Smoking is these days frowned upon, but I do think that a person should be allowed to smoke if that's their choice. I still enjoy the odd cigar, and a rolled cigareete on times but one thing I will never give up is my beloved pipe. I started pipe smoking many years ago, and consider it more of a hobby than a habit.
It's also better for you than cigarettes, since most of the time the smoker does not inhale. And there's few pleasures as good as a glass of full bodied red wine, a good book and a pipe.
(Pictured - Tolkien enjoying his pipe)
There is a definate art to pipe smoking and nothing helps me concentrate more when I'm writing than having a pipe hanging from my lips. I always used to be self conscious when puffing since it always seemed only the really old smoked pipes but these days the hobby, perhaps as a result of the draconian smoking laws is seeing something of a comeback.
There is an interesting pipe smoking podcast HERE
So please don't demonise us pipe smokers - after all we are in good company.
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18 comments:
Gary,
Nice post! I don't smoke a pipe, but I also enjoy the occasional cigar. A good friend of mine is a pipe smoker as well...maybe i'll have to start !
Scott - I agree that smoking should not be done in public places but it should not be so frowned upon. It's personal choice and once I don't want to encourage anyone to smoke - it is a pleasure pipe smoking when one had mastered the art.
I tried to get my Terry to smoke a pipe instead of ciggies but he says he'd have to wear a cardi and he's still to young. Men!
Jo - I felt the same way but now I think it's cool. Mind you I already have a cardi.
I would think a pipe would distract me but maybe it's all about developing it as a kind of habit. I probably do things when I'm writing that others would find breaks their concentration.
My dad was a pipe smoker.
Back when I was in my teens me and a mate of mine took up smoking a pipe. We were cigarette smokers at the time - but cigarettes were cheaper than pipe tobacco. So we brought the cheapest brand of cigarettes (which were Cadets)and used them as pipe baccy.
We continued pipe smoking into our twenties.
Of course, this was at a time when smoking was the acceptable thing and, therefore, had examples to follow.
My dad's still a a pipe smoker at 87!
All in good company with Sherlock Holmes, of course... Over 30 years ago I was a pipe smoker but I dropped the habit. I've put a pipe smoker's pipe to good use in a dramatic scene in my psychic spy thriller The Tehran Transmission - soon to be printed, I hear...
I smoke cigars. I've actually thought about a pipe. I worried it would make me look older than I am. I'm 38.
Keith - As I said I always felt subconscious but times is'a changing. I've been puffing the pipe now since I was thirty five and I know some twenty year olds who partake in the hobby.
I'm only 24 and started smoking pipe tobacco at 23, infact pipe is the only thing I can handle smoking. Your never to young to smoke pipe tobacco (laws aside), people that joke around at you because pipes are for older people are just missing an early opportunity. Well any ways cigarettes i believe taste nasty, and never really could ketch on to cigars. I only smoke every once in awhile but there is definitely no denying the beautiful aroma of perfectly burning Burley tobacco... As I like to say a good pipe in one hand, a beer in another, and a fishing pole by my side ... tranquility!
A few more people you should add to your list,
Bailey, Bill (comedian)
Fry, Stephen (TV genius)
May, James (TV presenter)
Thanks for listing the others!
Sorry; only just come across this one, but had to comment and express my total and complete agreement!
I started pipe smoking almost as a joke a couple of years back; now it's a real pleasure.
Exactly as you say: with a glass of wine and a book, and a tremendous aid when writing.
I notice you have omitted "Uncle Albert" and many of his contemporaries in physics, Neils Bohr, et al.
"“I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgement in all human affairs.”
-Albert Einstein, 1950
Please don't say England or English when you mean Britain or British. Victoria was the queen of the UK, not just of England, and Neil Kinnock was not English, but Welsh (and would probably be quite annoyed to be described as Engish).
British journalist (on the site checking facts for an article)
Nice post. I've been a pipe smokers over a year and a half. I'm 47. I enjoy my pipes. Just getting into Cigars also. Smoke em if you got em! Enjoy.
Bought my first pipe when I was thirteen, purchased the first tin of something to put in it at fourteen (scarcely six weeks later). I have been offending the keen sensibilities of outraged adults ever since, which has been over four decades.
I flatter myself that I finally look as professorial as I imagined myself at times to be, appearance-wise.
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