How often do we hear distaste for—or marginalization of—hipsters? The hipster community is obviously a boon for the pipe and tobacco industries...based on how many of them enjoy pipes. And honestly, there are far worse spokesmen for the hobby. It is doubtful that many of us would openly welcome droves of Emo, or even Goth, into the hallowed halls of our beloved Templum Nicotiana Tabacum. (Though, if we must, I recommend the Peterson Dracula Smooth for Emos... Rusticated Churchwardens for the Goths... See? We each have our own foibles. I am not innocent by any means)
There have been several threads based on the rise of the pipe smoking hipsters. Although I have not read them all, the general feeling a reader gets is that a rift exists within our pipe community. Akin to the present American election, there seems to be those of us who respond to hipsters with reasonable sophistication, while others respond with plain animosity for "those hipster types".
I hate to tell people this, but one of the most successful pipe and tobacco dealers on the web is almost entirely represented, seemingly, by hipsters. Scanning the profiles of some forum members (both the influential and the lowly—such as myself) I noticed that many are dressed well, with beards, smoking pipes, and wearing eyeglasses reminiscent of the 1960s. A pair of horn-rim glasses and a beard may not make a person a hipster, but they sure take to the hipster fashion well, don't they? Additionally, a pipe in the gob of a hipster isn't exactly a fashion faux pas.
In fact, it matters little if a hipster takes the time and focus necessary to navigate the practice of pipe smoking. Many people (regardless of social stigmas) have and will begin smoking a pipe. The vast majority will give it up, likely because of modernity's emphasis on instant gratification, lack of attention span, and its hyper-anxiety of everything Tobacco.
Our community has faced a regression in both practice and production for over a decade. How many of us can remember the height of the pipe smoking culture? I was too young to enjoy it then, but I sure recall the scent of fine tobaccos that I know have since slipped into oblivion. It used to be that a pipe smoker was almost instantly recognized as a sophisticated person, a person accepting only the finest representations of artisan work, both of briar and of leaf.
Now we are looked upon with scorn, as a danger to social health.
It is doubtful that pipe smoking will ever return to its former grandeur, at least not in America. But the hipsters have bright new ideas; they are at the threshold of a techno-generation which will be far more progressive than any we have yet seen. I am most impressed by the hipsters' propensity for a rare commodity seldom found in my generation and those before, that of sound REASON.
It should therefore be no surprise that they are attracted to pipes en mass.
We as pipe smokers love our hobby. And, with that love of hobby, we carry the responsibility of its stewardship.
Might I humbly suggest, then, that we treat hipsters a little better.
There have been several threads based on the rise of the pipe smoking hipsters. Although I have not read them all, the general feeling a reader gets is that a rift exists within our pipe community. Akin to the present American election, there seems to be those of us who respond to hipsters with reasonable sophistication, while others respond with plain animosity for "those hipster types".
I hate to tell people this, but one of the most successful pipe and tobacco dealers on the web is almost entirely represented, seemingly, by hipsters. Scanning the profiles of some forum members (both the influential and the lowly—such as myself) I noticed that many are dressed well, with beards, smoking pipes, and wearing eyeglasses reminiscent of the 1960s. A pair of horn-rim glasses and a beard may not make a person a hipster, but they sure take to the hipster fashion well, don't they? Additionally, a pipe in the gob of a hipster isn't exactly a fashion faux pas.
In fact, it matters little if a hipster takes the time and focus necessary to navigate the practice of pipe smoking. Many people (regardless of social stigmas) have and will begin smoking a pipe. The vast majority will give it up, likely because of modernity's emphasis on instant gratification, lack of attention span, and its hyper-anxiety of everything Tobacco.
Our community has faced a regression in both practice and production for over a decade. How many of us can remember the height of the pipe smoking culture? I was too young to enjoy it then, but I sure recall the scent of fine tobaccos that I know have since slipped into oblivion. It used to be that a pipe smoker was almost instantly recognized as a sophisticated person, a person accepting only the finest representations of artisan work, both of briar and of leaf.
Now we are looked upon with scorn, as a danger to social health.
It is doubtful that pipe smoking will ever return to its former grandeur, at least not in America. But the hipsters have bright new ideas; they are at the threshold of a techno-generation which will be far more progressive than any we have yet seen. I am most impressed by the hipsters' propensity for a rare commodity seldom found in my generation and those before, that of sound REASON.
It should therefore be no surprise that they are attracted to pipes en mass.
We as pipe smokers love our hobby. And, with that love of hobby, we carry the responsibility of its stewardship.
Might I humbly suggest, then, that we treat hipsters a little better.
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