Pipe Smoking Image--Old vs. Young, Eccentric, Nostalgic or Strange????

[voorhees]

Yep, never once did I get questioned when smoking cigars. Now I get the "you smoke a pipe?" quite frequently. I have never accepted the suggested norm of a person my age. Most of my friends are t-shirt/ball cap wearing types and think anything beyond that is abnormal. And that's fine if that's how they want to be perceived.

Bringing others into this hobby, even the cigar side has always been tough. I have for years gone to the beach with a group of friends and always take enough cigars for them. Rarely if ever does anyone partake with me. They have no idea what they are missing.

I guess I need to get new pipe smoking friends to start new trips with.

 

[tbradsim1]

I started when I was 18 yrs old squatting around a campfire in SE Asia, the only relaxing thing there, and no there wasn't any Pocket Rocket Fuel in the pipe.

 

[derfargin]

Come on!!!....Ask anyone, and what you'll hear most of all is..."My grandpa used to smoke a pipe." It's not that it's a bad thing, it's just mostly associated with older gentlemen. Quite honestly, lots of times that statement is followed up by "I love the way a pipe smells."
I'm not saying smoking a pipe is for old guys, but growing up in media, it's the stereotype that's been afixed with pipes. You rarely see some 21 year old guy crankin on a pipe or cigar for that matter in movies. It's usually cigarettes.
Hell I even told myself that when I turn 60, I was going to start smoking a pipe, and wearing hats(you know different ones not just baseball type) because it would look strange on a guy in his 30s. I threw that out the window about 6 months ago, and started on pipe tobacco, and haven't looked back.
I'm glad i did too, because if I would have started this in another 21 years I would have been pissed on all that I missed out on. I've smoked cigarettes in the past, and I still smoke the occasional cigar, but I can't tell you how much more I've enjoyed pipe tobacco over both of those.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying many more blends, and meeting others with the same interests.

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

I'm a younger military vet and don't fit the "hipster" look. I don't wear skinny jeans, ironic t-shirts, I don't have derby hats or fedoras, I don't wear suspenders or bow ties, I don't have a beard or a cool styled mustache. About as old man as my look gets is cardigan sweaters in fall or winter. The rest of the year it is shorts, t-shirts or collared shirts and ball caps. I also don't listen to obscure indie bands or go vinyl record shopping. My smoking environment is outside in my backyard listening to metal burning down a bowl in one of my briars while possibly tossing a frisbee a ball with the kids.

 

[andystewart]

Thanks Bullets. Now THEY'RE strange! Haven't seen many in London but I think I know the type you mean.
Transmutated - If we meet you'll be the only other piper I've seen in London!
Andy

 

[derfargin]

It's really about stereotypes with pipes and pipe smokers. Ironically it exists in our own pipe community. Case in point are cob pipes. Some consider them un-refined, because they're inexpensive. But yet they can provide a great springboard into the world of pipe tobacco, often times they're overlooked. But they seem to be gaining a much better foothold or at least in what I've been seeing.

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

@Derfargin, I hear ya. I was not a cob fan when I started. I finally caved because I'm of the belief "don't knock it until you try it." I bought a cob and it is now a faithful regular in my rotation. Nothing wrong with them, but I don't plan on stockpiling them either just because they are cheap.

 

[transmutated]

Andy. American hipsters are just wannabe Shoreditch/Dalston wan**rs. Go to London Fields at the weekend if you want to see pretentious rich kids affecting their hearts out.

If you're ever near Portobello Road and see a man on a doorstep wearing slippers and moth eaten clothes and smoking Nightcap, that (unfortunately) is me.

 

[fadingdaylight]

derfargin- It's true. I was hesitant about cobs for a long time. Finally took the plunge, now I love them. I am looking to get into a little at home cob-modding myself.
The old man stereotype will probably never go away. My kids call me grandpa and frosty (since I took up the cob). My wife asks me how I can embrace getting older so much. I explain that I am neither embracing it or fighting it. I have been wearing flannel shirts since I was 12, now I just button them. My Pink Floyd shirt is still under there. Levis have been a staple since childhood. I have gone through every style of hat you can think of, cowboy, ball caps, military style, ivy caps, fedoras, etc. i love hats, always have. My wife hates them, furthers the old man jokes. I'm planning on picking up a new ball cap soon, those are the only ones she likes.
Point is, hipsters aside, I think most of us here are just guys doing what we like or what we know. If any of us cared much what other's thought, we probably wouldn't smoke at all, being thats the world we live in now.

