Sherlock got it right! *spoiler*

[jruthledge]

Did anyone else's jaw drop when Bumblebee Cumberbun (You know who I mean, what's his name...) was actually smoking the right pipe as Sherlock Holmes in the latest episode (S4E1)? Couldn't believe it. I saw him pull some tobacco out of a slipper, load up an oily black clay, and I was so astonished I could hardly follow what was going on in the story. Is this a first for on screen depictions of the most famous of all pipe smokers?

 

[damianmonk]

I really liked the amount of pipe smoking, the attention to detail, and Holmes and Watson 'clacking' them consistently as they clenched them. I mean, Freeman was already known for smoking a pipe, but Cumberbatch did the do too!
...the episode however was not as nice by any means

 

[carbonmated]

The pipes were mere props as there was no pipe smoking anywhere in the episode. Most scenes they were not even lit. In a few scenes there was a wisp of smoke leaving the pipe, there was nothing to see here.....

 

[pappymac]

Sherlock Holmes only smoked a pipe in the movies and later on tv. He never smoked a pipe in the original stories.

 

[bigpond]

From A Study in Scarlet:

You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories."

Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "

 

[hooboy]

Sherlock smoked a pipe in several of the ORIGINAL stories And he kept tobacco in a

slipper hanging on the mantle, Also the phrase "a 3 pipe problem was noted several times as well as smoking a black shag, saving the dottle to smoke in the morning pipe, etc. etc,

hoo

 

[pylorns]

Yeah I didn't see much actual pipe smoking in that the pipes were being smoked - mostly clentching and fiddling with the pipes - I also saw somewhere that Benadict Bumblebee batch said something like the pipes were props and not real pipes. That said, it was awesome to see so much in the show.

 

[sallow]

I thought it was nice. It annoys me that you never see tobacco use in the series.

 

[deathmetal]

Holmes both smoked a pipe... and did not, thanks to the sensible older style of writing that Doyle employed.
Modern

Sparking with quirky energy, Sherlock approached his chair with bounding steps. He flung himself into it, assuming the position of chin down and knees up that had carried him through many days as a boy in Miss McGonigle's home for wayward boys. He fought back the tears that always hovered, like vultures near the corpse of his heart, at the edge of recollection. Instead his hand sought his one solace, the pipe, an artisanal™ clay flute with the end ascending like a lover seeking a kiss. Into it Holmes prodded the dark North England shag he favored, a tobacco rich in leathery and oily scents and strong in the brain-altering (and cancer-causing; don't smoke kids, it's a ghetto drug) nicotine that conjured his dreams like a priestess of a forgotten forest glad. A single tear ran down his nose and he flung it aside with a head toss before others could see. Then, lowering the flame to the bouquet of shredded leaves, he drew in the smoke greedily, finding himself sighing as he was transported to another world.
Then he thought about the problem a bit.

Ancient

Holmes stormed into 221-B with his brows knitted and his eyes fixed. "Nothing as told to us makes any sense, Watson," he said finally. "I shall require solitude to think, for many hours, and my pipe of course." He then drew his knees to his chin and stayed that way until dinner, smoke wreathing his head as he looked straight ahead without seeing, a faint tremor possessing him each time he uncovered a relevant detail.

Long story short: f%#$k NPR and the workshop method, as they've ruined American fiction.

 

[jruthledge]

Sherlock Holmes only smoked a pipe in the movies and later on tv. He never smoked a pipe in the original stories.

True. And most people are totally unaware that there are no Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings. That's just a lie perpetrated to cover up the truth - 'cause bigfoots.
The pipes in the show may have been mainly props, but the thing that impressed me was that they used the right pipe for Holmes rather that a random briar or some cartoonish calabash.

 

[doctorbob]

What does NPR have to do with anything? Am I being obtuse?
Bob

 

[deathmetal]

What does NPR have to do with anything?

They popularized a style of very bad writing as "educated."

 

[doctorbob]

national public radio?
Bob

 

[deathmetal]

Yes, that's the one.

 

[doctorbob]

I'm curious, how do you justify that statement?
Bob

 

[deathmetal]

Why would anyone "justify" a statement?

 

[doctorbob]

To justify a statement is to provide argument, fact, or reason to support said statement. You stated that NPR was a contributor to the decline of American fiction, a position that I have not been made aware of before. I am curious as to why you made that statement and would like to make an attempt to understand your position, that is all.
Bob

 

[deathmetal]

Ah! Well, that's much easier.
NPR popularized that style of over-writing back in the 90s through the present day. They started writing their human interest and feature stories in that style, and it became popular for the same elitey set who buy literature. This was in contrast to the more staid and functionalist style that other news stations adopted.
They were among the first to take it outside the MFA (Master of Fine Arts) clique in fiction writing, and probably, the biggest and most recognizable voice using it.

 

[huntertrw]

"Sherlock Holmes only smoked a pipe in the movies and later on tv. He never smoked a pipe in the original stories."
If that is true, then you may want to contact the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and ask that they correct the original manuscripts of those stories in which he detailed Holmes' pipe-smoking.

 

[deathmetal]

I think he meant that in the stories, Holmes did not carry a pipe around at all times, where in the movies he was smoking it in many scenes. In the stories, Holmes "smoked" a pipe, but it wasn't a character accessory.