Is Pipe Smoking Fading Into History?

[mso489]

Is pipe smoking fading into history? There is some evidence it is. Compare the pipe and pipe tobacco market today with that in 1958, or 1988, or 2008. I suspect the trend is on a downward curve.

Pipe smokers are rarely seen in public, which indicates the trend line and also limits the idea of pipe smoking in the public mind.

Although there are some pipe related businesses that are flourishing, like Laudisi which recently bought the Peterson pipe brand and opened a web site specific to Europe, we keep losing major presences like Nat Sherman retail shop on 42nd St. in Manhattan.

Online pipe tobacco blend sales is in a golden age of variety and availability, but it is still a niche market by any standards.

One big cultural push, probably magnified through social media and other media, could launch pipe smoking for another generation or two. This would involve giving pipe smoking a newer, younger face or faces that have an exciting and appealing aspect and associate pipe smoking with desirable traits. All this is abstract and vague. No one could have predicted the Beatles and their effect on men's hair length that lingers today, and harkened back to the Nineteenth Century even in the 1960's.

Or pipe smoking could go the way of horse drawn vehicles or wind powered merchant ships, of historical interest and pursued by well-off hobbyists, but no a part of contemporary life and culture.

So, what does your crystal ball tell you?

 

[Scottmi]

I used to think bullfighting would become a thing of the past, and when I was younger, I made it a point to go see a bullfight in Madrid. Blew my mind. It was magnificent! I had no idea. The passion and significance of this cultural event far exceeded my expectations. I was reassured that if there are still Spaniards (and long may that be so!) it would indeed still be around when I have grandchildren, and beyond...
Pipe smoking is not the same thing. However, tobacco consumption is unlikely to disappear anytime soon, or ever. (Heck, people still find and consume opium.) Remember "Temperance?" Pipe smoking is a long, long, traditional method of smoking tobacco, and has I am sure had it's differing periods of popularity through the decades, centuries, ages... We are down from a post-WW2 boom that saw it's popularity reach a peak. Since then, tobacco smoking has continued, though cultural fashion and righteous backlash against Big Tobacco's cigarette shenanigans have succeeded in removing it from most shared public areas... and that's ok. Pendulum has gone bit too far, with some (most?) places not even allowing clubs, restaurants, bars, shops to voluntarily welcome smoking.. but that may turn around too at some point here. I give the example of now more than half of US states are 'constitutional carry' states, meaning you can have a concealed handgun without requiring any kind of permit. This is a pendulum swing response to overbearing governance..and it is only getting started in the 'more freedom' direction. But to return to pipe smoking: It will continue. There is a smallish contingent of new, younger pipe smokers, and more will come if nothing else than cigars have really become too darn expensive a luxury, and perhaps people are a bit wiser about inhaling cigarettes. Will government taxation lessen in punitive ("corrective") states like mine (WA)? I wish. But for now, majority of need is being met by mail-order. Perhaps as the current crop of nanny-staters in office get shuffled out, and wholesale bankruptcy of states occurs, many of these prohibitions and superfluous laws will be discarded en-masse. I guy can dream, right? Well, more of an exposition than I expected - and of course, is all my humble, possibly scattered, and partially informed opinion. Thanks for the question!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

People think they they are responding to things going on or what might happen in the world, but the truth is, human beings only respond to their own opinions on things happening or what might happen. This is why a select few with strong opinions get so upset at this or that thing happening. Which way your anger tends, depends on your opinions. Realists, could care less. I'm more of a realist. When someone asks me what I think about this or that, I don't really have an opinion. Doesn't matter to me, and doesn't affect me. If pipesmoking goes away, doesn't matter. I have prepared for that to happen for years now. You should have also. This will be nothing new. The vast majority of the people has been saying that tobacco use will end soon, and then they have been acting on it, both political parties. If you haven believed them, or if people have been lying to you about whether this will happen or not, that's on you.
Be real... hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

 

[anotherbob]

people are usually really bad at predicting the future. We think of things way too linearly. Like the future is going to be now but times ten. Actually we're also not too good at making a clear accurate image of the past either. And it seems like when people get it right they're widely dismissed. Either it's not dramatic enough, oh really things will even out and people will get used to things. Or the obvious truth is too grim for most people. So Japan is going to join the war by attacking Hawaii, no way.
Oh and again as I always say disinterest is the only real enemy of smoking or tobacco. For one thing trying to legislate certain parts of human nature is as stupidly prone to failure as trying to control the weather by outlawing snow accumulation over a certain height. Or outlawing gravity.