 

[tlag77]

I am 37 and I get the old thing from my wife and kids, because I listen to PMRS and NPR, and my friends give me crap too but I don't really care, I do what I want.

 

[tlag77]

On another note, pipe smoking has given me a whole bunch of good people to chat with.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I don't even know what the heck a hipster is. I just do what I want to do, and I can't imagine what it would be like to be in the skin of someone who does worry.
Why is it that some people who enjoy the pipe think that someone would think that it was any weirder than someone spitting black goo from their dirty brown teeth full of chaw or snuff? or thumping a cigarette butt into a pristine pond of water? or riding a bike, or wearing sandals. Where is it written that pipes are so weird? I see them everywhere.

I am damn sure glad that I don't live somewhere where pipes are unusual. That just blows my mind. Guys, get the hell out there and be seen. WE ARE NOT FREAKS!!!

 

[lostandfound]

because bringing a pipe out around campus would attract far too much amused/bemused attention

...I smoke my MM Pony Express at my local skatepark. My local skatepark is in close proximity to my local "ghetto", and is populated by thugs, gangsters, wanna-be's, drug dealers, pimps, ho's, rats, snakes, goblins, and wizards. Oh yeah, and skateboarders, rollerbladers, and BMX bikers... Please don't tell me you're self-conscious about smoking a pipe at college. If so, I tripple dog dare you to quit giving a f#$@ :nana:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=triple-dog-dare

 

[rangerearthpig]

Cosmic wrote: "I don't even know what the heck a hipster is."
Me either! :lol:
Aside from my priest, I am the only guy in town that I know of who smokes a pipe. I'm sure my fellow citizens don't think I look cool, or there would be more of them puffing a pipe.
I'll be 57 on Veteran's Day. At this age, with all of the abuse I've put this tired, old body through over the years, I smoke a pipe because I like it. It relaxes me. It causes me to take a break and enjoy some solitude. I like a good glass of whiskey (neat) for the same reason.
I've given up lots of vices over the years, but I plan on keeping my pipes and my good whiskey. My wife doesn't have a problem with either of them, so I guess that's all that matters.

 

[kanaka95]

Well bowler1 i just started smoking a pipe as well.I really enjoy it and i am hooked.I never smoked a pipe in the past.I was just called an old man not to long ago.And just recently about 3 months ago started to grow my beard out.Don't really know what to say.None of this has affected me in any way as the people who were sayings these things were only joking around.But i guess you may have a point as the image people get when you smoke a pipe is your an old man.But i gotta say i love tobaccos and i'm baccy crazy when it comes to buying and storing and such.I wish i knew about pipe tobacco in my earlier years.Happy puffs.

 

[fadingdaylight]

:rofl: @ cosmic
Hipsters are just people doing something because it is trendy, cool or fashionable. With steampunk and gaslight fantasy on the rise, some of the younger generation is looking at pipes like a fashion accessory, or a cool new toy.

 

[settersbrace]

Collectively we are socio-politico outcasts that refuse to adhere to the PC BS that now rules in the elitist circles around the globe. I would give anything to see a world leader who openly smoked a pipe.

 

[rangerearthpig]

I would give anything to see a world leader who openly smoked a pipe.

Clinton smoked cigars, so they say. :lol:

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Arnold Schwatzen-cant-spell-it smokes a pipe. LOL
Ahhh, I'm maybe a little more confused. If pipes are a trend and fashionable (and maybe they are, as I do see more people smoking pipes since RYO clubs are selling them), then why is it odd to see someone smoking a pipe? If hipsterishness is not caring about social trends, am I a hipster? Maybe the difference is that a kid riding a scooter smoking a pipe while wearing a popular band shirt? (whoever the popular bands are today). Uh oh, I don't even know who the bands are these days. Doesn't everyone still listen to Journey and Steve Miller?
Ugg, I just realized that I am an old guy, LOL. But, maybe my rapidly thinning graying hair gives me away faster than my pipe, ha ha.

 

[phred]

To quote Grandpa Abe Simpson:
"I used to be with it. But then they changed what it was. Now

what I'm with isn't it and what's it seems weird and scary

to me. It'll happen to you."