In Defence of WAYS

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OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
6,051
32,878
71
Sydney, Australia
When I got back into pipes and was interested in getting new pipes and tobacco, WAYS was a great source of information.
And cause for a severe case of pipe envy (😁 c'mon - you know what I mean) and PAD

The Forums gets frequent requests from new members seeking recommendations for pipes and blends.
What better thread to point them towards
 

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,613
41,226
Iowa
It’s been a long time since I noticed any criticism of the WAYS thread - what have I missed?

The relative very few I’ve ever seen were definitely a bit snarky and hard to understand (but usually was kind of a consider the source kind of thing) but I just can’t recall the last time I saw one.

So I’m at a bit of a loss on this one and will be back in it and at it after a necessary break tomorrow! Like some others, if I’m not able to enjoy a pipe I don’t look in. When I do, I’m there!
 

trouttimes

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
5,422
22,253
Lake Martin, AL
I am glad you posted this. I , too, have read posts where individuals have maligned the WAYS thread as well as its posters, using diminishing statements to undercut the credibility of the posters as being people who feel the need to show off a new pipe, or perhaps feeling the need to be in a beauty contest.

WAYS is a great place to see what is being smoked, both in terms of tobaccos and pipes. It is also a great place to see the faces of so many various posters. In many cases, friendships are made due to the opportunity to have more of a conversation with another smoker over time. Each day you see what your friend is smoking, and eventually, you can begin to see them as a unique person, not just a poster. I feel like I've gotten to know @JOHN72 and @LotusEater as well as many other regular posters.

Because I've gotten to see wha @LotusEater smokes on a daily basis, I now own a Randice Rind. He is also the reason I own a Fez. I wouldn't have otherwise. I am smoking Condor today because our good friend @JOHN72 knew I loved it and sent me some. I hope he enjoys The Beast and 8 State Burley.

WAYS is a great place to learn about pipe smoking by watching what people are actually smoking. It is an even better place to learn about some great pipe smokers.
I agree 100%
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
2,785
35,089
Casa Grande, AZ
As a guy that started smoking a pipe last year, here’s my take:
-I enjoy my pipes-fiddling with them, cleaning up old ones, etc. I never go lightly into a hobby and research a lot, and this forum has a great base of experience, both the technical and subjective.
-I’m ok with myself, and I’m not trying to be something I’m not, so I’m not ashamed that my pipes aren’t high dollar items. I enjoy sharing a 90year old Kaywoodie I scored for $20 and may have jacked up “restoring”. Funny thing, by the responses some of you enjoy it too.
I’ve not once felt “looked down upon” by the masses, even when I was posting $2/oz blends mixed with hand me down crap in a $7 cob.
-I’ve paid attention and now know who some of you are, what you smoke, in what pipes and to an extent, why. This lets me find things (hardware and consumables) that I may like without spending my meager funds blindly.
-as opposed to a real pipe club setting, I can scroll past droll, and don’t have to put on airs (or clothes) to participate.
-thread can be read through or jumped in on anytime, as opposed to having to read the content and context of a regular thread.

Long live WAYS!
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
2,785
35,089
Casa Grande, AZ
Though I've not seen anything posted negatively about it, I just use it as a default thread when I see nothing interesting going on in other threads. I rarely post the make of the pipes I show as an etiquette to keep things on equal footing.
I like to hear the makes, but I drive a second gen Dodge Ram and park in a lot full of $70k-$100k new pickups.
I think the same thing at work that I do here when I see high dollar stuff-“good for them, but I got too many things I like to spend money on to think I need the newest, most expensive anything. Be grateful for what you have.”

An old grey beard biker taught me many years ago: “Don’t judge your insides on other people’s outsides”
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
2,785
35,089
Casa Grande, AZ
I'll tell if asked. I just see the tobacco being more important than the pipe that it's smoked in when posting.
Fair enough. I was pondering that (is it “what are you smoking?” as in what tobacco or what pipe)…
Then I finally noticed it’s in the Tobacco Discussion thread.
I thought that was relevant until I noticed that the thread originator every month, and celebrated contributor always gives full info on pipe being smoked with what tobacco…

Edited, because I noticed my error-you do just post blend. My bad. I guess I read enough of your content that I’ve learned from other threads about many of your pipes.
 
