shoulder and ask him why he didn't smoke. I keep hearing it's sexy, and for a fellow who has never had that word associated with me, I am sort of encouraged to take my pipe and girlfriend out in public even more.
I also smoke my pipe while I walk the dog every evening around our small city and sport a vintage hat. I've been stopped and asked where someone could find the "fixin's" to get started in the hobby. I always send them to my favorite Briary, where I know the pipe maker/tobaccoist there will hook them up well.
However, I think most people are turning from cigarettes to the pipe via the RYO trend. You can save money on your tobacco via RYO, and the next step of the transition, is when you realize how much money the wraps and using a machine costs, $ and time. I made the connection when I saw someone buying a bag of RYO tobacco and then loaded it into his pipe in the store. 9$ for a week's worth of smoke verses 40-50$, BING!! "Where do I buy a pipe?" Of course, the next step is realizing that RYO sucks in a pipe, LOL.
I think the key is getting outside with your pipes. I also use aros as social fuel, while I keep my Va/Vapers and Lat blends aside for home use and driving. The biggest turn off to the whole hobby is someone being rude or inconsiderate to others while representing the hobby, IMO.
So get out there and with those pipes, be good people, and represent! :D
I also smoke my pipe while I walk the dog every evening around our small city and sport a vintage hat. I've been stopped and asked where someone could find the "fixin's" to get started in the hobby. I always send them to my favorite Briary, where I know the pipe maker/tobaccoist there will hook them up well.
However, I think most people are turning from cigarettes to the pipe via the RYO trend. You can save money on your tobacco via RYO, and the next step of the transition, is when you realize how much money the wraps and using a machine costs, $ and time. I made the connection when I saw someone buying a bag of RYO tobacco and then loaded it into his pipe in the store. 9$ for a week's worth of smoke verses 40-50$, BING!! "Where do I buy a pipe?" Of course, the next step is realizing that RYO sucks in a pipe, LOL.
I think the key is getting outside with your pipes. I also use aros as social fuel, while I keep my Va/Vapers and Lat blends aside for home use and driving. The biggest turn off to the whole hobby is someone being rude or inconsiderate to others while representing the hobby, IMO.
So get out there and with those pipes, be good people, and represent! :D
Here in smoke friendly Los Angeles (ahem), I have been able to find a couple of local coffee shops that don't mind me smoking my pipe at their outdoor sidewalk tables. One, allows smoking, the other, is a local, Armenian owned cafe--and a lot of Armenians, here in L.A. [and, I"m sure, abroad] love to smoke--cigarettes mostly, but also a lot of cigar smokers there. The cigar smokers are always interested in what tobacco I'm smoking, so, some potential converts there.
A funny thing happened yesterday, though. I was downtown (where there is always some type of filming, or photography shoot) and as I was crossing the street, smoking my pipe (an old Brebbia First bent billiard with a silver band), I overheard one of the guys at a photo shoot that was taking place on the corner, (either the guy being photographed [a bearded artist looking guy] or the photographer (another bearded artist looking guy) say, "I've got to get a pipe like that!" Which means one of two things, I might have converted him, or, he might already be a pipe smoker who just needs to add another pipe (like mine) to his collection. Either way, it was one of those L.A. moments that made me smile.
A funny thing happened yesterday, though. I was downtown (where there is always some type of filming, or photography shoot) and as I was crossing the street, smoking my pipe (an old Brebbia First bent billiard with a silver band), I overheard one of the guys at a photo shoot that was taking place on the corner, (either the guy being photographed [a bearded artist looking guy] or the photographer (another bearded artist looking guy) say, "I've got to get a pipe like that!" Which means one of two things, I might have converted him, or, he might already be a pipe smoker who just needs to add another pipe (like mine) to his collection. Either way, it was one of those L.A. moments that made me smile.
@sorringowl, if the former is the case it is almost biblical - an immediate conversion, a miracle !! LOL
Living and working in and around NYC I rarely see anyone smoking pipes and other than the men in the pipe club, I know of no one personally who smokes pipes. I know a few that smoke cigars so I will join them with a stick or pipe when time permits, but I am otherwise alone on my porch.
I have a good friend that when he goes to his lake lot up North with his wife, he smokes a pipe early in the morning watching the sun come up, but he rarely smoked it otherwise. The wife and I visted and stayed there with them for a weekend and I showed a minor interest in the aro he was smoking. In the fall/winter, my wife went to the US for a seminar and on the way back, at the airport (Cleveland I think), she bought me a nice Savinelli pipe for Christmas paired with some black cherry kind of tobacco. Tried the pipe and kind of liked it, found this forum and became much more informed. She likes aros, but I am much more fond of Latakia, but will be trying to find some aromatics that I "like".
