I remember going into two B&Ms when I was in college in my 20's. I was always a khaki pants and polo style shirt wearing guy back then, clean cut, except for an artsy goatee. I knew from my grandfather smoking that a pipe could burn for over an hour, so I would ask for smaller pipes, "something that would smoke for about as long as a cigarette" (I was young and stupid)... but the B&M's could have taken the conversation more in the direction of selling me a pipe. But, instead both places asked me if I was looking for a drug pipe, which both times caught me off guard, so I left.
Both times, I just assumed these guys were pieces of shit for suggesting that I used drugs. There's nothing lower to me than a druggie, so I was pissed.
But, in looking at the situations through my older more experienced eyes, why in the hell would a 20something go into a B&M pipe shop. I guess I am just as bad as they are, because when I see a kid come into pipe shop, I now wonder if they are looking for drug paraphernalia.
I'm glad that I didn't try to start smoking a pipe at 20. 20somethings just have too many social quirks and hang ups to handle being an outlier like us pipesmokers.