 

[mortonbriar]

Yes, I think it probably is. That's ok.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

To see the practical end, we have to look in the rear view mirror.

We are in a post-tobacco era. Laws will continue to squeeze it out over time for years. It will overall be slow, but if you live in the state where they enact the legislation it will happen overnight. I agree with @cosmicfolklore that you should be prepared to have the lifetime supply to support the lifestyle you want.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Pipe smoking was already fading into history when I picked it up 23 years ago. I’d be lying if I said that being a niche old-timey pursuit wasn’t at least part of the draw for me.

 

[Navy Chief]

Unfortunately I think it is most definitely fading into history. The rarity of seeing another pipe smoker in public outside of visits to club events, and tobacco shops is a key indicator. Anybody that enjoys this pastime should be preparing for the inevitable future of tobacco first becoming prohibitively expensive and less available as states tighten down on interstate orders and shipping. An outright ban in the US is not in the foreseeable future as I see things now, the government enjoys the tax income too much to outright ban it.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

Unfortunately I think it is most definitely fading into history. The rarity of seeing another pipe smoker in public outside of visits to club events, and tobacco shops is a key indicator. Anybody that enjoys this pastime should be preparing for the inevitable future of tobacco first becoming prohibitively expensive and less available as states tighten down on interstate orders and shipping. An outright ban in the US is not in the foreseeable future as I see things now, the government enjoys the tax income too much to outright ban it.

Amen brother! Our enemy is too greedy to destroy us completely. This is what makes me smile when I see tobacco taxes increase, it actually strengthens our position.

 

[warren]

Maybe. Only time will tell I suppose. I'm guessing there will always be a few around, willing to pay the price for a bit of nicotine. The third world is a populous place. If one is desirous of seeing others smoke, pipes in particular, join a club. I don't need such validation. Years ago that was the only place to see pipe smokers. Smoking in public, bars excepted, clubs being private, was frowned upon. A farmer might enjoy a bowl in the south forty but, you'd have to be eagle eyed to spot him.

As much as things change over a short time (decades), they stay stay pretty much the same historically (centuries). Today seems to be a time of people getting wiser with their cash and . . . their health. Money being the most important.

 

[SBC]

If we can distinguish between existance at all, on the one hand, and being "a part of contemporary life and culture" (in your words) on the other, then it's probably fair to say that pipe smoking has already ceased to be a part of contemporary life and culture.

Seeing a pipe smoker in public is as rare as seeing a horse drawn vehicle (to use one of your examples) in a non-Amish region.

It won't cease to exist entirely any sooner than cocaine use will.

Whether it winds up as rare and illegal as cocaine use remains to be seen. That doesn't feel plausible to me, but then again, look at our friends down under -- who could have imagined?

But tobacco does not create the euphoria that cocaine does; so, if it becomes equally illegal, I don't think that it will be equally pursued.

 

[mortonbriar]

In NZ, both the nicotine addiction, and tax collecting have been solved/continued with vaping. Smoking is nearly over. I see pipes coming ever closer to having the same kind of existence as pocket watches and horse drawn carts.

For me personally this does not mean I am going to stop smoking a pipe, I am more likely to to start using a pocket watch and go shopping for horses.

 

[warren]

I've never understood the need of some to see pipe smokers out and about. Misery loves company? Validation of one's choice of a vice? I simply can't wrap my head around this need. We are social animals, my and large, I suppose. But, I've not found the need to find other smokers. Well, other than this site which is full of humor and distractions other than pipes. Car buying, health concerns, and such can always be found here.

 

[mso489]

Just speculating on my own question, a few things are on pipe smoking's side. People have a strong inclination to feeling special or at least different, so they can be happily alienated from the run of humanity. So oddity itself could preserve pipe smoking among small numbers of people over the long term.

Since most of us smoke at least several times weekly, we may exaggerate the demands of the habit. People could sustain pipes just smoking them now and then. Properly stored, it takes a long time for pipe tobacco to go stale compared to other kinds of tobacco.

