Spotted...In The Wild!

[TakeThisCobAndStuffIt]

I can't recall the last time I saw someone casually smoking a pipe in public besides myself. Today, while I was on the way to pick up my son from school there he was! Dude brazenly puffing away while walking his dog and only a couple of blocks from my house. I damn near stopped to introduce myself but time was short. I share this all slightly tongue in cheek, but I really was happy to see another pipe in public.

 

[macaroni]

My wife and I crossed paths with another couple last year while walking our dog at the city lake and park. He and I were both happily puffing

He was smoking an OTC codger blend (I asked LOL!) and I told him I had a Va blend going.

What fun to find a pipe lover out and about! Good for you, @Take ThisCobAndStuffIt (BTW--great ID, homage to Mr. Johnny Paycheck.
kindly,
mike

 

[HRPufnstuf]

Reminds me a bit of old Canadian Wildlife Federation shorts: "Hinterland who's who".

"wary of territorial boundaries the younger puffer strolls carefully through the regular range of a senior sipper"

 

[Chasing Embers]

Careful, many of us like to be left alone when smoking.

 

[bullet08]

Now, now. Nobody jump the gun. Pipe smoker season hasn't started yet. No reason to get excited, and go out buying mounting kit and all. Like PETA says, let them live in their natural habitat undisturbed. Remember. Catch and release.

 

[coys]

I would like to see another person smoking a pipe in public sometime and strike up a conversation, but I have not seen one in many years. Then again, I'm almost always on my front porch and not roaming around the world with my pipe, so none of you would see me!

 

[warren]

It's simply a pipe, not a sign of a secret society. Why would one feel the need to interrupt/interact with a man minding his own business and smoking a pipe? Is it a need for validation? "Oh! Oh, look! He's smoking a pipe and burning up his moneys just like I do!" I just don't understand this compunction some of you exhibit. Leave the poor guy to his solitude.

 

[Zero]

Now, now. Nobody jump the gun. Pipe smoker season hasn't started yet. No reason to get excited, and go out buying mounting kit and all. Like PETA says, let them live in their natural habitat undisturbed. Remember. Catch and release.

Yes, it's best to observe them from afar... uninterrupted. You don't want to startle them. Your presence should go unnoticed.

 

[kcghost]

It is always nice to spot another pipe smoker in the wild.

 

[sardonicus87]

Careful, many of us like to be left alone when smoking.

It's simply a pipe, not a sign of a secret society. Why would one feel the need to interrupt/interact with a man minding his own business and smoking a pipe? Is it a need for validation? "Oh! Oh, look! He's smoking a pipe and burning up his moneys just like I do!" I just don't understand this compunction some of you exhibit. Leave the poor guy to his solitude.

This is a big part of why I don't smoke a pipe in public. I would hate to have someone bother me over it, whether someone else that does or a curious stranger.

I mean, I get the desire for a "tribe" or "belonging" that is stronger in some than others, but there's better things around which to form a tribe. Never understood the circle jerking around inconsequential stuff. Like yeah, they're not common, but I guess if your whole identity is as a "pipe smoker" rather than "a person" who just happens to smoke a pipe, then it gets one giddy... but that other person may not make being a pipe smoker part of their personality.

I can't stand it when I am out riding and another motorcyclist calls me "brother". Bleh. I'm not a biker, it's not who I am. Yes, I do 10K+ miles a year on a motorcycle, and do touring trips, and work on my own shit... I'm still not a "biker" I'm just a guy that happens to also really enjoy motorcycles. It's something I do, it's not who I am, it doesn't define me as a person. The same goes for everything else I am into, from pipes to music.

This is probably why I have no friends in real life, I refuse to define myself by hobbies, and thus have no tribe.

Me with everything:

 

[Chasing Embers]

I mean, I get the desire for a "tribe" or "belonging" that is stronger in some than others, but there's better things around which to form a tribe. Never understood the circle jerking around inconsequential stuff

Its a bit like walking up to someone buying toilet paper and screaming, "Wow, you wipe? I do too! We must have so much in common!"

 

[gamzultovah]

I never bother other pipe smokers in the wild, but I don’t mind being bothered myself. I understand that in this day and age, pipe smoking is an oddity. It’s usually the younger more curious types that approach me and I have no issue speaking with them.

 

[Zero]

Its a bit like walking up to someone buying toilet paper and screaming, "Wow, you wipe? I do too! We must have so much in common!"

Which begs the question, why do people who feel that way hang out in virtual toilet paper isles and post pics of themselves wiping their asses with different brands of toilet paper or brands of toilet paper that they use And go around haunting other virtual toilet paper isles at other stores If some people really felt that way, I guess they could go and jerk in a circle by themselves somewhere else. Me, I'm here for the humour, photos, and all things pipes and now tobaccos...and I can only take people in small doses, so this form of socializing is ideal for me. Oh, @JOHN72 from Spain seems pretty cool A rhetorical question...

 

[condorlover1]

I usually get asked if I smoke weed in my pipe. My answer is not repeatable. On the subject of 'bog roll' I had a very dear friend who was medically obsessed with his bowels and used to take polaroid photographs of his daily trip to drop the kids off at the pool. I discovered this fact sitting in his front room when I picked up what I foolishly assumed was a family photo album. Suffice to say it was my friend Charlies 100 greatest foot longs!

