Pipe Smoker vs "Guy who Smokes a Pipe"

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Briar Tuck

Lifer
Nov 29, 2022
1,109
5,744
Oregon coast
I don't really bind my ego to these sorts of labels and things (or at least I try not to). Someone might call me a radish, but that doesn't say much about me as it speaks volumes about the other. I often cringe at how quickly people are to categorize, group, and label themselves and others now a days--and often without full grasp of context or probing effort at understanding the other. I mean, I like a pipe, but not because of the object or the material smoke, but because of the pleasure and effects of the smoke. It's a drug, a very mild and pleasing one, but a drug at that. The associated materials are really accessories in the most superficial sense of the word, like high-heels or a red sports car. They ain't screaming profundity.
That sounds like something a radish would say. You root vegetables are all the same.
 

Briar Tuck

Lifer
Nov 29, 2022
1,109
5,744
Oregon coast
When I'm watchin' my TV
And a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
But, he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me
We'll be playing that one tonight. A crowd favorite. We go straight into it from Honky Tonk Women. Not the most exciting song to play as a drummer, but I love the crowd feedback.
 

Briar Tuck

Lifer
Nov 29, 2022
1,109
5,744
Oregon coast
It doesn’t have anything to do with better. This was a musing on a conversation I had with my brothers. My elder brother was shopping life insurance. He doesn’t smoke a pipe ever, but will occasionally bum cigs when he drinks. My younger bro is the one in the original post. There is a question on the application about being a smoker. I’d say he’s not a cig smoker, just a guy who will smoke a cig. My sister smokes a pack a day, she definitely is. Which led around to the pipe as you please idea. Which led around in circles through drinking and weed smoking comparisons. I figured it was an interesting point of discussion and wanted to see what others thought of it.
The insurance question has been brought up here before and the general consensus seemed to be that the term "smoker" was mostly applicable to cigarette smokers in this context. I'd still check the non-smoker box on anything official even being a daily pipe smoker.
 

PipeWI

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 30, 2023
275
2,525
Somerset WI
I've been smoking a pipe since I was about 22 but never really have been in conversation with other pipe smokers/pipers/people of smoke :) before. In the few days I've been reading through these forums, I've been astonished at the variety of pipes, tobaccos, habits, traditions, methods, schedules, amounts etc. that people have mentioned. So, as it seems with any human practice, variety is the hallmark of the collective. And yet, as a few others have noted, the desire to categorize is strong with us because language. However, its nice to be in a place where guys are praised for smoking and to find fellowship with others who enjoy it, regardless of how they do so.
 

midwestpipesmoker70

Can't Leave
Nov 28, 2011
431
434
IL
I smoke a pipe in a very small town in Midwestern Illinois. I have been asked many times, "why the hell do you smoke a pipe, just smoke a damn cigarette like everyone else". I don't smoke a pipe to be different. My lungs can't take cigarette smoking, although I tried many drunken nights. A filter-less Camel is delicious though. I smoke a pipe because I find it relaxing. I smoke a pipe because I love all the different styles of pipes and the many different tobaccos. Smoking a pipe causes me to reflect and contemplate the day. Not to mention the excellent people I have met online that smoke pipes as well as at pipe shows. The Chicago Pipe Show experience is just mind blowing. I will smoke a pipe until I die. And I do not care in the slightest what people think of me or my pipe smoking.
 

midwestpipesmoker70

Can't Leave
Nov 28, 2011
431
434
IL
I smoke a pipe in a very small town in Midwestern Illinois. I have been asked many times, "why the hell do you smoke a pipe, just smoke a damn cigarette like everyone else". I don't smoke a pipe to be different. My lungs can't take cigarette smoking, although I tried many drunken nights. A filter-less Camel is delicious though. I smoke a pipe because I find it relaxing. I smoke a pipe because I love all the different styles of pipes and the many different tobaccos. Smoking a pipe causes me to reflect and contemplate the day. Not to mention the excellent people I have met online that smoke pipes as well as at pipe shows. The Chicago Pipe Show experience is just mind blowing. I will smoke a pipe until I die. And I do not care in the slightest what people think of me or my pipe smoking.
As a P.S. I love cigars but couldn't afford them and found that pipe smoking was cheaper. Boy was I wrong lmao!
 

J-Evverrett

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 17, 2021
268
701
42
Meriden, CT
I don't either, sounds like somebody trying to justify measuring their pipe to me.
The question is whether or not somebody is considered a smoker if they do it occasionally. Pipes, cigars etc. My opinion is no, there is a difference between some who smokes regularly and one who does not. It stemmed from a conversation about insurance premiums and such I had with my brothers recently. I smoke daily, whereas my brothers do so on occasion. It applies to drinking also. I drink maybe 3 drinks a month. I’d not consider myself a drinker, as opposed to someone who has a drink after work daily. I thought it might be an interesting discussion here, as we have many people who engage in smoking (to varying degrees) as to what they think.
 
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sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,025
50,406
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
BTW, in my neighborhood I'm known as the "guy with a pipe". I've even had complete strangers (to me at least) spot me crossing a street without a pipe in hand and call out from their cars, "Hey! Where's your pipe?" I'll pull it out of my pocket, wave it at them, they'll honk their horn and give me a thumbs up.

Where does that place me in the hierarchy for pipe smoking?
 
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