The pipe - a thing of the past ?

[andystewart]

There are simply no pipe smokers on the sunny island of Cyprus where I live. I have been smoking for about a year now and in that time I have seen 5 people with a pipe,...I admit I feel kind of strange sometimes...It can be kind of weird sometimes, doing something no one else does.

redpanda - thanks for opening this thread; I know how you feel! I live in one of the most populated parts of Western Europe and work in a city of 9 million people, but if I see 3-4 other pipe-smokers a year, that's a lot. Although I'm a member of a thriving pipe club (the Pipe Club of London, where I see 15-20 brothers twice a month - they don't count!) and I know that those tobacconists who sell pipes and tobacco report very strong sales, this apparent resurgence in piping doesn't translate to feet on the street. I've been smoking pipes for over 30 years and for the longest time I was pretty secretive about it because I felt hugely self-conscious, but eventually I got over that. I smoke my pipes while I walk to and from work and I have a bowl at lunchtime; while I get looks and the occasional smile, I am delighted to report that no-one has ever said anything negative to me about it. Not in my hearing, anyway! I get a lot of "My granddad/dad/uncle smoked a pipe." and "You don't see that very often." but otherwise folk seem to be happy to lump me in with that very English category - eccentric. So be it.
I hope that the contacts in this thread will introduce you to the pipe-smoking community in Cyprus and that you have many more happy years enjoying this thing of ours.
Andy

 

[blackbeard]

Someone please remove the post aboves advertisement for nonsense.

 

[nachman]

The industrial revolution started the decline of pipe smoking. A farmer or artisan can take the time to pack and smoke a pipe, but a factory employee would diminish his productivity and irritate his bosses if he stopped to enjoy a smoke, thus the cigarette, which can be consumed without a break and smoked often to keep nicotine levels up without pausing from mindless and repetitive work. I think this is why pipe smoking is associated with contemplation and to some extent with nonconformity. In our modern era a pipe is a statement. It says, "I am not part of the mindless herd, I am my own man." Strike a blow for individual values. Smoke on.

 

[hextor]

I live in texas and the only person I know that smoked pipe is my friend Harvey, which he moved to Vegas, and my brother which I got him into smoking pipe tobacco, it does get lonely sometimes, smoking pipe with another person tends to bring out the complexity of a conversation, it makes you think before you speak your mind, and what good conversation me and my brother have while smoking a pipe

 

[deathmetal]

The industrial revolution started the decline of pipe smoking. A farmer or artisan can take the time to pack and smoke a pipe, but a factory employee would diminish his productivity and irritate his bosses if he stopped to enjoy a smoke, thus the cigarette, which can be consumed without a break and smoked often to keep nicotine levels up without pausing from mindless and repetitive work. I think this is why pipe smoking is associated with contemplation and to some extent with nonconformity.

This is a great point. It seems that pipe smoking dropped off in the late 1980s the most when smoking was banned in offices, which meant that you had to take a smoke break instead of just having a smoke.

 

[sparrowhawk]

Like Lee said above, I never quite fit in either. But as a former college instructor, teacher, and writer who wears tweed jackets (with patches on the elbows yet), I fit the model of the classic Bohemian look of an intellectual (another model that everyone in this country, the US, is afraid to be labeled--I wear the label with pride) like those famous pipe smoking writers, J.R.R. Tolkien among them.

 

[deathmetal]

Everything that's old is new again.
History runs in cycles, as people try the same dumb stuff and then realize (many years later) that it fails, then work their way back, rediscovering civilization itself...
Once upon a time, cigarettes were expensive and pipes were normal. Now cigarettes are just bad (except MDCs, for our resident irascible leprechaun) and pipes are where the flavor is.
What we really need is more workplaces and bars friendly to pipe smoking....

 

[redpanda]

Hey,

the thread is still alive and going after a month !

I have not met enough pipe smokers yet to be able to determine whether or not it is a thing of the intellectuals. After all, there was a time when everyone, from the illiterate working man to the sophisticated thinker smoked a pipe. Why does it look strange today ? Why " eccentric" ? Why should a perfectly good way to enjoy the flavor of the tobacco leaf, all of a sudden be considered old fashioned and eccentric. I don't know. I have not done my home work, but correct me if I am wrong, pipe smoking must have been around for a long time. And what exactly is the problem with smoking a pipe in public ? Are we worried we might look out of place? We are simply people who like to smoke tobacco, and there aren't many ways to do it. In fact, I can only think of one, in a pipe.

 

[mso489]

A few years ago in a radio interview, our landlord Kevin noted that this site (pipesmagazine.com) was getting 11K hits a day and rising. I assume by now, it is a lot more, maybe double that. So though this hardly denotes a return to the 1950s and 1960s when pipe smoking was deeply ingrained as part of an overall smoking culture backed by a vast industry, it certainly suggests a resurgence of pipe smoking trending upward. Depending on other historical factors, like the strength of the world's economies and the stability of political structure around the world, I see pipe smokers being a small but sturdy demographic for the rest of the 21st Century.

 

[wyfbane]

I never see pipe smokers either, unless I hang out at my local B&M or meet up with folks from my club or on here. It's ok. I like the people here.

In recent years I've become a big fan of Swedish snus, but have never met anyone else who isn't from Scandinavia who has even heard of it, let alone tried it.

My buddy Jason loves snus. He orders it from Sweden. It's ok. I just love pipes.

 

[deathmetal]

The past is alive....

 

[seagullplayer]

Spotted a guy in Walmart this weekend. That makes two in the past two months.
That is about double last years count...

 

[deathmetal]

The rise of the pipe-smoker in American culture, 2015... soon to be in headlines near you!

 

[damianmonk]

I saw one old guy with a large pipe in Amsterdam around Dam Square a month or so ago, he was just looking around in the crowd and smoking. None other sightings so since.

 

[hooboy]

confessing to be a redneck and a a Georgia cracker and living bout 1/2 mile past "Resume speed" I believe we in this area MUST be an exception as I read this post, From my front yard I can hit with a rock at least 3 pipe smokers. But If I did .... Shutter

hoo

 

[macaroon]

I have seen at least two other students just around my dorm building with pipes in their hands, which caught me by surprise. I have yet to make the connection, as I may have to give up the past time for myself due to concerns from a good friend. In any case, there seems to be a surprising population of younger folks giving pipes a try. It may help that a decent smoke shop is within easy walking distance from campus.

 

[robykeys82]

Here in Italy I see that pipe smokers are 99% aged 50+

However, a friend of mine which is 32 (I'm 33) occasionally smokes the pipe and from what I read on Italian forums online, the pipe is living a second youth nowadays