I have had two brothers in law that have expressed an interest but have not advanced on the interest.
I bring my pipe to work once in a while and enjoy some during a coffee break. An employee here experssed an interest, but never pursued further. This past week I advised him I was placing an order and inquired if the wanted anything and he ended up ordering a corn cob pipe to try out. I will give him some nice tobacco to try out.
Other than that, during the past summer while driving, I have seen just two guys walking downtown, on separate occasions each smoking a pipe. I know that there is at least one forum member here that lives in the same city as me.
I have had two brothers in law that have expressed an interest but have not advanced on the interest.
I bring my pipe to work once in a while and enjoy some during a coffee break. An employee here experssed an interest, but never pursued further. This past week I advised him I was placing an order and inquired if the wanted anything and he ended up ordering a corn cob pipe to try out. I will give him some nice tobacco to try out.
Other than that, during the past summer while driving, I have seen just two guys walking downtown, on separate occasions each smoking a pipe. I know that there is at least one forum member here that lives in the same city as me.
@slownumber, maybe we should all do your and Zak's trick of giving corncobs (about $8 in the UK) plus some nice mild tobacco to anyone that shows interest? My only questions would be: Do they need breaking in? Do they taste good new, first time? If not, could they inhibit potential converts from moving to second base?
I've only known three pipe smokers in my life: an old friend of my parents, a police chief, and a crown prosecutor (attorney).
I'm sure there are pipe smokers in my city, but I don't smoke much in public, so maybe they're the same way? My point, I guess, is that maybe pipe smokers aren't a vanishing breed, but maybe a breed that's just not very visible.
Anyway, my neighbour across the street saw me smoking my pipe on my porch. He smokes the occasional cigar, so he might be up for a switch to the pipe. I'll work on him.
I'm sure there are pipe smokers in my city, but I don't smoke much in public, so maybe they're the same way? My point, I guess, is that maybe pipe smokers aren't a vanishing breed, but maybe a breed that's just not very visible.
Anyway, my neighbour across the street saw me smoking my pipe on my porch. He smokes the occasional cigar, so he might be up for a switch to the pipe. I'll work on him.
There has to be enough pipe smokers in my area to keep three B&M pipe stores open, with one more opening this weekend. And, we are not a huge metropolitan area here in Alabama. And, keep in mind (in my own retail experience in this area) that most B&M stores here must bring in about $1200 a day just to keep the bills paid.
...plus, all of the huge online retailers taking away a huge chunk of business from these precious sanctuaries for us smokers.
As a kid, I would always be surprised when I would learn that a friend's dad smoked a pipe, usually by seeing his pipes by his lazy-boy. You would never see these people smoking otherwise. It's possible that there is a huge silent majority out there.
...plus, all of the huge online retailers taking away a huge chunk of business from these precious sanctuaries for us smokers.
As a kid, I would always be surprised when I would learn that a friend's dad smoked a pipe, usually by seeing his pipes by his lazy-boy. You would never see these people smoking otherwise. It's possible that there is a huge silent majority out there.
The guy that introduced me to the pipe sent back to cigars when he started working for JR. On a recent visit he talked about his frustration with a sore mouth, and the tables turned and I got to advise him!
I have probably converted many but don't actually know numbers for those that have stuck with it. But its almost a curse. For so long I would blindly work and build by myself in my garage solitude..
I would bore the pants off coworkers and friends with pics of a new build or restore. Now they all have wish lists and all want commission pieces.
Some people I have known for years never knew anything about pipes. Never knew I smoked, collected, or made them.. Then a poker game or two, a fishing excursion or two... Maybe a car show or event and viola! they go seeking for a pipe for themselves.
Typically its when they come back and shriek about how expensive pipes are. This always perks my ears up because this tells me they went completely on their own accord to shop for a pipe and give it a try. I always have a good selection for them to pull from and outfit themselves....and they become a pipe smoker. And also they cherish the pipes more too. Give someone who just humors the idea a pipe from your collection and watch how quick they lose it. If they come to you however, then they seem to really own it more. Jmo anyway
I would bore the pants off coworkers and friends with pics of a new build or restore. Now they all have wish lists and all want commission pieces.
Some people I have known for years never knew anything about pipes. Never knew I smoked, collected, or made them.. Then a poker game or two, a fishing excursion or two... Maybe a car show or event and viola! they go seeking for a pipe for themselves.
Typically its when they come back and shriek about how expensive pipes are. This always perks my ears up because this tells me they went completely on their own accord to shop for a pipe and give it a try. I always have a good selection for them to pull from and outfit themselves....and they become a pipe smoker. And also they cherish the pipes more too. Give someone who just humors the idea a pipe from your collection and watch how quick they lose it. If they come to you however, then they seem to really own it more. Jmo anyway
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