The "Tobacco Snobs" Thread That Got Closed

[pappymac]

Kevin - I enjoyed going back and reading your story on Snobbery and Reverse Snobbery. Everyone should be encouraged to read it.
The following is not meant to offend the Military Retirees or veterans on this great forum (and, yes, there is a difference between Retirees and veterans - Retirees are even more special). The OP posted that he spent several years in the Navy and it immediately reminded me of several new from school young petty officers who would arrive at their first duty station with the attitude of "I'm here to show you how it should be done!"
That attitude always lasted about as long as it took a Chief to apply the right amount of attitude adjustment. Which Is what I saw in the responses in the original thread. But, as I would always tell those who worked for me in the Coast Guard, "You have to know the difference between gently correcting someone and dropping a sledgehammer on them." Some of the comments MAY have been construed as being sledgehammers.
I am not a moderator. I think our moderators and admins are top notch. I think Cosmic made the right move in closing the thread.

I probably would have over-reacted and just deleted the thread after I read the first post

 

[judcole]

I don't post a lot here, these days, although I have been around this place a while.

I do agree that the gent made a big error in making that post so early in his time here. He rode his drama llama outta here; we'll see if he comes back. ::

Kevin and the mods do an outstanding job. :clap:

 

[jpmcwjr]

OK. Let's get back to the merits of coating the chamber or not, drying tobacco or not, building cake or not, lighters or matches, etc., etc., etc....... BTW, right now I am not listening to music, not drinking anything, not even smoking! But if I were, each item would be recherché!

 

[condorlover1]

As the long suffering and sole former 'Mod' at the other pipe forum that recently sunk below the waves I have a great deal of sympathy with Cosmic's situation and I can even see Kevin's point. In my humble experience you will always get these pseudo intellectual types on a forum and then you will get what I refer to the 'Bull Durham Brigade' who are the salt of the earth, live and let live group who like to knock about, make jokes about others and generally express an opinion, but not on every subject. Everyone has their foibles, lord knows I am well known for my love of crap tobacco, strange pipes and general hatred in a good natured way of Falcon Pipes and Royal Yuck. A lot of the threads here I never comment on as I just don't have a dog in that fight but I love reading what others have to say. All that being said I have certainly come to the conclusion that if discourse is not heavily controlled it very soon breaks down into social anarchy and in extreme cases leads to threats to person and property. It is no surprise that other forums have exploded over such threads and so perhaps for the better good of the community as a whole contentious topics are best avoided or at least zapped before they become small urban conflicts. Thats my two cents worth......

 

[pappymac]

I don't like Royal Yacht.

 

[aimlesswanderer]

That's how it starts For years I just wandered along pipe smoking blissfully unaware of all things pipe and tobacco. Just smoked my OTC's not knowing the there were different families of tobacco, just Amphora, Sail and Captain Black etc. My first experience with an English was an eye opener, and then I stumbled upon this forum. Well it all changed after that, a couple dozen blends cellared, dozens of pipes, estates included This is what's in store if your not careful.

Dave, I doubt I'll get too carried away, as I don't have the funds and my primary tobacco pleasure lies in other products. I've enjoyed the second half of a bowl of Coniston Cut Plug this afternoon, but been dipping in and out of several English snuff blends throughout the day. Snuff is the meat and veg of my tobacco consumption, the pipe is just the dessert. I don't need more than my cheap pipes (in fact I already have more than I need) and about 10g of pipe tobacco a week to be content. I do still have to restrain myself with snuff orders though.
I actually started a list of all the bowls consumed from one 25g pouch of CCP to see just how many bowls it does feed. I reckon if I stuck to smoking in the Mizzou, 25g might even last me a whole month. I can't see that being the basis for any more acquisition disorders..... thankfully.

 

[perdurabo]

Toobfreak, it's about pile on's. Close a thread if it's a huge pile on. Or just throw a bomb to instigate a closed topic if dealing with idiots.

