In memory of Hemingway, a fellow pipe smoker

[brian64]

It is entirely possible that it is a misconception that he was a pipe smoker...but if it is, it is a very common one for some reason. Perhaps he only did so for one portion of his life...I certainly don't know. My perception that he was, is based on such references I've seen on-line as I posted above. If anyone knows for certain one way or the other I'd be interested to know.
Thanks for the question Mick...questioning assumptions is always a good thing.

 

[barkar]

This thread has convinced me to go back and read a couple of his classics over again.

 

[mluyckx]

I can't take credit for much of this... it just occurred to me that I couldn't recall ever seeing a picture of Hemingway smoking. Contrary to let's say Mark Twain, Lewis, Tolkien, Einstein, you name it...
Now Hemingway drinking, fishing, shooting or with hunting trophies... no lack of those ! ;-)
We may stumbled on an urban legend.

 

[mluyckx]

And more... but I'll leave it at that.

Hemingway later said that Cuba held many attractions for him…. What he evidently did not find of interest in Havana were cigars. Although he had learned to smoke Russian cigarettes during the First World War, and once described himself in a humorous 1935 story about Key West as “sitting on the verandah enjoying a cheroot,” he told a writer in 1950 that he didn’t smoke because it diminished his sense of smell.

From the Hemingway Celebrity Profile on cigaraficionado.com
The writer they are referencing must be Lillian Ross, whose Hemingway biography I quoted a couple of posts ago. I'm now going to sit outside with a copy of "The old man and the Sea", a glass of scotch and a pipe filled with FVF in his honor. Pipe smoker or not.. great writer regardless.

 

[brian64]

Thanks again Mick, and kudos to you for the info...I think you've just about convinced me that it must be a myth that he was a pipe smoker. Odd though that it seems to be a common perception...I for one don't know how he managed to do so much drinking without tobacco! :lol:

 

[dervis]

I remember in his house in key west there was a very ornate ashtray sitting on his desk. However it simply could have been a gift, or for guests, or added just because it looked the part. Very curious. Seems to be lost more proof against him smoking.