Ahhhh, the good old days, when people would go to biker rally's to trade public sex for mortgage payments and/or lifetime supplies of pipes and tobacco.
Is Pipe Smoking Fading Into History?
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I think it will ebb and flow. The vinyl record market dwindled for many years with both the advent of the cassette tape and the compact disc, but then got stronger over the last ten years thanks to cultural / historical nostalgia. I am thinking / hoping it will be the same for pipe smoking.
A little over $100g in 1992.you got a waaaay better deal on your house than i did!
I would love to see actual data on the number of pipe smokers in the world. I'm sure the number now is significantly lower than it was in the 1950s. But I'm not convinced that the decline has been a straight line down. I think that it's entirely possible that we've bottomed out and are seeing an increase in the number of pipe smokers right now. I could be dead wrong.
But there is some anecdotal evidence that new people are picking up the pipe faster than people are dying off or quitting.
The Virtual Pipe Club, a group on Facebook, has over 6.4K members. Brothers of the Briar has 5.5K members. G.L. Pease has over 10,000 Instagram followers. (Plenty of overlap in those numbers to be sure.) Pipe shows are selling out their hotel room blocks. There are communities of people that smoke pipes and connect on YouTube. New members join this forum practically every day.
So, yes, it's rare to see people smoking in public and brick and mortar stores are dropping like flies. But I think that's a sign that the culture around pipe smoking has changed rather than faded to dark.
But there is some anecdotal evidence that new people are picking up the pipe faster than people are dying off or quitting.
The Virtual Pipe Club, a group on Facebook, has over 6.4K members. Brothers of the Briar has 5.5K members. G.L. Pease has over 10,000 Instagram followers. (Plenty of overlap in those numbers to be sure.) Pipe shows are selling out their hotel room blocks. There are communities of people that smoke pipes and connect on YouTube. New members join this forum practically every day.
So, yes, it's rare to see people smoking in public and brick and mortar stores are dropping like flies. But I think that's a sign that the culture around pipe smoking has changed rather than faded to dark.
How many are still active, alive, or smoking though?
There are many, including a couple that sometimes post here, that are just collectors of pipes.
I'll just fire up a bowl of Bayou Morning and do my best to keep the Leaf burning in my lifetime.
I’m not an administrator of the group so I don’t know but the VPC is only a couple years old.
In reality, I know I could show you people having sex in public this summer, but I am not sure if I could show you a pipe smoker in public. Shows where we are all going!Wait - the pipe smoking or the sex in public ?
The question is not if but when? Starting to think about liquidating some of my pipe collection to purchase more tobacco -- tobacco can always be smoked, and pipes are pretty much useless without tobacco.
Vinyl records came back, because there is no control over music these days. With every garage band putting out their own digital music, and radio use dropping like a hot potato, music fans had no way to know who any of the new groups were, except word of mouth or Apple music algorithms.I think it will ebb and flow. The vinyl record market dwindled for many years with both the advent of the cassette tape and the compact disc, but then got stronger over the last ten years thanks to cultural / historical nostalgia. I am thinking / hoping it will be the same for pipe smoking.
People turned to bands releasing vinyl to know who was out there. And, record stores are booming as a way for music fans to gather and celebrate new releases again. Fans may prefer to go home with a CD or wait to download, but it is the vinyl release that draws the crowds.
I was at a blues album release a few months ago, and the place had hundreds of people. It was pretty cool.
When the system crashes and bands of starving skeletons pour out of the cities and terrorize the countryside in search of food, my cellar is well provisioned.
I guess that a lot of things may be fading into history but for at least several months pipe smoking will survive if I have anything to say about it.
I guess that a lot of things may be fading into history but for at least several months pipe smoking will survive if I have anything to say about it.
I believe I read that cigarette smoking has declined to only 1 in 10 people in the United States, with incidence in the youngest demographics being even lower. This is half of what it was only 20 or so years ago. And there are probably 100 cigarette smokers for every pipe smoker. Sure, some of these people are vaping or using marijuana now, but the fact remains.
Why were cigars invented? Smoking a pipe is a somewhat involved activity, so I suspect it was to provide an easy, portable way to enjoy tobacco that only required you to find a match. Why were cigarettes invented? To provide a cheaper and quicker way to consume tobacco than cigars, I would guess.
So pipe tobacco is really seated back in prior centuries, before there were any other options and before convenience was a primary concern. Today it's a pursuit like cigars are, one which you sit down intentionally to stop and do it. Most people just don't have time or would rather spend the time elsewhere.
I don't mind any of this. So long as there are good tobaccos in production and good pipes available to those of us in this small hobby, we can enjoy it in peace and privately perhaps. This is the whole ethos anyway, isn't it?
