Worlds view of pipe smokers. This is NOT why I smoke a pipe.

[heraclitian]

While people are running, I'm walking.

While people are working, I'm sitting.

While people are talking, I'm thinking.

While people are worrying, I'm relaxing.

While people are crying, I'm laughing.
While, while and while..
That's.

 

[deithial]

Great post Cyndi, just great.

 

[deyro]

I smoke pipes because it's relaxing. A good alternative to cigars. Pipes smell better to other people and are great for a short smoke.

That about sums it up for me.
I took up pipe smoking while I was deployed in Iraq. I was there in 2010, working in Public Affairs putting out a weekly publication. It was REMF work and it wasn't really dangerous, just a constant, steady grind, seven days a week. I wanted a way to take short breaks to clear my mind from time to time. I wasn't about to start smoking cigarettes and cigars have never really done much for me (except leave a taste in my mouth that make me regret smoking them for two days afterward), so I decide to give pipes a try.
It had nothing to do with pop culture, steampunk or rhetorical touchstones. It had everything to do with taking a break from the grind, watching the carp swim around in Saddam's man-made lakes and thinking about being somewhere else.

 

[judcole]

I started smoking a pipe when I went to college - in 1968 - because that was part of being a "college man" - or so I thought. I kept it up because I liked it.

I made a side trip into the world of cigars for a period when I didn't have access to a B&M with a good selection of pipe tobacco, and I really wasn't aware of the whole mail-order thing going on. (This was pre-Web.) I returned to the pipe about 8 or 9 years ago. I still smoke a cigar now and then, but I enjoy the pipe more - and $50 goes a lot farther with pipe tobacco then it does with cigars.

BTW, I have never smoked cigs - and don't intend to. It's all about the taste for me, not about the nic. I shy away from high nic blends, even though I might like the taste. :puffpipe:

 

[brownbilliard]

As far as I am concerned, tobacco is wasted in cigarettes and most cigars. The flavors and sensations I’ve experienced through smoking pipe tobacco cannot be paralleled. It’s like stumbling upon a new food group.
Here in America, I am under the impression that pipe smoking has lost popularity due to its lack of "convenience". Why buy a pipe, pipe tobaccos a pipe tool and have to relight, stir and tamp your bowl when you can just pull a cig out of its carton and go? It’s so much more convenient! The same argument can be said about food: Why go out and buy local, organic beef? It’s expensive and takes time to cook! It’s much more convenient to hit up a McDonalds drive-thru and scarf a big mac. Movies - why go see something thought provoking and unique when you can go out and get convenient eye candy like X-men 9 or Mission Impossible 14?
If the media and big businesses can’t make immense profits off of something, they immediately ostracize it and send a message to the public that it should be ignored or even worse made fun of. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how life is sometimes. I’m just grateful to know better and be part of a like-minded group of people - you guys.

 

[baronsamedi]

Those ignorant bastards! Don't make me wax my moustache and put on my monocle!

 

[maineyachtie]

@Baronsamedi

Don't make me wax my moustache and put on my monocle!

Here! Here! Let's all show the establishment what ho and wear monocles!
I think a nice thread featuring forum members sporting monocles is in order.

 

[juni]

People always try to "group" people into categories. I don't mind it at all if it somehow becomes "hip" to smoke a pipe. The more pipesmokers around the better. That is my take on it.
Face it, fellow board members, you are all hipsters. :lol:

 

[heraclitian]

I think for our generation (born after WWII) pipe smoking is a lifestyle, let say: cool and quiet style. That's enough for me to smoke pipes, when I decided to smoke something. Cigar smokers have their lifestyle - the bossy and/or macho style. Cigarette smokers have no style, because there are too many of them and smoking cigarette fits perfect with the rhythm of our modern society: hasty, hasty and hasty.

 

[safaribob]

Hello!
I am the author of the blog post in question. I was a tobacconist at Just For Him for 13 years (1993-2006) before I went to graduate school. You may have even heard of some of my tobacco blends (I was known as Uncle Bob then).
I do not understand the outrage concerning my post! I am simply arguing that these movies and genres use pipes as rhetorical artifacts or touchstones to point to some certain purpose. For instance, I say that hipsters use pipes for specific purposes but I am not saying that all pipe smokers are hipsters--Lord knows that I am not!
Thank you for your interest in my post!
-SB

 

[deithial]

touche safaribob, touche

 

[biloxi123]

For me, first and foremost it's relaxing. Other things are the nostalgia, comraderie,and it's kinda outside the mainstream, like wet-shaving, which I also do!

 

[maineyachtie]

@safaribob

I do not understand the outrage concerning my post!

Dear Sir,
Welcome to the forum.
I do not think most of us here at pipesmagazine forum are outraged concerning your blog post. The majority of us are simply having a mull over your article. You should be proud to have stimulated so much thinking.
If I may be so bold, my disagreement is with the implications found in your article. Not with its direct thrust.

