Pipe Smoker Survey 2012 - SUMMARY REPORT

[jrtaster]

I'll throw this out. Are we less "social" than say, cigar smokers, because the rhythm of pipe smoking doesn't facilitate conversation and social interaction?? I find the pipe requires a lot of fidgeting and fine-tuning.

I'm forever filling, tamping, relighting and messin' with the thing (which is fine when smoking alone) which tends to interrupt the easy flow of conversation.

When I smoked more cigars than pipes, you clip the darn thing, light it and smoke it. Sure it went out once in a while but relighting was simple and required no real attention.

That's just me and maybe I'm way out in left....no sorry, RIGHT field with this observation.

jr/john

 

[brian64]

I'll throw this out. Are we less "social" than say, cigar smokers, because the rhythm of pipe smoking doesn't facilitate conversation and social interaction?? I find the pipe requires a lot of fidgeting and fine-tuning.

I'm forever filling, tamping, relighting and messin' with the thing (which is fine when smoking alone) which tends to interrupt the easy flow of conversation.

When I smoked more cigars than pipes, you clip the darn thing, light it and smoke it. Sure it went out once in a while but relighting was simple and required no real attention.

That's just me and maybe I'm way out in left....no sorry, RIGHT field with this observation.

jr/john

I would respond, but too busy with pipe at the moment.

 

[cigrmaster]

jrtaster, I don't think that is necessarily the case. When I lived in Rhode Island a buddy of mine owned a cigar lounge and shop. I was in there 5 days a week and on average of 5-6 hours a day. Some days I would smoke my pipe and others I would smoke cigars and the conversation was never interrupted while I was messing with my pipe.

 

[tjameson]

Interesting CA had the highest percentage of pipe smokers in this survey and NY was third. Started in NY and representing Bay Area pipemen here

 

[jrtaster]

Mine was only one theory, based on personal perceptions.

On the other hand, I've attended one or two NJ pipe club shindigs and several dinner meetings of the NY Pipe Club and there was no lack of spirited collegial verbal intercourse, that's true.

When I go to JR Cigars to meet with a cigar smoking buddy, however, my pipe fiddling seems more pronounced and interruptive.I have met the enemy and it's ME.

Any other hypotheses on this issue? Are our younger smokers more collegial/social. Is it older f--rts, like me,

who find solitary smoking more "comfortable." What other variables are out there??

Just wondering??

jr/john

 

[tjameson]

I have to say being a younger pipe smoker (25) is actually harder to overcome the stereotypes of pipes being for old guys and that could really just be my personal experience. I found it especially hard in college to walk around campus with a pipe but no one really said anything negative but I did get some strange looks here and there. Now since I decided I don't care what people think I've had nothing but positive reactions from co-workers and the public. I even had a younger guy at work say it was badass that I smoked a pipe haha

 

[adam12]

We're not antisocial by nature. I attend pipe shows pretty regularly and the camaraderie is there, but I think with the economy in the last 3+ years, attendance at pipe shows has dwindled to those who treat it as a money-making proposition, making most pipe shows "markets" as opposed to the good-times herf atmospheres they used to be.
I do believe this is changing, however. But the distance has to be an issue: when there are only 6 shows a year, and each is located far away, it provides less of an opportunity for the social apsect to be as strong.
Plus, let's face it - there are fewer B&M pipe shops than there used to be, even 5 years ago - which also is a problem if it reuires effort.
I think the proliferation of smaller pipe clubs such as the college clubs and do forth have changed this somewhat. But right now, I see the pipe world struggling to become something that we don't know yet - a thing in transition with no real vision of what it will be in the future.

 

[tobakenist]

I'm now a statistic ::

 

[mluyckx]

We're not antisocial by nature

We're not ? Darn... I'm in the wrong crowd. I'll go have a bowl all by my lonesome then :puffpipe:

 

[winton]

I fell in the middle for most areas. Outside of this forum, I don't have any friends that smoke a pipe. I don't feel like smoking with the cigarette addicts at work. Mostly, I smoke to relax by myself. But this makes me normal per the statistics.
Winton

 

[jrtaster]

@Adam12...your comments are interesting and thoughful reflections on this pastime of ours. Maybe raw stats and surveys inadequately illuminate and discern subtle nuances among the pipe-smoking community. Like trying to sew a button on a lemon meringue pie?

jr/john

 

[checotah]

Some of us (at least one, me) live in less urban areas where things are, well, different than the more metropolitan areas. For example, smoking in all public buildings and all work areas (unless it's your own home) is prohibited by law. That alone will skew the stats on both smoking with others and at work. And being probably a good 200 miles or more from a pipe club will likely affect the "attend pipe show" question. It's an age-old issue of rural vs. urban, East Coast vs. West Coast dynamic that waan't factored into the survey.
Nevertheless, some interesting statistics. Thanks for putting it together.

 

[rcstan]

- 2% say they neither sit quietly, think, read a book or Kindle, use the computer, watch television, or listen to music while smoking. That means we have a small but dedicated group of people whose favorite activity while smoking is showering.

There are those times early in the morning, ya know. You sort of sit and think, but that's not exactly WHAT you're doing. For me, only when camping though since I don't smoke in the house ......

 

[admin]

Even more interesting than the results themselves, is reading everyone's analysis of them.
@jrtaster

Hmmm... most surprising to me, the % stating they are somewhere in the "liberal camp."

The majority is still moderate to conservative, roughly 2/3rds are more conservative, and 1/3rd liberal from my reading of it.
@cigrmaster

It is kind of sad that most of us smoke alone.

I think this is inevitable because we are too few and too far apart for the most part, coupled with fewer and fewer places where you can smoke outside the home.
@jrtaster

I'll throw this out. Are we less "social" than say, cigar smokers, because the rhythm of pipe smoking doesn't facilitate conversation and social interaction?? I find the pipe requires a lot of fidgeting and fine-tuning.

I don't think so. When I am at pipe shows and there are a hundred to several hundred pipe smokers in one place, there's lots of socializing going on. (Except for me. I hide in my room. Just kidding.)

 

[brian64]

Hmmm... most surprising to me, the % stating they are somewhere in the "liberal camp." My perception has always been that most smokers generally believe the anti-smoking rules, regs, laws, and attitudes spring more from the left/liberal political and social spectrum than from the conservative element. From my perception, I therefore deduced most of us probably align ourselves more with a conservative social and political view. The survey doesn't support my pre-conception, at least not to the extent I anticipated. Wow, live and learn.

jr/john

There may well have been a number of other libertarians such as myself who declined to answer that question since we were not represented in the answer selection.

 

[smokinjoe]

It was nice to see that there was a quite a few more people in my generation taking up the briar than I had expected.
I think that we like to be alone when we smoke because it's a time for relaxation. I know I take my pipe with me on walks or to a nice bench in the park to relax after work or just to think. Usually both!
And I will say that I am a registered Independent but I voted Liberal for the poll because a lot of my beliefs have tended to fall towards the left; I think it's because the parties are backwards right now though. I like the social programs democrats are going for, but I still think the government has no place in our private lives.

 

[morlader]

The survey made interesting reading.One stat that took my notice was that there is a very small group taking 15mins to smoke their pipes,

Tom

 

[hobie1dog]

One stat that took my notice was that there is a very small group taking 15mins to smoke their pipes,

takes me that long to get ready. 8O