Why were cigars invented? Smoking a pipe is a somewhat involved activity, so I suspect it was to provide an easy, portable way to enjoy tobacco that only required you to find a match. Why were cigarettes invented? To provide a cheaper and quicker way to consume tobacco than cigars, I would guess.
So pipe tobacco is really seated back in prior centuries, before there were any other options and before convenience was a primary concern. Today it's a pursuit like cigars are, one which you sit down intentionally to stop and do it. Most people just don't have time or would rather spend the time elsewhere.
I don't mind any of this. So long as there are good tobaccos in production and good pipes available to those of us in this small hobby, we can enjoy it in peace and privately perhaps. This is the whole ethos anyway, isn't it?
I believe it is.
Like many things though, it will naturally depend on what country you're in as to how fast or slow that happens.
Some places are taxing it out of existence, others are just outlawing it.
Don't get me started on import restrictions.....
The future can't be predicted, but tobacco's future is pretty clear. If there is only a tiny minority left, will it be enough to maintain an industry?
One thing we can agree on is it's getting more expensive and harder to obtain every year.
For those of you lucky enough to be able to grow your own (I'm jealous firstly), start learning how the process works seed to pipe, learn how to collect seeds as well as grow and process, it just may come down to you.
Like many things though, it will naturally depend on what country you're in as to how fast or slow that happens.
Some places are taxing it out of existence, others are just outlawing it.
Don't get me started on import restrictions.....
The future can't be predicted, but tobacco's future is pretty clear. If there is only a tiny minority left, will it be enough to maintain an industry?
One thing we can agree on is it's getting more expensive and harder to obtain every year.
For those of you lucky enough to be able to grow your own (I'm jealous firstly), start learning how the process works seed to pipe, learn how to collect seeds as well as grow and process, it just may come down to you.
I like the fact that vinyl has made a comeback and I have purchased some in recent years, but it does at times remind me why the medium was left in the past. Records that skip from the store, their fragility, the need for large spaces to store them, the in ability to 'seek' as you can with digital media...
Personally I feel the compact disk was probably the best balance of sound quality and reliability in a physical medium. But aesthetics matter a lot, and many people believe the sound is better on vinyl as well. I am glad the hobby exists and that it's providing vital income to artists that disappeared when streaming came along.
There are lots of other examples. Film photography has come back and people are seeking 35mm cameras again; a friend has made a good business out of repairing and reviving them.
Personally I feel like our culture has lost its way, and people are nostalgic for things from better times.
Horses and sailboats are REALLY expensive, Pipes and Tobacco (assuming not taxed to death) are cheap enough any homeless person could still easily smoke a pipe every day.
A couple of things I might suggest. You can buy a digital scale to measure how heavy the cartridge arm is applying needle pressure to the record. I have three turntables, and keep them all adjusted for perfect pressure. This will curtail skid and skips. I also keep my records clean and never touch the records surface. I have had colas spill on some that dried and seemed to ruin the record, but just a couple of sprays with a vinyl cleaner and a single pass with a record brush bring them back to pristine condition for me.
I have record bough in 1972 that sound crystal clear still,
I also remove the paper sleeves and put them in acid free sleeves, and each album cover gets a new acid free sleeve as well.
I don't care for every form of music on vinyl. I just tend to collect albums where the whole album is a concept to be listened to from start to finish... which is an art form that new musicians and new music fans are alien to. When we listen to albums, we set the time aside for just listening, maybe while flipping through books or magazines. But, for the most part, we start on first song side A, and listen all the way through. If we feel compelled to skip a song, I trade the album.
At this point, I have over 800 albums, all ready to be enjoyed.
However, if you just don't like vinyl, then so be it.
I think vinyl coming back in the digital download/streaming era represents a "down-selection" of physical media, too. If one is trying to decide whether to listen to a song from their phone or Echo, or a physical object, I feel like they are much less likely to bother with a cassette or CD or 8-track in favor of just getting it digitally. Those media probably aren't going to come back, although some indie bands are trying with cassettes. Vinyl, maybe because it's much more involved than other media, has come to represent the consummate physical musical medium -- if you want the experience of playing music from an object, it gives you the most of that (for better or worse.)
I started coming to this realization when I found that Nine Inch Nails only sells music digitally or on vinyl. They sold a heck of a lot of cassettes and CDs back in the day, but the interest in supporting all of those formats simultaneously is not there anymore.
I also went through digital burn out. I subscribe to Apple music, where I have everything ever recorded at my bec-and-call. But, having infinite choices just gave me stress. I also think that there is a limit to digital. When the music is transferred using Bluetooth the lossless quality is lost, and sound quality isn't as good. I mean, I will still use Apple music in my truck, but when I get home and want to listen to music, I want to REALLY listen to music. Not just a background hodgepodge of songs that linked together with no meaning.
That's when I turn to my vinyl selections.