I don't see what the big deal is. Pipe shapes and how they are made change from time to time, so why shouldn't P&T occasionally take note of that? If this or nearly every magazine only stuck to old school thinking, they wouldn't last long. The publishing business is in crisis in this new age of Kindle and internet. Editors and publishers need to stay relevant and get attention, or their publications die. Look at all the book stores that are no longer in business. People are not buying magazines, newspapers or print books as they used to. A lot of newspapers have folded or have reduced content. Comic books only sell to a small niche audience. Playboy isn't even a monthly magazine anymore, and if you can't sell a monthly issue of that, then you can see there's a problem. You can get a year's subscription of Playboy for $12 now, and if you look at the cover price, not to mention shipping costs, you realize they are practically giving the magazine away. Magazines need subscribers so they can entice their advertisers to buy ads, which at times keep magazines afloat more than their customers do. And many advertisers are forsaking print media for digital. This very forum is supported by advertisers, and without them, it might not exist or survive.
Once upon a time, a book had to sell over a 100,000 copies to make the New Times Best Seller List. Now, that number is reduced to 25,000. Yes, e-books and online magazines are rising in popularity, but the numbers are generally not high enough to keep things going. But a good, eye catching cover can give a small boost to sales, and so long as the magazine content is still of high quality, it shouldn't matter if a steampunk pipe cover - relevant to the times- is used. It may even bring in a new reader or two, which is very desirable and necessary to the magazine's survival. You don't like that genre of pipe? Don't buy it. Don't read the article. But it's unfair to criticize a magazine for reflecting a new movement in pipe making and design simply because you don't like steampunk pipes or feel they neglected an inside story.
I imagine Joe Skoda's career isn't harmed by not being on the cover of this issue, and at some point, the editors may revisit the subject and put him there. It's not like he's being ignored because they did a story on him. Btw, Loborx's comment on Trever Talbert is very relevant to this subject. He gave a new look to the pipe world, and created a deservedly devoted fan following. The audience decided on his craftsmanship just as it will on newer artistic visionnaires. There's room for all kinds of pipes, otherwise all we'd be smoking are standard shape pipes, which would limit some of the fun of our smoking pleasure.
In the meantime, I find condemning P&T for this cover to be waste of angst. We have bigger issues in the pipe smoking world - and in print media - to concern ourselves with.