What Makes a "Serious" Pipe Smoker?

[sasquatch]

I like Lordofthepiperings' basic dichotomy - and it may be that it's a tri or quadrachotomy when looked at further, but I too see a basic difference between a guy like myself who is seeking perfect smokes, seeking that unicorn pipe, the perfect airway, the perfect button, and the perfect tobacco experience to go with it. Exploring and testing. 20 years or so now.
Contrast that with one of my friends who has smoked a pipe for longer than I've been alive, and by "a pipe" I mean just that - A pipe. Singular. This guy thinks Virginia 1 from Mac Baren is suspiciously high-brow. He wouldn't know a va/per if it bit him on the ankle. (That's a snake pun, sorry). But he's obviously a completely "serious" pipe smoker - it's all he's ever smoked, he enjoys it tremendously, and it's a big part of "who he is". But he's doing something different than me - he's smoking in part because he likes it and I think in part because he has a nicotine addiction and a pipe is a tool for that.
I'm not saying the corn-cobs and codger-burley crowd aren't "real" pipesmokers or anything like that, but they are clearly seeking a different experience than Castello-Joe over here, all while both are doing exactly the same thing...

 

[aldecaker]

"the corn-cobs and codger-burley crowd"
:rofl:

 

[bassbug]

I suppose we could separate them from the "Castello and Cornell & Diehl crowd" but would that make one of them more serious than the other?

 

[warren]

A loose definition of "serious pipe smoker" might be, someone who regularly (once daily? twice daily? weekly?), devotes/dedicates a period of time strictly for a bowl of tobacco, has a strictly adhered to ritual, no other distractions allowed, and savors each sip until the bowl is finished (fine, white ash required? Maybe.), then treats the smoking tools reverently with proper care. Someone to whom the pipe, at that moment, is all there is. To me that's a serious smoker. I use the pipe as an adjunct to whatever else I'm doing so, I wouldn't meet such a definition.

 

[sablebrush52]

I suppose we could separate them from the "Castello and Cornell & Diehl crowd" but would that make one of them more serious than the other?

No, of course not. If people want of make all kinds of distinctions, have at it, but it's superfluous and more about their own prejudices than anything else. It's not about how many pipes one has, nor how much poundage, nor how many varieties of tobacco one has accumulated. Those stats might have as much to do with mental or emotional illness as they do with passion. It's about pipe smoking being a meaningful pastime and pleasure in one's life. Pipe smoking has to matter to a person. The rest is just style.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'm not saying the corn-cobs and codger-burley crowd aren't "real" pipesmokers or anything like that, but they are clearly seeking a different experience than Castello-Joe over here, all while both are doing exactly the same thing...

I can't find a difference.

 

[slowroll]

I would say that the definition is simple. One who regularly smokes a pipe to the exclusion (for the most part) of other forms of tobacco smoking.

 

[unkleyoda]

Someone that smokes a pipe everyday.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

...or just uses the pipe as their primary form of tobacco consumption. But, it’s relative and subjective. You can’t draw a line in the sand about what kind of pipe or tobacco.
I grew up loving to hear my uncles talk about tractors. I would love to ask questions and hear stories about so and so and their tractor back in the 40’s or 50’s. So, I considered myself a serious tractor man. But, then at tractor shows, I would hear guys who knew EVERYTHING about tractors, from history to working on them. I didn’t feel like I was a “serious” tractor man. But, when I am at gatherings of my city friends, and I would talk about my measly little Farmall or which one I would like to have, they’d say, “dude, you’re a serious tractor man.”

 

[virginialover]

We all smoke our pipes for different reasons. I started this hobby on my 18th birthday, it just felt right, a part of who I am. I wasn't the most serious pipe smoker either, in my twenties I barely smoked but after my thirties and up to now, pipe smoking and also cigar smoking have become more serious. Main reason being that I can afford it now, money and time wise. So while I could be considered a "serious" pipe smoker with the amount of pipes and tobacco in my possession, I don't take any of this seriously :D
That said, my definition of a serious pipe smoker is someone who after trying a lot of tobacco mixtures, flakes, plugs and ropes, sets his taste buds on one maybe two tobaccos and smokes it in no more than the proverbial 7 day pipe set. A minimalist mindset.
warren: " A loose definition of "serious pipe smoker" might be, someone who regularly (once daily? twice daily? weekly?), devotes/dedicates a period of time strictly for a bowl of tobacco, has a strictly adhered to ritual, no other distractions allowed, and savors each sip until the bowl is finished (fine, white ash required? Maybe.), then treats the smoking tools reverently with proper care. Someone to whom the pipe, at that moment, is all there is. To me that's a serious smoker. I use the pipe as an adjunct to whatever else I'm doing so, I wouldn't meet such a definition. " :clap:

