In Defence of WAYS

[kcghost]

Well, now that you have explained this make me a charter member. I have been smoking one cigar and two bowls of pipe tobacco for a considerable time no. This in the face of my doctor who want me to quit.

 

[OzPiper]

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

 

[PA Piper Mike]

Aw hell, I go to WAYS because I want to see the pipes you guys are smoking along with what tobacco you're smoking in it. There have been at least 2-3 instances where seeing a certain pipe maker or shape triggered the PAD in me and I went out looking for something similar.

 

[BlueRidge]

i had no idea WAYS was an issue?? I just enjoy looking a pipes, seeing what you animals smoke and often the landscapes/spaces you smoke in. win/win for me

 

[rick3wood]

I look at it couple times a week, never have read any negative posts

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

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]

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]

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!

 

[gamzultovah]

Never read any negative posts (except for George D’s, but we’ll cut him some slack) and I post there a few times a week. I find it a friendly place to play show and tell.

 

[Chasing Embers]

we’ll cut him some slack

Gonna have to say you're not speaking for all of us on that one.

 

[Sobrbiker]

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”

 

[anotherbob]

wait people complain about this? I don't care about it and that's why it's always at the top of my new posts. You know where it's easy to ignore. In fact I only read this post because I was like what the heck is ways.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I like to hear the makes

I'll tell if asked. I just see the tobacco being more important than the pipe that it's smoked in when posting.

 

[Sobrbiker]

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.

 

[condorlover1]

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!

 

[TN Jed]

Two words; Tobacco, Pipes.

 

[Auxsender]

My only complaint about WAYS is that if you search for a blend on this site hoping to find discussions about said blend, you'll pull up a bazillion irrelevant WAYS posts.

Seems like less of an issue with WAYS and more of an issue with the search function.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

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]

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]

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.