Will tightened regulation make pipe smoking more expensive and more trouble than it's worth? Or will the regs inhibit new blends and discourage one crop of pipe shops and retailers but give rise to others that base their business on adapting to the new market. If pipe smokers can't enjoy the delightful new blends that come out every month or two now, they can make an infinite number of home mixes as they do now every time they use up a couple of blends by mixing them together, or add a little cigar leaf to something else -- or Turkish, Oriental, Cavendish, Lat, Per, dark-fired, etc., all of which will remain available in one form or another. Pipe smoking is still the least expensive form of smoking, so there is a buffer between when the prices rise and when the price is simply too high. And finally, most pipe smokers are not nicotine dependent, so many could cut their bowls per week in half and still be in the game. The deeper questions of how much meddling, even in the name of health and wellbeing, institutions should be doing in individual private lives. Thanks for a glimmer of optimism Fred. I'm not euphoric, but I'm not in mourning either.