 

[sasquatch]

Sasquatch said: "I'm not saying the corn-cobs and codger-burley crowd aren't "real" pipesmokers or anything like that, but they are clearly seeking a different experience than Castello-Joe over here, all while both are doing exactly the same thing...
Chasing Embers said: I can't find a difference.
What's the difference between a guy who drinks Ballantine's because his daddy drank Ballantine's (and also it's the cheapest scotch he can find), never tries anything else, and has no idea what "peat" in a Scotch might mean, and a guy who spends his whisky-drinking dollar exploring whisky from all over Scotland, learning about the regional differences in treatment of the barley, the caskings, the mash-bills... never mind malt whisky from Japan or India, or the other kinds of whiskies in the world? Nothing? Both dudes are whisky drinkers, if you want to put it that way. But one has intentionally educated himself, presumably developed his palate (possibly allowing him to get more out of his whisky experience, quite likely allowing him to get more out of his wine experience, his dinner plate, etc as well), and has a real appreciation for the processes, history and product. The Ballantine's dude has none of this experience as part of his whisky usage. He likes it because he likes it (or maybe he doesn't even like it), it does for him what he wants done, which might range from refreshment to drunkenness. My suggestion is that these two characters are doing something different, seeking a different experience from their various whisky glasses - one is a narrow-range, seeking neither a new experience or a challenging one. The other is an exploratory act (as well as presumably a hedonistic one - we assume there is enjoyment involved), and educational act.
Painting houses for a living and painting portraits for a living... is not the same thing. Yet both are painters.
Back to pipes - I smoke two or three bowls a week. I sometimes don't smoke for weeks at a time, schedule depending. When I smoke, I want it to be a perfect concurrence of physical performance of the pipe, aesthetic performance of the tobacco, and hopefully my own mental condition. My Grandpa smoked a pipe because everyone in his army platoon smoked a pipe and it was cheaper than cigarettes on a daily basis. He'd literally have no understanding of any of the stuff I just talked about in my own tobacco experience. He didn't care what blend he smoked, even. I don't think he knew what brand he smoked, his wife bought it. He is (was) using a pipe for a different purpose than I do, looked at with any detail. Yes, we both burn leaves in it. And if that's the sum total of anyone here's pipe experience, I feel terribly sorry for them.

 

[sasquatch]

And I'll reiterate - this isn't about someone being more "serious" than someone else - or better, or smarter, or handsomer or whatever. It's about what people get from pipes, what they use them for, how they view them. I think there's at least two fairly different programs going on. And probably more. I used the same basic dichotomy offered previously because it's handy. If we cut things into an infinite number of categories, the categorization loses meaning.

 

[olkofri]

Someone who never smiles or makes jokes when smoking a pipe. A furrowed brow adds an extra touch of seriousness.

 

[jaytex1969]

To support my earlier post:
Resting Bitch Face Is Real Scientists Say. -CNN

 

[sasquatch]

What about a necktie? Cufflinks?

 

[woodsroad]

Someone who never smiles or makes jokes when smoking a pipe. A furrowed brow adds an extra touch of seriousness.

That's not funny.

 

[Chasing Embers]

@sasquatch
Some of us may have been farmers and studied the 9000 year history of the cultivation of teosinte and maize, and know how it began as a one inch ear and through selective planting grew into modern size produce. Just sayin'. :mrgreen:

 

[sasquatch]

And I'd expect someone with that level of knowledge (and presumably combined with a relevant amount of real-life know-how, like when to plant, and what types of fertilizers or herbicides to use) would be better to talk to about corn than a guy (like me) who likes corndogs, and that's the sum total of my corn knowledge. I'm a corn user, and so are you, but we are not in the same category of corn user. Not at all.

 

[Chasing Embers]

But I'm also a briar user, and have read and studied the history and growth patterns of the Erica arborea . I think I may fall into a third category altogether.

 

[sasquatch]

I am prepared to open up a category just for you, CE.