Options
A Millennial's Frustration
PhilosoPiper
Connoisseur
in General
Some of you may or may not have noticed the recent Pipes and Cigar's Facebook ad aimed at "hipsters". I first read about it while on the pipetobacco subreddit and it quite honestly frustrated me.
Perhaps the primary reason for my frustration, is in the fact, that the stigma attached to hipsters however justified it may be is something that I personally do not want attached to myself. Yet I find that it is simply because I am a millennial, and I enjoy pipes and pipe tobacco. My personality is such at I am infatuated with tradition, old ways of doing things, and dare I say am prone towards a more conservative worldview. It is my sense that the older crowd looks at someone like me and grumbles in dismay and thinks of me as just another hipster attempting to resurrect a perceived dying art in our culture at an attempt to be "ironic"... whatever that means anymore. On the other hand I have my peers, who look at me and have practically the same reaction. No matter what I say, or do, I cannot break this stereotype that has been thrust upon me, whilst I sit here having very few commonalities with actual hipster ideology, save a love for coffee and fascination with early 20th century Americana. People cannot seem to differentiate between a hipster and a regular millennial, and I feel like this is the source of the problem. Take the 60s-70s and the Hippy movement, you can't even think about those decades without assuming all young people were hippies, when in fact the vast majority were in fact not hippies. The same goes for my generation, yet because for some unknown reason the hipster seems to hold some mystique because they can't bathe, and adopt the worldview of an amoeba, all millennial pipe smokers MUST be hipsters. I reject this sentiment, and quite honestly hope that it dies very soon.
What does it mean to be a 25 year old pipe smoker in the world today? Must I BE a hipster in order to enjoy smoking pipes, which I inherited from my God father?
To be sure, this isn't an opinion shared by everyone in the pipe community. I appreciate what This Pipe Life and The Country Squire have done to help bridge the gap between the younger crowd with the seasoned pipe veterans. It would just be nice to not have a label thrust upon my fellow millennials and myself that is quite possibly undeserved. I find it hard to relate to 80% (probably more) of people my age, let alone hipsters my age.
Comments
from my limited time here I too would chime in and not put you in the hipster/poser camp.
Sadly though, unless in the company of other true pipers, I have always experience a "sideways" glance from folks over the years whenever I was smoking my pipe and sometimes my cigars.
I started smoking both back in 1982 while in the Navy, when I was only 18 or 19. Some of the glances were from folks my age that were smoking cigarettes.
I think it was Einstein that said something along the lines of...
"People of superior intellect often encounter mocking and ridicule from those of inferior thought process"
I think Albert was on to something... And he, of course, was a pipe smoker.
At least we're in good company.
I look at it like this, it didn't matter to us that pipe smoking is in for the hipster crowd. We chose to take up pipe smoking because we wanted to, and nothing can take that away from us. We both value the tradition of smoking a pipe, and have an appreciation of old fashioned things. There's many things in my life that intersect with hipsters, such as my beards, a love of coffee, and the occasional craft beer. If someone views me as a hipster, I can't help that, but I know I am who I am, and could care less if people think of me that way.
Just ignore the hipsters. If they smoke a pipe to look cool, they'll be gone and looking for the next fad soon enough. Meanwhile we'll still have our hobby and what we appreciate about it.
I was smoking a pipe since I was 15 and followed in my father's footsteps so while my mom did not like me smoking, my dad was fine with it and gave me a couple of his pipes. I was a local volunteer firefighter in my community and at age 17, I was the only guy smoking a pipe at the firehouse. Everyone either smoked cigars or mostly cigarettes. Of course, some of the older guys would razz me about smoking my pipe. I didn't care. As time went on, I noticed guys approaching me one on one to ask questions like why a pipe or how do you keep it lit or isn't it to much work? As I answered their questions individually, I found that one by one, those same guys who teased my at first, were becoming pipe smokers. One person would casually pull out a pipe and light it, then another, then another still. To my surprise, about a little more than half of the guys at the firehouse were well on their way to becoming pipe smokers. Why? They thought it was funny and old fashioned on the surface but individually, they thought differently and saw that I had the confidence to continue smoking my pipe no matter what they said. Most folks enjoy the aroma of pipe tobacco and tend to unconsciously gravitate toward the aroma, if only for a moment or two.
So my point is confidence, attitude, and inner strength is all you need. I share this and for what its worth, hope it makes a difference to anyone who may need a little reassurance.
I've smoked since I was 15 as well, came out of High School as the "Beat" movement started so I spent lots of time in Jazz and Folk clubs in NYC. When I got out of the Service the Hip" movement got rolling. But I don't identify myself as other than just me. Hippies are now in their early to mid 70's so I don't see that you could be forced into that category.