Last edited:

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
8,203
28,385
New York
I will pop into WAYS and say 'Hello' occasionally throughout the month. If nothing else just to marvel at Jim Inks one man carbon foot print! I am just amazed at the amount and variety of blends he chugs through every day. My posts are very predictable in that (a) the pipe will be a 'cutty' made from meerschaum and be about 100+ years old (b) will involve me smoking some form of plug tobacco either made by Gawith or some other well known but now de-funked tobacco house (c) will involve my musings about how much I hate my work!
 

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,613
41,226
Iowa
Fair enough. I was pondering that (is it “what are you smoking?” as in what tobacco or what pipe)…
Then I finally noticed it’s in the Tobacco Discussion thread.
I thought that was relevant until I noticed that the thread originator every month, and celebrated contributor always gives full info on pipe being smoked with what tobacco…

Edited, because I noticed my error-you do just post blend. My bad. I guess I read enough of your content that I’ve learned from other threads about many of your pipes.
My perspective is a little different and also relatively recent to pipesmoking.

I view the thread as more of a "record" of what folks are enjoying and whether a $10 pipe or something that may command a much higher price, it's not about the name or brand for its own sake, but about learning what a wide variety of pipes look like and who made them is part of that learning (and fun) and the same for tobacco (well, not the appearance part). I've found artisans via WAYS and reaching out to members, been motivated to find out more about this or that shape from this or that maker, and so forth. Love the pics and friendly atmosphere.

It's a good place to research Secret Santa victims, lol, but let's not get utilitarian. ;)

Like anything, enjoy it for what you get out of it, which is all that really matters.
 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
12,024
17,248
SE PA USA
For those who don't know it, don't read it, don't post on it, are new members here, or have been living under a rock, the "What Are You Smoking" ("WAYS") thread is a recurrent, monthly discussion of what people are smoking, daily, hourly, up-to-the-minute.

It is a sprawling testament of joy, sorrow, vice, and redemption.

Cultural historians will probe its labyrinthine prose.

It may yet spawn a movement.

But—as any astute observer of human nature might have anticipated—certain nattering nabobs have chosen to malign this forum's WAYS thread, either through ignorance, misdirection, jealousy, or pure maliciousness.

So to those of you who know it, who read it, to its very architects, what the hell is it? What compels you to post on it every day; day in, day out? What's it for? Do you read all of it? Can you keep up? Is it possible to follow it? What does it do for you?

And most importantly, what should anyone who doesn't contribute to it—and who would even opine against its very existence—be informed about it, which might offer them a change of heart and mind?
Can you link to the critiques?
I haven’t seen any.
 

Servant King

Lifer
Nov 27, 2020
4,336
24,012
39
Frazier Park, CA
www.thechembow.com
I got really into the WAYS thread for a while, but I had to take a couple months off this autumn. Don't ask me why, perhaps I just felt a little overwhelmed by page after page; that, and work picked up for me, so I didn't really have the time, either for browsing or posting. I just recently began posting there again, and I feel like having some time off has given me a much healthier relationship to the thread.

That said, I can state with full confidence that any criticism of the WAYS thread is groundless, and largely without merit. It's always been a useful way to see what blends are being smoked (and base some of my purchases on this, in fact), and for those who are into pipe porn (although I am not one of them), it's a veritable kid-in-a-candy-store type situation there. I've never felt the thread descended into a egomaniacal showoff/dick-measuring contest at any point in my three years on here. I say, if you don't like a thread, don't view it, and that should be the beginning and end of it.

-as opposed to a real pipe club setting, I can scroll past droll, and don’t have to put on airs (or clothes) to participate.
Hmmm...clothes....ON. Wow, you just clued me in as to why I get turned away from every pipe club meeting I try to attend! I'm much obliged. 😎
 
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