
Keep It Simple
When it comes to pipe smoking, it’s best to keep it simple. The world is overly complicated as it is. We don’t need pipe smoking to join the fray. Think about the way grocery stores are stocked today compared to how...
When it comes to pipe smoking, it’s best to keep it simple. The world is overly complicated as it is. We don’t need pipe smoking to join the fray. Think about the way grocery stores are stocked today compared to how...
Everyone acts like they have to be in a hurry. But hurry is one of those things that will crush a man’s initiative, purpose, and zeal. We were not made with the intention that we should live our lives...
For someone just starting out on their pipe journey, the task can be daunting. In our digital world, there’s no shortage of information, and no shortage of people telling you how you should and should not do something. I’m not...
Historian and novelist Shelby Foote, one of the better known pipe smokers of the last century, was once told by his medical doctor that he would have to give up cigarettes and pipe smoking. He told the doctor he would quit cigarettes but he wasn’t about to give up his pipe. According to Mr. Foote, giving up the pipe would be like forfeiting part of his identity. That’s the way I feel about it, too.
When you see a man with a pipe, stop and listen. Pay attention to him. In my experience, pipe smokers are the type of people that are able and willing to teach others something of value. Such teaching can come...
The pipe has become an anomaly. Don’t think so? Try enjoying your pipe in a public environment (if that’s possible anymore), and you’ll soon see what I mean. I recently enjoyed my pipe in the bustling, classy part of a nearby South Carolina town, a community that touts its prestige. The moment I fired up the pipe, people noticed. It’s as if the pipe is viewed as a relic of the past, a museum piece of sorts. Even among folks of a cosmopolitan bent, the pipe is unusual. Indeed, the decline of pipe smoking over the past few decades is a symptom of the rise of Modern Man.
I enjoy a good cigar as much as the next guy, but I reach for a pipe far more. My first reaction when walking into a local tobacco shop is, where’s the pipes? I can’t be the only person who wishes more quality pipe shops existed. But why? Why does it matter? Why would I want to visit a physical store when I can order most anything I want online and have it shipped to my door? I’m sure the opinions on this topic are legion, but here are a few of my own answers to this question…