Snobbery....

[explodingpenguin]

I have already given this group of pipe smokers the highest honor I can. I made my fiance, who has just began to get into our hobby, join to meet all of you. I can not think of a better group of people to help her find her own way of enjoying pipes. I know the people on here are wonderful and truly just want to help as many others as possible enjoy our little slice of heaven. No matter the method they find most enjoyable.
Thanks to all of you for being so awesome. I wish I could fill the local B&Ms with all of you. We are looking to join our local pipe club and I will be overjoyed if they are even half as welcoming as you all have been

 

[hauntedmyst]

Most people on this planet suffer from the "Illusion of Superiority" which causes 90% of our problems.

Hobie, this is why I think you are a genius! Now if the other 8 people in the room with me would just realize I am better than them in every way and just give up trying to one up me, most of our problems would cease.

 

[searock]

S.N.O.B. I believe it came from the French for "sons of the nobility".
I don't exactly know how to approach this. I don't want to name names of give away who I'm talking about... Here goes. I've seen one "extreme" example of this in my almost 50 years of pipe smoking. There is a pipe maker, a one man operation, very well known and very talented. When he started out he was modest, friendly and a generally nice guy, but as time went on and more and more people told him how great his pipes were and how wonderful his work was, he changed. To make a long story short he turned into an arrogant, self centered ass. I guess you could call it a snob. He no longer has friend but "deciples", who worship him for his pipe making ability. Some afternoons he sits in a local pipe shop and holds "court". His deciples hang on his every word, be it about pipes or anything else. It's discusting.
I was a friend of his once, but no more. Many years ago he had the nerve to ask (demand?) that I get rid of all my pipes and only smoke ones he made. I gracefully declined. After that he became cold, then down right hostile toward me. We no longer associate. Too bad.
This is an extreme example of letting your ego run wild. Being proud of your ability or pipe collection is one thing, being an arrogant snob about it is something else.
"All of my heroes are dead."

 

[pstlpkr]

From the newbie with his first No Name or Cob, to the old farts that have a wall of beautifully sculptured briar and meerschaum and that special place of honor for his first No Name or Cob; I'm glad we all have this special place to share our little slice of Heaven and that we have no snobbery to check at the door.
I have no point to make with the above. However; I appreciate and am grateful for that place and friends with which I can express no point at all.

 

[colonelmcmuf]

Being a man who enjoys it when someone compliments me on my pipes I make it a point to compliment others when I see them smoking. regardless of 'what' they're smoking.

 

[ernest]

searock------I know a shoe maker (and repairer) who has taken on that exact attitude over time with all his customers.It really leaves your mind in a state of wonderment for awhile.It makes me wonder if there was an unwritten rule that when you started doing business with someone back in the older days,they relied on you dealing with them only.I wonder if they are unable to adjust to such a competitive market that might be taking business away from them.I'm sure Al Capone would have had someone shot. Just guessing.

 

[flanative]

"....they relied on you dealing with them only...."
Yep! There use to be a thing known as customer service, THAT is how you gained and kept customers. Treat a man right and he will come back....tomorrow, next week , next year... not anymore!

 

[gunner777]

This is just the type of subject that made me want to join up a few days ago. Back in the mid to late 90's I worked in the pipe business for a now defunct company called R&E pipes. I can remember sitting there doing updates to the website and listening to phone calls from people saying they wanted nothing under a certain price range so tell me what's around $500. Ah S Bang$900 I'll take it. Yep my friends will be jealous. This just one example of many.

It drove me crazy then and still does. Do I have Dunhills? Yes I do but I also collect old Kaywoodies that have some wonderful old wood. Mastercraft pipes you betcha. If you can afford the high dollar pipes and enjoy them for what they are and don't consider yourself better than the next guy because you smoke high ends great. Just don't wave that high dollar in my face and think your better, smarter etc.

There are a ton of great pipes out there that don't say Dunhill, S Bang etc. Thanks for having a forum where snobbery is not allowed

 

[bubbadreier]

Well welcome gunner! It just goes to show you that there are different classes of people as well as pipes!

 

[gunner777]

Thank you sir I'm very glad to be here!

 

[unclearthur]

Good to have you here Gunner. I enjoy the mellow folks here a lot.

 

[juozapas]

What...?? Who said that..??

 

[ps27]

This thread made me decide to go ahead and sign up rather than just keep passing though. Good to hear you're taking this stand.

 

[dudleydipstick]

ps27,
Nice to have you here. Welcome to the forums!

 

[ps27]

Thank you.

 

[flanative]

Norman Rockwell!!

Why didnt I think of him over in the "Guess this pipe smoker" thread!!!

 

[docgarr]

I would hate to be accused of being a pipe snob. My wife accuses me of being one. I think that the "pipe world" has many dimensions to it. I would like all pipe smokers to explore the different dimensions of it. If you go to a pipe show, you will experience snobbery. I just came back from the CORPS show. On Sunday morning a guy who makes pipes on the side was talking to me about snobbery--how difficult it was for him to get the ear of certain people at the show. I've experienced myself as I see all the big names at the show. I'm pretty much ignored by them. But to witness their work first hand is an experience open to anyone. I would like to see people explore the varieties of pipes and tobacco out there. The pipe world is too small to have this snobbery. I do own some very nice pipes, but I would never look down on pipers who are not as fortunate as I am to own those pipes. Working in a tobacco shop, I encourage everyone who seems interested to buy a pipe and some tobacco. I usually suggest a corn cob to start with. I hope they will grow in the hobby. I hope they will join a pipe club, go to a show, participate in a smoking contest, try making their own pipe (something I could never do), and explore. I still respect them if they fail in their quest. If they find the smoke too burning or too harsh or just don't like trying to keep their pipe lit. The goal, I think, is to find out what the pipe world is all about in all of its dimensions.

 

[dudleydipstick]

Doc Garr,
Those were some poignant words. Many of us should be so lucky as to have someone like you at their B&M.

 

[admin]

At least Bob and I didn't ignore you Doc. ;-)

 

[excav8tor]

ernest, strange that you talk about a shoemaker because according to The Oxford English Dictionary:

Snob...

People often claim that this word originated as an abbreviated form of the Latin phrase sine nobilitate, meaning 'without nobility' (i.e. 'of a humble social background'). Various accounts of the circumstances in which this abbreviation was supposedly used have been put forward: on lists of names of Oxford or Cambridge students; on lists of ships' passengers (to make sure that only the best people dined at the captain's table); on lists of guests to indicate that no title was required when they were announced.
The theory is ingenious but highly unlikely. The word snob is first recorded in the late 18th century as a term for a shoemaker or his apprentice. At about this time it was indeed adopted by Cambridge students, but they didn't use it to refer to students who lacked a title or were of humble origins; they used it generally of anyone who was not a student.
By the early 19th century snob was being used to mean a person with no 'breeding', both the honest labourers who knew their place, and the vulgar social climbers who copied the manners of the upper classes. In time the word came to describe someone with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth who looks down on those regarded as socially inferior.
It's quite possible that the phrase sine nobilitate may have appeared in one context or another, but it is difficult to see why it would have given rise to a word for a shoemaker.

So ernest, you could quite easily call your shoemaker associate a snob!!!