Pipe Shape Choice. Idea Vs Reality

[ThermionicScott]

I kinow and that choices is what made me not check it out. Just the fact that they said it seemed too archaic. Like the guy is sorta of a freak odd ball mad genius type I doubt being modern would be a major concern. I would have had him use gum or patches when he can't smoke the pipe. But I could be wrong might be a great show and maybe they understand the guy better then I ever could.

It started off well, I thought. I always enjoy Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and some of the choices to modernize the characters worked well: Sherlock now makes full use of cell phones, and Watson is now an Afghanistan vet. But as it went on, it got harder to suspend disbelief, so I never finished it. That seems to be a thing with Steven Moffat shows. He can't make up his mind between fan service and straight-up trying to piss off fans.

 

[Chasing Embers]

but want to love the bent shape.

Why?

 

[Zamora]

Yeah, I think you pretty much have to let your tastes choose the direction, and more or less be in complete submission to them. Otherwise you may find yourself fighting a losing battle, trying to conform to some predetermined ideal. Not only is that a battle you aren't likely to win, but it will surely burn off (no pun intended) a lot of the enjoyment of the "new" feeling that first exists when you are in the early stages of pipe smoking.

When I first started, I emphatically disliked straight stems and any type of sandblast or rustication. I also only had an exclusive interest in billiards, and indiscriminately disliked all other shapes! Why? To this day, I have no idea. I tried, after the fact, to get into my headspace of four years ago when I was just starting out, but I cannot, for the life of me, ascertain a reason for any of these "preferences." Whatever the reasons might have been, my tastes in both pipes and tobacco have changed completely, although I still prefer bent stems to straight (as opposed to an outright aversion to the latter), and I still enjoy aromatics just as much, so long as they aren't a goopy romp in the PG.

Tastes can change with the direction of the wind. So I say just go with it. It's a journey!

I feel like the billiard is the default shape and one that doesn't look out of place with any archetype of pipe smoker. A billiard won't look out of place smoked by a sailor, but a cutty sure as hell would look out of place smoked by a scientist or 50s dad.

 

[Zamora]

I had always assumed Tolkien was a churchwarden smoker - I was a bit surprised when I did a little research and found out that he preferred straight pipes.

That's largely because of the Jackson movies. Tolkien was pretty vague about what kind of pipes are smoked in Middle Earth, even though he painstakingly created extensive lore around the history of tobacco cultivation down to mentioning multiple types / blends. It is mentioned that elves make ornate pipes despite not smoking themselves, but I don't recall if any characters actually smoke an elven pipe. Bilbo does smoke a pipe that almost reaches the floor in the opening of the Hobbit, the Rankin Bass movie interpreted as one of those ceramic hunter pipes. Gandalf is also mentioned smoking a clay at the Green Dragon, it's uncertain whether its his own or the Inn's property. Ralph Bakshi's movie has everybody smoking billiards iirc. Considering the Fellowship brought pipes for traveling and are mentioned having them in pockets it's safe to assume they weren't churchwardens.

It's amusing that Gandalf never canonically smoked a churchwarden but Sherlock Holmes did.

 

[anotherbob]

It started off well, I thought. I always enjoy Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and some of the choices to modernize the characters worked well: Sherlock now makes full use of cell phones, and Watson is now an Afghanistan vet. But as it went on, it got harder to suspend disbelief, so I never finished it. That seems to be a thing with Steven Moffat shows. He can't make up his mind between fan service and straight-up trying to piss off fans.

F the fans. Which I mean to say there isn't any way to really please them. A lot of the times toxic fans remind me of the fat guy that doesn't have the agility to grab a beer from the fridge during the commercial breaks who is sitting on his couch making fun of the sports guy who can run and dodge. But making fun of them as if the player is subnormal compared to me. An example of this was this idiot I knew who played video games and got livid about how Oblivion had bows that you needed arrows for (didn't just come with the magic infinite quiver) in this they suck at making games because of the arrow issue. My point isn't that we can't pick things apart, it's that playing fan service is fine but as a creator you have to be wary of it. And with a property like Sherlock you're going to make many people unhappy no matter how you go with it. Despite the fact that back in the day copywrite and i.p. didn't exist like they do now... so the market was flooded with Sherlock stories written by other people. Yes many of them being what we'd call fan fiction now.

 

[bobpnm]

I thought I would enjoy very large full bent pipes. Turns out I don’t. I don’t buy them anymore. I like billiards and apples both straight and slightly bent. I like panels straight. I don’t like pipes over two ounces. Took time and experimentation to learn. Part of the fun in this hobby. I don’t care if no one likes what I like. More for me!

My long winded way to say, don’t think so much. Have more fun!

 

[Highlandpiper]

Thanks everyone, I thought the roller coaster would be Pipe Shape assessing but that's nothing compared to reading through the posts in my thread. Loved it, a lotta laughs.
End conclusion. ..just enjoy whichever pipe I'm smoking at the time and no need to restrict myself to one shape. Just go with the flow and see where it goes.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

That's largely because of the Jackson movies. Tolkien was pretty vague about what kind of pipes are smoked in Middle Earth, even though he painstakingly created extensive lore around the history of tobacco cultivation down to mentioning multiple types / blends. It is mentioned that elves make ornate pipes despite not smoking themselves, but I don't recall if any characters actually smoke an elven pipe. Bilbo does smoke a pipe that almost reaches the floor in the opening of the Hobbit, the Rankin Bass movie interpreted as one of those ceramic hunter pipes. Gandalf is also mentioned smoking a clay at the Green Dragon, it's uncertain whether its his own or the Inn's property. Ralph Bakshi's movie has everybody smoking billiards iirc. Considering the Fellowship brought pipes for traveling and are mentioned having them in pockets it's safe to assume they weren't churchwardens.

It's amusing that Gandalf never canonically smoked a churchwarden but Sherlock Holmes did.

I think Bilbo had a decent collection of pipes that I wouldn't mind having. The detail in this image is amazing, down to the reamer.

 

[Zamora]

I think Bilbo had a decent collection of pipes that I wouldn't mind having. The detail in this image is amazing, down to the reamer.

View attachment 219732

All the animated adaptations had some pretty bizarre creative choices but this detail is something I loved. Hobbits seem like they would have sizable pipe collections