J.R.R Tolkien ...

[Hobbit's Door]

I am a huge Tolkien fan. I collect Tolkien books, art books .... Mmmm I collect Tolkien everything to keep it short and to the point. I was just wondering how many people here were influenced by Tolkien to start smoking a pipe. I read the hobbit and then the Lord of the Rings when I was 13. And over the years (I have reread the book countless times) I have often thought about pipes and pipe smoking because of the books and Tolkiens love for the pipe. I am 45 now and have been smoking for three months or is it four ... I know for me that Tolkien and his works had a big hand in me become interested in pipes and pipe tobacco. I am just curious if it is the same anyone else.

 

[Old Smokey]

This gets touched upon a few times every couple of months. I started because of my grandpappy when I was 11. I started to read Tolkien around the same time.

 

[Waning Embers]

Many have posted much the same but I hadn't heard of Tolkien until I was already in my twenties. Tried both reading the books as well as watching the movies but neither could hold my interest. I started just because I enjoyed tobacco at 17 back in '91.

 

[jpberg]

Why doesn’t anybody start smoking because they read Buchan?

 

[Old Smokey]

Why doesn’t anybody start smoking because they read Buchan?

Does Buchan have hobbits or Tom Bombadil?

 

[Lumbridge]

I've been a big Lord of the Rings nerd as long as I can remember, but I never paid any special attention to the references to pipes and tobacco in Tolkien's works until after I started smoking a pipe.

 

[jpberg]

Does Buchan have hobbits or Tom Bombadil?

No! He’s got Richard Hannay, who outsmarts bad guys, saves Europe and gets chicks.
What am I missing?

 

[Old Smokey]

No! He’s got Richard Hannay, who outsmarts bad guys, saves Europe and gets chicks.
What am I missing?

Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevensies, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, and Supper.

 

[Alejo R.]

I am a huge Tolkien fan. I collect Tolkien books, art books .... Mmmm I collect Tolkien everything to keep it short and to the point. I was just wondering how many people here were influenced by Tolkien to start smoking a pipe. I read the hobbit and then the Lord of the Rings when I was 13. And over the years (I have reread the book countless times) I have often thought about pipes and pipe smoking because of the books and Tolkiens love for the pipe. I am 45 now and have been smoking for three months or is it four ... I know for me that Tolkien and his works had a big hand in me become interested in pipes and pipe tobacco. I am just curious if it is the same anyone else.

I like Tolkien and have read him more than once. But I think the percentage influenced by me smoking a pipe is close to zero. I am a big fan of everything Midcentury, architecture, furniture, fashion, etc. I think that's my main influence.

 

[Alejo R.]

 

[SBC]

The photo of him with a billiard in his teeth on the back of my mother's LOTR paperbacks was the primary influence in my telling my (anti-smoking) parents, "I'll never smoke, but if I do, it'll be a pipe."

And here we are.

 

[Old Smokey]

I've been a big Lord of the Rings nerd as long as I can remember, but I never paid any special attention to the references to pipes and tobacco in Tolkien's works until after I started smoking a pipe.

Speaking of Tolkien nerd, I now have an idea for my next user name. Profile pic is a dead giveaway.

 

[anotherbob]

No! He’s got Richard Hannay, who outsmarts bad guys, saves Europe and gets chicks.
What am I missing?

Well chicks are better then pipes. Or at least more pleasurable and prettier.

 

[anotherbob]

Nope it was the real life people I saw smoking them. And while I really enjoyed Tolkien as a kid I kind of don't get into his work now.

 

[trouttimes]

I am a Tolkien fan. I read the books once a year over the winter. I enjoy when they enjoy smoking but it has little effect on my smoking. I do admit, I light up a church warden while I’m reading.

 

[kcghost]

I like Tolkien but not as much as you do. I started smoking a pipe in the mid 70's but Tolkien never played a part.

 

[Grimlineman]

I”m a big fan! stated smoking a pipe last year and I’m about your age. Not saying Tolkiens work is the reason why I started to smoke but it had some influence.

 

[AJL67]

I started smoking a pipe because of 1950s and 1960s B sci-fi movies, always wanted to be a scientist in a lab coat in a small room with a desk with buttons on it and some reel to reel computer banks and walls of flashing lights. Just the coolest!

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevensies, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, and Supper.

Not a huge Tolkien fan (prefer others, and like Lewis' Narnia series better), but I do like Elevensies as a large American.

And Bilbo had a legit pipe collection. Just look at the reamer.

 

[brian64]

I first read The Hobbit and LOTR's in my pre-teen years and a couple more times since then. I can't say it directly influenced my eventual pipe smoking, because I smoked cigars for a long time before finally trying pipe smoking in my early 40s and discovering I enjoyed it more. But I never knew anyone who was a pipe smoker, so I suppose Tolkien's characters were my initial and primary association with it.