Is Your Pipe A Social Prop?

[ophiuchus]

Now, maybe not so much. To a much younger me, a pipe wasn’t merely a prop; it was a dramatic tool.
I may still occasionally use one as a pointer.

 

[weezell]

It would feel like punishment if I had to set in a chair with nothing to do but smoke, like I am waiting on something, like death.

Frankly, if it's my time to go, I can think of no way better for me to go out than sitting comfortably in a chair smoking my pipe and going over the rainbow to see Dorothy and Toto... :wink:

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I tend to smoke alone. Social interaction is too much of a distraction from my smoking.

There are times you scare me with such opinions that scarily mirror my own. ::

 

[Chasing Embers]

There are times you scare me with such opinions that scarily mirror my own. ::

Must be a Hoosier thing. :mrgreen:

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Myself, no, not at all. I tend to not be involved in social situations at all.
However I do a character "Da Ole Perfesser" who gestures and fiddles with the pipe he almost never puts down, even when just recording audio. "His" mannerisms help me to keep the characterization consistent.

 

[homeatsea]

Unless you're at a pipe club meeting you're automatically going to be that guy whether you want to be or not...no matter how casually you attempt to just smoke your pipe.
For most people these days it's like encountering an extinct prehistoric species.

Nailed it.

 

[hawky454]

Yeah, I’m not the most social person. I have high social anxiety so I try not to stand out at all. I may use it to point and all that jazz around my family, they think it’s odd when they see me without a pipe, it’s become an extension of me. As far as matching a pipe to my “outfit”, I’m not like that. First of all I don’t wear outfits, second, I can usually be found in flip flops a t-shirt and shorts year round. I’m not too “stylish” so to speak. I’ve been trying to build up the courage to go to a pipe club meeting for a decade now but I can’t ever bring myself to walk through the doors. This here forum is to help fulfill my human need to socialize. It’s a total bitch cause it would be nice to have a few pipe smoking buddies that I can hang with face to face but I’ve made some truly great friends on the forums over the years.

 

[mso489]

Agree, Forums is a sort of surrogate for pipe-smoking friends we might have made in an earlier time. Maybe we need pipe-gesturing imagoes. I asked another old gent about his pipe tobacco choice in the grocery store parking lot and and he fled as if approached by the devil himself.

 

[aquadoc]

Not with purpose. But when we have a map on the hood of a truck, I use my pipe stem to point to things for emphasis. And I am Italian-American ... Hand waving is genetic.

 

[sablebrush52]

Oh, absolutely! Unlike my stoical brethren who are working on their premature heart attacks, I'll occasionally smoke in the company of others while in conversation, during which time I may actually take the pipe out of my kisser and be holding it. And since I do occasionally gesture while talking, the pipe travels along with whatever hand happens to be gesturing.
A pipe is more convenient than either a baseball bat or a pool cue for those moments when you need to be extra persuasive, a bit classier as well, and more sanitary for the taking of eyeballs.
While I prefer doing one thing at a time, multitasking is a frequent necessity, especially at work where it's a non stop conveyor belt of questions, decisions, creating, emergencies, Chinese fire drills, and so forth. Fortunately I can walk, chew gum, and smoke a pipe all at the same time. I prefer to not chew gum and smoke at the same time as it does limit the experience somewhat.
For the most part I lunt, so my smokes are outdoors and in my own esteemed company. But occasionally I'll have a companion on that walk and if I happen to have a pipe in hand when I make the occasional gesture, so be it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I asked another old gent about his pipe tobacco choice in the grocery store parking lot and and he fled as if approached by the devil himself.

I live in an area where there are significant amounts of pipesmokers, and not everyone who smokes a pipe wants to talk about it. Think about it like this, if a guy smokes cigarettes, most likely if someone came up to them and wanted to start talking about brands, they would probably be very skeptical in this day and age. It's like someone coming up and asking you about a wart on your face.
Pipe clubs are a little different. There are many guys out there in the world buying Grabows and smoking their boxes and boxes of Carter Hall, one right after the other. I actually know more of these type guys. They think these expensive Savinellis and Luxurious Petersons are ridiculous for a thing that someone smokes till it's time to throw it away. Pipe clubs are more for those who are like us, guys who want to try many new blends, check out fancy pipes, and talk, talk, talk.
I've read quite a few encounters on here, between "our" kind of guys running into other pipesmokers in the wild and getting the cold shoulder. It sounds quite reasonable to me. The whole notion that smoking a pipe makes someone a gentleman is absolute crap. It just might be a pipe smoker that steals your car or sets your barn on fire. Because there are many a guy who chose to smoke a pipe because they just want to keep the nicotine strolling through their system, nothing more. Or, maybe their jaw is sore, so they are laying off the Red Man to use the pipe instead for a while.

 

[brian64]

Fortunately I can walk, chew gum, and smoke a pipe all at the same time.

I actually attempted that precisely once. Several months ago. I'm still recovering from my injuries.