Appearance & Pipe Smoking

[macaroni]

A recent thread got me thinking about pipes and fashion. I recognize to each--her or his own! As another said basically, "buy it, smoke it, enjoy it."

So I'm wondering how important my pipes appearance are to me. At different times, and with different pipes, I got (to borrow a phrase) "weak in the knees," over a pipe that sort of "called to me."

The appearance of the pipe itself (some thoughts):
1. If I were to have the talent and made a beautiful pipe to my eye, would I look at it and mostly see it's flaws, no matter how small, or enjoy it's beauty--or both? And wondering what this might say about me?

My appearance while smoking or holding the pipe (some thoughts):

1. I now occasionally glance when passing a mirror at the pipe I'm clenching. Admittedly, I'm usually then distracted from the pipe and wonder who the old fart staring back at me can possibly be LOL!! ) Mostly I'm more interested now in seeing if my teeth are staying in while clenching )

2. When I was in college and started to smoke, I really wanted to look smart 'cause I knew deep down how dumb I was (little did I know just how deep!). But I didn't want my roommate to see me staring in our wall mirror--I had to sneek peeks to see if I looked "grown up" (that's my guess now, looking back LOL).

3. I've not seen mirrors on the desks and work tables in the pictures some of you have shared of your "smoking den" or "study" or "man cave." I wonder how many of us take our measure with our pipes when passing a mirror. Is this vanity and if so, bad (what a word, but I'm tired and out of better ones LOL)?

Vanity, pipes & mirrors--what a dreadful thought! )) LOL

Looking in the mirror and watching oneself, hmm. LOL Reminds me of one divinity school/seminary where a preaching class was taught to practice a sermon in front of a mirror in order to sync gestures and facial expressions to sermon points. Hmmm ))

Mirrors:
Since Covid, and unrelated to Covid, I've mentioned elsewhere here that I quit shaving and cutting my hair. Sometimes I don't comb the mop on my head but once in 3 or 4 days. I'm happy as long as my Better Half braids the beard to get it out of my coat zipper. She'll say after braiding, want to look in a mirror--and I'll say, no, it feels okay! Then she'll say, "Okay Pippi Long Stocking!" LOL

Thought-maybe one's use of mirrors decreases with age, since--if like me--it can be a scary revelation! Plus, if I don't see that piece of scrambled egg in my beard, it's not really there (i.e, if no one hears the tree falling in the forest. . . . ).

kindly
mike
p.s.--You can easily see I don't place much value on coherence in my posts. I'm practicing for when I'm sitting in a corner in a nursing home muttering to myself, nodding off and drooling. I'll go nod off and drool in a moment LOL -mike

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

98% of my pipe smoking is done by my lonesome. I enjoy a finely carved briar but couldn't care less how others view it because they don't.

 

[tzinc]

My style is 40s/50s Canadian Fishing Lodge and my pipes fit in with that - especially my Canadians lol. I only smoke outside so everyone sees me.

 

[macaroni]

98% of my pipe smoking is done by my lonesome. I enjoy a finely carved briar but couldn't care less how others view it because they don't.

same here

 

[bullet08]

Never really thought too much about what I look like or what I wear. Pipes, I like stout shanks of Peterson. Classic British shapes, but little beefy. Don't have much use for mirrors. I can find my nostrils.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'm a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy with Wellington boots. Have never found the want or need to own a suit so appearance means nothing to me. How I appear with my pipes is the same. So many tobacco users around here that no one even bats an eye at a pipe and those that smoke pipes where I work, all five being my fault, are like me being non social smokers. While I like the appearance of a nice pipe, the drilling is all I really care about. Many of my pipes have been commissioned totally blind to their appearance but with knowledge of the carver's ability with internal airway work and their knowledge that I hate bulldogs and rhodesians.

 

[kcghost]

I just go with what looks good to me.

 

[OzPiper]

Well, I did take up smoking a pipe while I was an undergraduate.
Unfortunately the pipe was an abject failure as a chick magnet.
Couldn't understand why ?

 

[anotherbob]

my falcon smokes great and how ugly it is makes me not enjoy it quite as fully.

 

[PeterPipersPizza]

I typically don't smoke in front of others and when I do little attention is paid to my appearance. In fact, the most I dress up is for work at a security company. I wear Jeans and a collared golf shirt. I dont smoke at work and if I do, it is where no one can see me.

I do however dream of the day I will be a full professor and will rock those Dunhills with a tweed jacket as I puff away in complete confidence. Dreams.

 

[AlanH]

Just don't call what your wearing an outfit

 

[FurCoat]

same here

I'll second that

 

[mso489]

Smoking is so problematical in public, or even at home if you have guests, I hardly consider it a social activity. I have occasionally glanced in the mirror to see how a pipe looks, but mostly just to see if I look okay, not expecting to experience a surge of self-esteem. Which I don't.

 

[warren]

I smoke for the nicotine. I'm asocial. I care not what others think. So, I enjoy life unencumbered by the stress of having to impress.

 

[STP]

I tend to match my hoodies w/my lounging pants, but little thought goes into what pipe I choose… ?

 

[Streeper541]

98% of my pipe smoking is done by my lonesome. I enjoy a finely carved briar but couldn't care less how others view it because they don't.

?????

 

[TheIronMonkey]

There have been times where I've wondered will I look pretentious smoking a Calabash or silly with a Churchwarden, but, I don't really care that much what people think. If I did, I wouldn't have a handlebar moustache for the last thirty years (although mask wearing the last two has prevented that in practice). I don't own those pipe shapes yet, but, I probably will at some point. Like others, most of my smoking is done at home, so no one really sees me, apart from a neighbour if I'm sitting on the porch. My pipe buying choices more often than not have to do with if I like the grain or lines of a pipe—if it's aesthetically pleasing to me is what dictates its purchase. I don't really consider what I'll look like smoking it, although I can think of some cool pipes that will go with some wacky suits I own.

 

[JOHN72]

I feel comfortable in solitary. I just want to smoke as quietly as possible. I agree 100% with hoosier. I have a special area at a golf club, where I smoke on occasion. But 98% I smoke in my home work studio. Just me and my favorite tobacco. My wife likes to see me, when watering the plants, through the window..............

 

[pauls456]

I care a lot about how the pipe looks and how I look. But I don't care at all how I look with the pipe in my mouth. I would have to assume that a grown man indulging an oral fixation looks kind of ridiculous in this day and age.

 

[timt]

Occasionally my cat will join me for a smoke but since he’s a cat, he doesn’t give a shit how I look.