 

[mcitinner1]

Speaking of idiots. Just commenting in similar context. :nana:

 

[mawnansmiff]

"but to PM someone and harangue them is so wrong. I never thought someone would do that."
Brad, assuming you are being serious, you should have seen the mass of PMs I received from ex member Coyote (remember him). They were filled with the most downright vile and vulgar insults you could possibly imagine...sometimes several arriving in my inbox every hour!
That guy seriously needed help. I regret it now but wish I had passed them onto a mod.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[mso489]

Even in my brief and terse post, I felt bad that I was piling on. If there is a lesson here, from the original post mostly, it is that writing always embodies tone, that is attitude toward the subject and the reader. The OP simply came on strong, both condescending and pompous. In writing and in person, you have to be attentive to how you are coming across. You may be entirely pleased with how you are pleasing your ego, but how are you treating your reader?

 

[tbradsim1]

Jay, I am navie about this, all my life I've called a spade a spade and never have hid behind an Internet keyboard, so I deem the PM a sacred place , kind of like you don't trash a mans wife, kids, you know what I mean. I'm a simple man and that poster walked in this house spitting on the floor, took my napkin and blew his nose in it. In real life away from the keyboard he would not of lasted in my circle. This place is so special to me, I sometimes have to restrain myself as I usually take matters in my own hands, the older I get, the more I see the other side, but sometimes enough is enough.

 

[ophiuchus]

Egad.
1) Hello, Kevin. I really dig your website.
2) The original post in that other thread was rude. It solicited the worst behavior in otherwise good people. Closing it was appropriate.
3) Rudeness is no excuse for the increasingly passive-aggressive nationalism or the use of arguably racist expressions which I find even more disturbing. Knock it the hell off, please.
I know I can be a dick, too, contributing to the piling onto this type of thing sophomorically. I'll try to do better.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Pappymac, I think your assessment is on point, that reminds me of the time I made a thread titled "Openness And Modification" with a similar attitude to what you describe.
I intended it to simply be a discussion about drilling out your pipe, unashamedly promoting that people shouldn't be afraid to alter pipes.

Lucky for me I asked enough questions that everyone took a different meaning from the thread title and interpreted it as an effort to smooth things over instead of being mildly antagonistic.

I got off easy on that thread.

 

[iamn8]

Brad, it's interesting how at various stages of life we see things as black & white vs grey. As kids everything is grey. In middle age things become more black n white which gives in to another grey period followed by another black and white. I consider those grey periods as the educational times, preparing for the next period of grey. There are, as with all things, exceptions, but it seems to be a universal truth.

 

[toobfreak]

If there is a lesson here, from the original post mostly, it is that writing always embodies tone, that is attitude toward the subject and the reader.

MSO, therein lies the most fundamental truth here, missed entirely by the one person most in need of getting it. You might write something with the best of intentions sometimes, but if many people are taking it badly, that is the signal that you are going wrong somewhere in how you are expressing it.
I only glanced at the OP's parting letter, but in it, I did not see one word of contrition. To him, the problem was still 100% entirely us.
Maybe he will read this stuff and one day decide that you have to meet the world at least half way to get along.

 

[ashdigger]

This whole thing is so weird and befuddling. We're still talking about pipes and tobacco, right?
Everyday I go to work I see death and destruction, so I'm a little more thick skinned than others I guess, but the OP called EVERYONE out and I truly have a problem with that. It's not an internet warrior thing; it's a family thing. You are all my internet family. And I just don't cotton to someone shitting in my living room and then complaining about shit in my living room.
If I offended anyone I apologize, but maybe by offending you I've helped you understand what offends. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

 

[admin]

Just to clarify, I wasn't defending the OP in the other thread. He threw the match on that fire, and got burned. (Pun intended.)
@toobfreak

Thanks for filling me in.
@pappymac

Kevin - I enjoyed going back and reading your story on Snobbery and Reverse Snobbery. Everyone should be encouraged to read it.

Thanks! Here's the link again.

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-smoking-lifestyle/snobbery-is-as-snobbery-does/
@jpmcwjr

...recherché!

Ha ha ha ha!!! I had to look that up. Great word. I'm going to use it soon.
@ophiuchus

Hello, Kevin. I really dig your website.

Thanks!

 

[charliecob]

 

[woodsroad]

You people really do need to get out more often.

 

[drwatson]

I could never be accused of being a tobacco snob. I live by motto Captain Black is proof of a God and that he loves us!!!