subject: The Eternal Appeal Of Pipe Smoking [print this page] The Eternal Appeal Of Pipe Smoking The Eternal Appeal Of Pipe Smoking
Cigarettes get all the attention these days. Controversial and ubiquitous, cigarettes are the bad boy stars of the tobacco industry. While a pack of smokes may represent the modern face of tobacco in most people's thoughts, pipe tobacco occupies an entirely different mental zone. Instead of being demonized as a destroyer of youth and the bane of spectators at outdoor events, pipes are somehow dignified and understandable. It is hard to get mad at a pipe smoker because they remind you of your grandfather and seem so contemplative somehow. While cigarettes are fast and dangerous, pipes are ponderous.
They emit a pleasant smell and project an image of calm. Pipe smokers are never compulsively smoking in some doorway; they are leaning back on a park bench and enjoying the sunshine.
Everywhere, tobacco companies are becoming more demonized and tobacco taxes continue to rise. From Canada to Spain, countries are turning their back on cigarettes all over the globe. Meanwhile, pipe smokers quietly continue without making any fuss. It it difficult to imagine that pipe smoking will not remain quietly under the radar even as the industry makes big changes.
Pipe tobacco is different from cigarette tobacco in the way that it is cured. Consumers purchase different kinds of pipe tobaccos based on aroma and taste, and so much effort goes into developing attractive blends. In general, the quality of the tobacco is higher for pipe tobacco than the processed tobacco dedicated to cigarette production. In the United States, the tradition has been to blend American Burley tobacco with various sweeteners and spices. English tobacco blends usually utilize natural Virginia tobacco mixed with natural oriental or other exotic varieties. These strains of tobacco have origins all over the world from the Balkans and the Middle East, to Africa, South America, and even very specific regions of the United States. Current consumer culture has favored the English style tobacco blends with an emphasis on natural origin.
Another difference that defines pipe tobacco is its constitution. The nature of smoking with a pipe means that the tobacco must be more coarsely cut to allow proper airflow. Pipe tobacco is more moist than tobacco prepared for other uses. This insures a pleasant smoke that does not create too much heat by burning too quickly. As pipe smokers tend to be aficionados, each will have his or her own preference in regard to how they like their tobacco.
One of the most influential factors in the perception of pipe smokers as friendly gentlemen and cigarette smokers into reckless devils is the careful art that is required for pipe smoking. Because there is a meditative ritual involved in packing and smoking pipe tobacco, it is an activity that requires a certain calm. This precludes its acceptance by the average compulsive smoker. For these and other reasons, pipe smoking will most likely remain benign in public opinion long after cigarette smokers have been relegated to the ashtray.
