Command Smoking Performance at Starbucks

[foggymountain]

Anglesey: I have been put down for smoking by a British woman. It was around 1971 in Nice France. I was peacefully swimming in the Mediterranean, and stopped to rest for a while and converse with an English couple. There was a (Dunhill) cigarette in my mouth. "My ..." she said, "we are swimming in a giant ashtray." It traumatized me into not smoking when swimming, a considerable sacrifice.

 

[brdavidson]

Pups, I have had a similar experience. I have a trailer up north and at a Canada Day celebration last summer and I lit up my pipe to go watch the live bands play. There must have been a dozen people come up to me and compliment me on the and the smell (Carter Hall). I was told a pipe suited me!

 

[apatim]

In America, we seem to have drifted far from our basics: "life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Too damn many busy bodies, if you ask me!

 

[anglesey]

Foggy, I'm sorry to hear that. I must confess, despite my vitriol against pointed commented anti-smokers, my own mother is one of them. I know we British are at least as bad as you Americans, if not more so, I merely mean that it is a lot easier to ignore and scoff at such comments as said British woman said to you, as it is to ignore direct accusations and requests :P
I must admit though, I've never tried smoking whilst swimming. I must.

 

[cuchulain]

There definitely is something about a pipe that sets folks at ease. Unless you're in your twenties, then people start asking if 1) If it's weed. 2) "Aren't you a little young to be smoking a pipe?" 3)Don't you know that's bad for you?
But by and large most people enjoy it, as long as it's a weak aromatic. English blends tend to garner dirty looks and fake coughing

 

[12pups]

Those making generalizations about Americans, fair warning: this was Texas. Texas has never forgotten it was once its own country. And in many ways, it still is.
One is manners. Very, VERY mannerly state. Over-the-top hospitality is the norm there. On the other hand, I was working in Austin last year when North Korea threatened to bomb it. BIG mistake. You can negotiate with the U.S. as a whole, and the U.S. will at times abide by UN resolutions. But Texans would up and kick your asses 12 ways to Sunday, you threaten them and theirs.
Always a benefit to be a friend of Texans.
You Brits who come over, you might wanna keep Texas as a separate tourist stop. Texas... is Texas.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Great post. I typically light up my pipe just about anywhere here in Alabama. The pipe is still not completely as novel here as other places. Everyone has someone in their family that smokes a pipe, so I just get smiles, the occasional cough. But, for the most part, I've seen more rude anti-stuff against kids smoking cigs than I've ever gotten for my pipe. I also try to keep an aromatic on me when out and about, or at least something for the public to enjoy. Captain Black isn't terrible. I tend to keep a pouch close by. It's a good mindless clenching tobacco, IMO.
I did walk into a ma-pa restaurant once with my pipe, and I was asked to take it outside. But, as I turned around the waitress sniffed the air, and she said, "sorry Honey, you can bring it back. We once had a dickhead who smoked something that smelled like a brush fire. Yours actually smells good." I figured they had dealt with a rude latakia smoker. But, my Molto Dolce was actually given the nod of approval.
I just ignore the signs with a picture of a cigarette and the red hash through it. I figure they mean cigarettes, not the pipe. Even my Postmaster compliments my pipe when I drop off shipments, saying that she can always smell me coming.
It never fails to strike up a conversation. Keep up the good work. ::

 

[rayje589]

When I go out to bars and bring a pipe I will almost always have someone strike up a conversation with me. It usually pertains to how they haven't seen a pipe smoker in years or that it smells good. I usually smoke 1Q or Captain Black regular when out.
As for us americans: Some of us are dicks and don't know how to respect someone else nor aware of 'live and let live'.