 

[mortonbriar]

To find out if the other smoker is of the 'tribe' mentality or just smokin' and wipin' as suggested by Duane, raise your tamper to your forehead in a solemn salute and if they respond in kind you know they want to find a park bench to discuss latakia percentages for 2 hours straight.

 

[JOHN72]

In my city I have not seen any, well yes, once I saw myself in a shop window and it was cozy. As I said in another thread, the only place outside the house where I smoke a pipe, and I see other pipe smokers, is in the cafeteria, restaurant, it has fantastic terraces. I am referring to the coast Golf Club, just a few miles from my house. They are golfers, mostly 50 years old and up. Honestly, I don't enjoy smoking outdoors, I like it in partially enclosed places. In my town, you don't even see pure cigar smokers anymore. At least on the street.

 

[Gimlet]

I mean, I get the desire for a "tribe" or "belonging" that is stronger in some than others, but there's better things around which to form a tribe. Never understood the circle jerking around inconsequential stuff. Like yeah, they're not common, but I guess if your whole identity is as a "pipe smoker" rather than "a person" who just happens to smoke a pipe, then it gets one giddy... but that other person may not make being a pipe smoker part of their personality.

I can't stand it when I am out riding and another motorcyclist calls me "brother". Bleh. I'm not a biker, it's not who I am. Yes, I do 10K+ miles a year on a motorcycle, and do touring trips, and work on my own shit... I'm still not a "biker" I'm just a guy that happens to also really enjoy motorcycles. It's something I do, it's not who I am, it doesn't define me as a person.

The internet and social media has fed the tribal tendency. But for most grown-ups, discussing the minutia of a hobby over the ether is unlikely to translate into tribal fraternalism in real life. I would never dream of crossing the street, as it were, to accost a pipe smoker I didn't know on the assumption that he would relish taking time out of his day to discuss burley blends and retrohaling with a stranger.
We do that on here because that is the purpose of a special-interest forum and participation is voluntary and engagement a deliberate act of choice. But then, I suspect most of us on here are of an age that predates social media and we learnt our social skills face to face, so we understand such boundaries implicitly. I wonder whether the same will ever be true again for future generations.

Maybe there's a cultural element here as well. The majority of members on this forum are Americans. I'm from the UK where we're possible somewhat more socially conservative. Our equivalent of fist-pumping a stranger and addressing him as "brother" because he happens to be a fellow pipe smoker, or motorcyclist, or wears the same sort of hat, is to proffer a reserved nod from about ten yards away and then move on.

And talking of motorcyclists, I am also one of this breed and one of my motorcycles (I have three) happens to be a Harley Davidson. I often stop off at bike meets for a cup of tea and a natter and to wander round looking at the bikes. When I'm on my KTM or my Ducati, I'm just a normal member of the human race and the usual civilities apply. When I'm on the Harley, non-Harley riders seem to avoid me, perhaps on the assumption that I won't want to talk to them, while fellow Harleyists seem to think that by purchasing this make of motorcycle I've become a member of some sort of secret society that warrants a rather over-familiar semi-hug and a silly handshake by way of acknowledgement. I wish they'd just stick to the nod and the regulation chat about whether it might rain this afternoon.

 

[Sigmund]

The park where I walk my dog has a rather surly old dude who comes in the mornings and smokes his pipe.

Ive seen a different guy in the grocery store parking lot.

I rarely take my pipes out unless its something like a family get together that is outside. I never feel like I have to smoke. It is something I enjoy and mostly in peace at my own home.

 

[scloyd]

If you ever see me out in public smoking my pipe, you can bother me. It's not a big deal.

 

[Egg Shen]

The internet and social media has fed the tribal tendency. But for most grown-ups, discussing the minutia of a hobby over the ether is unlikely to translate into tribal fraternalism in real life. I would never dream of crossing the street, as it were, to accost a pipe smoker I didn't know on the assumption that he would relish taking time out of his day to discuss burley blends and retrohaling with a stranger.
We do that on here because that is the purpose of a special-interest forum and participation is voluntary and engagement a deliberate act of choice. But then, I suspect most of us on here are of an age that predates social media and we learnt our social skills face to face, so we understand such boundaries implicitly. I wonder whether the same will ever be true again for future generations.

Maybe there's a cultural element here as well. The majority of members on this forum are Americans. I'm from the UK where we're possible somewhat more socially conservative. Our equivalent of fist-pumping a stranger and addressing him as "brother" because he happens to be a fellow pipe smoker, or motorcyclist, or wears the same sort of hat, is to proffer a reserved nod from about ten yards away and then move on.

And talking of motorcyclists, I am also one of this breed and one of my motorcycles (I have three) happens to be a Harley Davidson. I often stop off at bike meets for a cup of tea and a natter and to wander round looking at the bikes. When I'm on my KTM or my Ducati, I'm just a normal member of the human race and the usual civilities apply. When I'm on the Harley, non-Harley riders seem to avoid me, perhaps on the assumption that I won't want to talk to them, while fellow Harleyists seem to think that by purchasing this make of motorcycle I've become a member of some sort of secret society that warrants a rather over-familiar semi-hug and a silly handshake by way of acknowledgement. I wish they'd just stick to the nod and the regulation chat about whether it might rain this afternoon.

At least here in Pennsylvania virtually all motorcyclists hold their arm down low and make some hand signal when they pass another motorcyclist. I always found it to be corny. I don’t feel a need to toot my horn when I drive past another Ford Fusion driver, and so a fellow pipe smoker is pretty much just gonna get the same head nod as anyone else. But secretly I do wonder what they’re smoking