I believe the point of your post was to provide touchstones, defined by Webster as "a fundamental or quintessential part or feature" which point to why, “pipes are cropping up more lately in film and public consciousness"(safari bob). You argue that whether or not the inclusion of a pipe in a media form is intended to cater to the interests of a particular subculture, it acts as a symbol which cannot be viewed without a response in thought or action by the audience. With this I agree. As you say, "pipes can set the mood of a scene, sell the authenticity of a character, identify with a specific genre or world." These outcomes alone are enough to define the use of a pipe in media as a rhetorical artifact. Successfully using a pipe in a film as a rhetorical artifact does not necessitate that the viewer will act on any of the thoughts, or subconscious impressions, which he was manipulated/stimulated to think. Therefore, it does not follow that the resurgence of actual pipe smoking can be attributed to the use of pipes in film, or books. This becomes obvious when you realize that pipes have been included in film and literature consistently in a long and unbroken chain of amicability. The symbol is simply being publicly recognized in a large way recently. I believe the current popularity of the art of pipe smoking should be contributed to factors outside of media. More likely factors may include: the recent economic downturn, the dissatisfaction with modern lifestyle and commercialism, a desire to recapture a simpler life, and a need to connect with our progenitors.
Forum members who have posted to this thread are simply converging in conversation to suggest common reasons and explain personal motivations for joining the pipe culture.
May you enjoy many happy bowls.
Best Regards,
Alex

 

[cyndi]

This man Alex is spot on.
My main grouse was that I couldn't post directly to your site. I think what many of us are saying is that smoking a pipe is not just iconic in pop culture - it is actually a very real culture with a plethora of motivational factors. Trust me, we see the hipsters wondering why their clay Gandalf prop pipe they got for $9 off eBay doesn't smoke well... (actually, I see that more on Reddit along with r/trees wondering if putting green in briar is ok.) We try to encourage adults around here no matter the association they have with a pipe.
I have seen the same discussion among Christians and the use of the cross in public iconography. Pop culture uses it one way but to the true believers, it is something else entirely. Then critics get involved and false correlations are made and suddenly everyone is mad. Another example is Larry the Cable Guy. He's a charicacature of a redneck, not a representation of rednecks. Real rednecks laugh at him at times but if someone thought they knew all about rednecks because they were fans, there would be an... emotional outcry. Does that make sense?
On another note, movies require a suspension of disbelief and it's hard sometimes to see something so integral to your lifestyle used as a mood setting in a work of fiction and then have the fiction cited as the reason for the lifestyle's popularity. One of the first things we teach our children is the difference between real and unreal because the human brain needs that. The pair of pipes next to my bathtub are real, LotR is not. Do I think it's cool that pipes are being seen on the big screen? Yes. Do I think that some avid pipe smokers are born due to that? Yes. Do I believe that is true for the majority of people who take up the pipe? No. That would be like saying I wear glasses because Harry Potter is cool.

 

[bobby46]

"....economic downturn, the dissatisfaction with modern lifestyle and commercialism, a desire to recapture a simpler life, and a need to connect with our progenitors."

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Add retirement boredom, and Hey!....That's me!

 

[simnettpratt]

@safaribob: Way to man up and post here bro! You are completely welcome here. I did not know you are a tobacconist and know more about pipe smoking than me; you obviously scored a bunch of points with that one. I don't think any of us were outraged, though we did get a little stirred up.
I hate movies, and you touched on a nerve referring to Sherlock Holmes and LoTR as movies and not books. What I was forgetting was, both the books and the movies are fictional, and therefore art. I was being snobby in a bad way, and I am sorry.
I just watched the entire FOUR HOUR Return of the King movie, and that is a good movie. It did annoy me that they changed every scene and all the dialog to ensure the movie was not like the books, but both are fiction, and I don't have the right to judge. Welcome to the site, and may your second post get half the attention your first one did!
Dave.

 

[mano]

safaribob,
First and foremost, a warm welcome to pipes magazine forum.
Thanks for writing the article, which you obviously put a lot of thought into. You clearly have impressive pipe credentials. That means a lot.
After re-reading your article, it's easier to see that you're commenting on a slice of pipe smokers including "...fans of both Sherlock Holmes and LOTR represent niche groups or subcultures of geekdom (a collection of people who avidly follow and/or consume a certain genre or hobby) that have simply edged closer to mainstream consciousness..."
Okay, I can buy that and I should have taken more time and effort to understand your point.
I don't see outrage re: your article, but some annoyance that when it comes to some of us regular smokers, you not only missed the boat, but created an unnecessarily complicated craft to replace it. In other words, the article didn't seem to be written by a pipe smoker.
Don't let anyone here deter you. Please keep on writing and sharing your thoughts with us.

 

[bobby46]

Welcome, safaribob.
How did you discover that your words were being dissected here?

Were your ears ringing, a google, or a tipoff by a member?
(I would have inserted a "smile" emoticon, but I don't know how to do that)

 

[xoibsurferx]

I smoke a pipe because its relaxing and I really enjoy trying different tobacco's and enjoying the ones I like. I enjoy everything from cleaning the pipe to packing the pipe and everything in between.

 

[safaribob]

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@cyndi
I am sorry that you were not able to post directly to the site! I read your comment here and I would love to have it as a response on the blog. I am not sure why you were not able to post it. When I post responses, I log in with my gmail account.
"I think what many of us are saying is that smoking a pipe is not just iconic in pop culture - it is actually a very real culture with a plethora of motivational factors."
Of course! I am saying that various cultural groups are using pipes differently than the "normal" pipe smoking culture (which is itself varied as you can see from the posts in this thread). However, each day I get 3-50 "hits" or "reads" on this post from people using google while searching for "lotr+pipe" or "Sherlock Holmes pipe" (as examples). This is far more than those who read my few tobacco or pipe reviews on the site. Of course, this could speak to the quality of my reviews!
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@maineyachtie
Thank you for your kind and thoughtful response!
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@simnettpratt
Thank you for your welcome!
If you look on the post, I actually cite a section from The Red-Headed League which is print.
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@mano
Thank you for your thoughtful comments!
"In other words, the article didn't seem to be written by a pipe smoker."
That's low.
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@bobby46
Hello!
I was working on a post for my mead blog and I noticed a spike in traffic. Blogger.com has tools that tracks traffic from Google searches (with key words) from various browsers and direct links. With this information on web traffic, I discovered my post is being discussed on two different pipe forums: This thread and http://www.pipesmokerunleashed.com/forum/showthread.php?846-The-Pipe-as-Rhetorical-Artifact