First live pipe smoker

[mossdoug]

I was just delivering to the Tim Hortons in Athens Ohio, and a worker was smoking a pipe by the back door. Said he was getting tired of the borkum riff, so I left him with the last few bowls of Lizzie blood red virginia I had on me. Not sure why that excited me so much or why I thought I needed to post it here, but there you go

 

[didimauw]

It's like seeing sasquatch. You gotta tell all your friends! I've seen a handful, but never gotten close enough for pictures or words.

 

[brandaves]

I saw a man walking along the street opposite me puffing on a cob the other day. I wasn't smoking a pipe at the time but wanted to cross the street just to ask what he was puffing on. I didn't, but I wanted to.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Oddly enough I've seen multiple pipe smokers over the years, but it's usually as I'm driving down the road and I pass them in another vehicle. It's typically an older man, and I can't help but think what they're smoking as well. I imagine it's probably Prince Albert, SWR or Borkum Riff. LOL

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

I imagine it's probably Prince Albert, SWR or Borkum Riff. LOL

Mainstays are classics for a reason and help keep the pipe tobacco ship afloat. God bless those codgers.

If a codger blend like Half and Half was my only option, I'd still enjoy my pipes.

 

[AcesAndEights]

There have been three separate instances when guys have seen me in my garage or on my front porch smoking my pipe and have been excited to tell me that they smoke cigars. And I think to myself, “close, but no cigar.” (Yep, I went there ). Oh well, “brothers of the leaf” and all that I suppose. Still have yet to meet another pipe smoker in the wild.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Mainstays are classics for a reason and help keep the pipe tobacco ship afloat. God bless those codgers.

If a codger blend like Half and Half was my only option, I'd still enjoy my pipes.

Agreed. Many of those old blends have been around for this long for a reason. Though I will say I can't stand Prince Albert. Granger, SWR, Velvet, Half and Half, I'm fine with, but not Prince Albert. That's the worst tobacco I've ever smoked.

I've never tried any Borkum Riff blends, so I can't comment on those.

 

[augiebd]

We have a few B&Ms in the city I am in so I there are pipe smokers. Some are even members here. I’ve just never seen one smoking a pipe in public. Maybe a Canadian thing with all the restrictions, easier to smoke at home. I did meet a pipe smoker who owned a shoe repair business in a local mall. He had a gourd calabash he smoked. Again, I never saw him smoke it. The shoe repair place is gone now.

 

[mso489]

I think pipe smoking is regional. Some areas seem to have more pipe smokers, hence more used pipes in yard sales, antique stores and flea markets, and maybe a few pipe smokers appearing in public from time to time.

Other places it is rare and unique to see any vestige of pipe smoking. I thought in central North Carolina, in the heart of the tobacco belt, I'd keep an eye out for pipe smokers, used pipes for sale, and pipe shops.

Despite having an excellent independent pipe shop at the edge of a large campus at the edge of the downtown, and formerly having a Tinder Box pipe and cigar chain at the big mall, I have found slim pickings, even at the big flea market at the nearby state fairgrounds.

I'm not sure why. Maybe the area has become so interspersed with non-natives like me so doesn't have any roots this way. Or maybe the cigarette industry was so deeply engrained here that the pipe smoking demographic just faded away. Or some other reason?

My city had one of the best regional pipe shows in the U.S., not a New York or Chicago pipe show, but an expansive good one with reps from major pipe retailers and blenders. This hasn't reappeared yet since the pandemic, but may yet resurface. I'm waiting to see what happens with all of this.

 

[kcghost]

It is always right when you do the right thing.

 

[trouttimes]

Went to pick up my truck from the repair shop the other day and the guy behind the counter ask about my pipes. He said he could tell from the pipe holder, cleaners and tampers in my truck. He is a pipe smoker too. I was shocked. He showed me his cob on the desk. Two days later I dropped off a care package to home of a few tins from my cellar. We pipe smokers have to be good to each other.

 

[bullet08]

The title got me nervous. "First live pipe smoker" got me thinking "we missed that one!"

 

[Browny]

Had to think hard on the timeframe, it's been about 8 years since I've seen a fellow pipe smoker, and that was in opposite traffic.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

I've seen more pipe smokers walking around Germany than any other place I've been.

 

[DKpiper]

Yes, we are indeed a rare sight in the public.
Yesterday I was taking a short break in the sun - sitting on a bench smoking my pipe. A father and his son passed by and the son (maybe 6 or 7 years old) looked at me with big eyes asking his father; what is that man doing?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I ran into a guy visiting our area last week. I was pulling up in my truck, and setting my pipe into the rack on my dashboard, when this guy is standing at my truck door. He was wearing a ballcap and workman's clothes, so I was a little apprehensive about opening my door, because WTF? But, as I did open it, he was all, "I smoke a pipe too, but you're the first other piper that I've ever met in person." Of course, I had to explain that I'm not a piper, but a pipesmoker :::cough cough:::
The guy was from Ohio. I told him that if he keeps an eye out in Alabama, about 20% of us smoke pipes. I don't really know the percentage, but I can see another pipesmoker about every day. I also explained that we can smoke in places that he can't in Ohio... which blew his mind. Plus, anti smoking signs are just for cigarettes

I really feel sorry for you guys who choose to smoke in places where they've outlawed your choices. Of course, the one major drawback to living here is that everyone is so damned nice and stops to talk to you. It can be a nuisance sometimes, ha ha.

 

[Honkytonk Man]

I was just delivering to the Tim Hortons in Athens Ohio, and a worker was smoking a pipe by the back door. Said he was getting tired of the borkum riff, so I left him with the last few bowls of Lizzie blood red virginia I had on me. Not sure why that excited me so much or why I thought I needed to post it here, but there you go

Well I guess it was seeing the guys face, when you gave him the remainder of your tobacco.
Gestures like this are seldom seen or done these days and as the old adage goes, "It's always better to give, than to receive".
Great move, moosdoug.

 

[JackOrion]

I’ve seen a fellow driving a pickup in my neighborhood smoking a pipe. That’s about it.

 

[augiebd]

Almost forgot, last summer went to Seattle and was smoking my pipe by the hotel pool. A fellow asked to join me to smoke a cigar. Turns out he’s also a pipe smoker from a town about three hours south of where I live in Canada. Again, I never saw him smoke a pipe. One day when I get to a pipe show.

 

[OzPiper]

Of course, the one major drawback to living here is that everyone is so damned nice and stops to talk to you. It can be a nuisance sometimes, ha ha.

@cosmicfolklore
I’d be vary if I were you.
You might be in danger of losing your cudmurgeon status if you stop and TALK with strangers