Habits can take hold in certain groups or regions and hang on for generations, though the numbers of people may be small. China has a huge appetite for tobacco. Mao was provided with copious cigarettes and maybe cigars on the Long March escaping nationalist troops before his military took over the government through strategies and evasions.

Pipe smoking did much better in European and U.S. academe over the years when cigarettes prevailed in the general public. Some arts communities could reinstate pipe smoking in a more general way, or other professional or career groups.

The military during World War II was a tremendous purveyor of cigarettes in MIA's and military exchanges.

Fads and trends are manipulated by marketers, but often the strongest trends start out completely unexpected. Pipes could go from an odd, private, furtive habit to all but obligatory in a few years if they fulfilled some image and social place that got instated.

And if pipe smoking went pretty well extinct, it could always be reborn in this same way, become a novelty, then a fashion, and then a sort of social requirement with some.

Humans are an unpredictable species, full of surprises, if we can avoid becoming extinct ourselves, which is by no means a certainty.

 

[SBC]

I've never understood the need of some to see pipe smokers out and about. Misery loves company? Validation of one's choice of a vice? I simply can't wrap my head around this need. We are social animals, my and large, I suppose. But, I've not found the need to find other smokers. Well, other than this site which is full of humor and distractions other than pipes. Car buying, health concerns, and such can always be found here.

It may just be akin to how people would bemoan not seeing coffee drinkers anymore if coffee were ever criminalized. It wouldn't be because they used to enjoy stalking and peeping at people drinking coffee -- it would just be a lament over what the shifting scene represents.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

There have been a number of articles published over the last few years about how tobacco pipe smoking is actually increasing in certain spheres. The two main groups of new pipe smokers seem to be: younger folks attracted to pipe smoking for various reasons (nostalgia often mentioned), and smokers of cigarettes and cigars who want to try pipes for reasons of health or economy or just to see. We see lots of examples of both groups on this forum, which the last time I checked seems to have a pretty high enrollment rate.

If I had to bet, I'd say pipe smoking will become much more popular in the near future. Here's why: some of the people in the group of younger pipe smokers are not just hipsters. They are genuinely cutting edge types--leaders in various ways. These are the people who start fashions. Sooner or later others will catch on.

 

[Navy Chief]

I've never understood the need of some to see pipe smokers out and about. Misery loves company? Validation of one's choice of a vice? I simply can't wrap my head around this need. We are social animals, my and large, I suppose. But, I've not found the need to find other smokers. Well, other than this site which is full of humor and distractions other than pipes. Car buying, health concerns, and such can always be found here.

I have no need to see pipe smoker out and about in public, but it can be used as a gauge to determine how prevalent pipe smoking is in society as a whole.

You see cigarette smokers on a daily basis, they make up probably 98% of tobacco users in the US. You see a much much smaller percentage of people smoking cigars. Usually they can be found on golf courses or at clubs, or other social events There is an even smaller percentage of people you see smoking a pipe in public....

 

[grimpuffer]

I honestly think the lack of pipe smokers in public is due to 2 different reasons:

Public perception of smokers as a whole

Cigar smokers are somehow considered "cooler" than pipe smokers because of how much more mainstream Cigars are.

Just my opinion, but one I have seen backed up several times and at various smoking lounges. I get the few ppl that talk to me at lounges and say they too enjoy a pipe but dont like carrying it around as taking cigars is easier for them and because they, "Never see anyone else smoking a pipe."

Even in the deep south where I live, you see cigarette smokers pretty much outcast to smoking outdoors and even then ppl give them that Go to Hell look when they have to walk past them.

I honestly think its more popular than what you see on a day-to-day basis or else I would imagine we would not have the amount of options available to us that we have online.

However, Pipe smoking still falls into the "I love the way your pipe smells, it reminds me of my dad/grandfather" etc and just seems to remind people of days gone by, and I am ok with that.

 

[Scottmi]

according to the World Health Organization, globally, pipe smoking represents a small percentage of overall tobacco use ~~ estimates that pipes are used by less than 1% of tobacco users worldwide.

 

[The Doctor]

My opinion is... I don't care about popular opinion. I do this because I choose to, and I shall for as long as I'm able, damn the torpedos.




Plus, I look really good with a pipe.