Is The Extinction Of The Pipe Smoker Upon Us?
ghostsofpompeii
Master
This is a terrible thought - but is the extinction of the pipe smoker upon us?
Is it possible that the market of pipes and pipe tobacco drops to such drastic levels that production curtails and comes to an abrupt halt as fatalistic number-crunching manufactures like Dunhill come to the realization that tumbling sales and stumbling blocks like the Deeming Regulations, coupled with exorbitant Federal, State, and City taxes make production of tobacco products troublesome, and cost prohibitive to both the manufacture and consumer?
In discussion after discussion on the probability of bumping into a fellow pipe smoker during the course of the day, week, month, or even year, the answer is invariably ... NO.
How is it that in a community of hundreds - if not thousands - of residents we come in contact with throughout our daily travels we seldom if ever happen upon a single pipe smoker among them? Yet even in our present politically correct 'Nanny State' we'll regularly happen upon the solitary outcast or clutch of cigarette smokers huddled together like refugees from a Leper Colony in some designated smoking area near the back alley dumpster, away from sight.
With that stark reality in mind how long can a niche pipe market remain in business when that niche gets smaller and smaller.
We recently learned from fellow piper @Bonanzadriver (Dino) after his tour of the Dr. Grabow factory in Sparta, NC. that during the company's heyday they employed 440 workers. That number has since dwindled to just 28. Putting a strain on the workforce by requiring a single employee to take on the job combination responsibilities once requiring 8 to 10 employees. Imagine working in a restaurant where your job entails greeting and seating the customers (the host or hostess), taking the order (the waiter or server), preparing the meal (the cook), ringing up the bill and collecting the money (cashier), returning to clean-up and buss the tables, and then go into the kitchen and wash the dishes.
For the pipe and tobacco manufacture the practical alternative from a business standpoint is shrinking the workforce, curtailing production, and invariably increasing the price to absorb projected lost revenue as the market dwindles. An apocalyptic response that shrinks what remains of the existing customer base by eventually pricing them out of the market, hastening the death knell for the pipe tobacco business.
So is Dunhill's planned cessation of the tobacco end of the business an over-reaction or prophetic vision of the future?
Is the pipe tobacco industry on the verge of extinction?
Before you say ... "No. The pipe has been around for centuries and will continue to remain in one form or another for years to come" ... consider other once popular and readily available products which have disappeared from the landscape to become nostalgic novelties from the past to be found only in antique shops or second hand consignment stores for the collector of rare curiosities.
Families once preserved precious vacation memories on 8mm and Super 8 film, subjecting disinterested friends and family members to an evening of mind numbing boredom, watching a montage of waving people standing before an endless procession of National Monuments on a flickering movie screen. Now both that 8mm camera and projector are a thing of the past, replaced by digital technology and a flat screen 52" TV. And along with that 8mm movie film, so too did that roll of 35mm Kodak film to be developed at your local camera shop. Both the Kodak film and the camera shop are long gone. As well as the slide projector and slides, and other cameras gear scattered among the remnants of dusty obsolescence in a second hand store - the expensive camera and telephoto lens that cost two weeks pay, the Polaroid camera providing instant gratification for the shutterbug, and those once popular disposable cameras.
Sure, technology has changed and we can still take pictures digitally with the convenience of our cell phone; instantly uploading them to be shared on Facebook, or to our laptop where with a little Photoshop tweaks we'll look pounds thinner and years younger. But the once thriving photography business fell victim to this digital revolution killing the entire industry and the livelihood of thousands of employees. The Photo-Lab Darkroom went completely dark.
And speaking of cell phones, with the glut of cell phones seemingly in the hands of every citizen in the civilized world, try finding a pay phone.
Look at the variety of format changes in both music and video entertain. As a movie collector I went from collecting 200ft. 8mm & Super 8 Castle Films, to VHS video cassette tapes (thankfully I selected VHS instead of Beta), the short-lived but expensive Laser Disc, DVD, and now Blu-Ray and it's various incarnations (Ultra Disc, 3D, and 4K). And with video streaming so popular it's sure to kill the physical medium of movie collecting all together. Hard finding a new digital Smart TV that even plays VHS tapes.
And as for the changes in music recordings I could go all the way back to the Edison phonograph cylinder or the 78 rpm shellac gramophone record - but my experience began with the vinyl 33 1/3 rpm LP and 7" 45 rpm single, moved on to reel-to-reel, 8 track tapes, music cassettes, and finally CD. But once again digital devices will eventually make the CD just as obsolete as the original Edison phonograph cylinder.
Need a new ribbon for your typewriter? Expect a response from the young sales clerk behind the counter at Office Depot to be ..."What's a typewriter?".
Now you might suggest my hypothesis is flawed and there is no correlation between the possible extinction of the pipe and pipe tobacco industry and the technical advances in both telecommunications and the audio/video entertainment industry, because these devices still exist as upgraded alternatives replacing outdated technology. But tobacco is a relatively unchanged commodity that can't necessarily be tweaked and updated to meet the need of the modern user. It is what it is. Tobacco processing techniques may have changed a little over the years as aromatics developed and the processed tobacco was cased with flavor additives - but tobacco is still tobacco. Delivered by either a cigarette wrapped in paper, a cigar wrapped in a cigar leaf, or bulk tobacco packed into a pipe.
If there has been a modern revolution in smoking it would be the introduction of the E-Cigarette and Vaping. But Vaping hasn't peeled away the pipe smoking market. Vaping has been accepted as an alternative to smoking cigarettes by the younger market. One more nail in the coffin of the traditional pipe smoker
I haven't personally witnessed the sight of men strolling around town wearing spats and a monocle dangling from their eye: a gentleman in either a Bowler or Stovepipe Hat; someone wearing an ascot, Nehru Jacket, Parachute Pants, or a double-breasted shirt made popular by The Monkees. Nor have I seen any women carrying a parasol on a sunny day while wearing shoes requiring a button hook to lace them up. Or wearing a monogrammed angora sweater or poodle skirt with her hands stuffed firmly in a fur-lined muff to keep them warm on a cold or blustery day.To see such things I'd require a Time Machine - or invitation to a costume party, or attend an outdoor festival where actors don period clothing and re-enact an era in history when such fashions were commonplace.
And you know something else I haven't personally seen in about a decade ... a man or a woman strolling down the street smoking a pipe.
Comments
I've also shared that I've been a consistent cigar smoker for over 30 years now and had until just recently only smoked a pipe 2 or 3 times a year.
Most afternoons I take a 30 minute break from the office and either step out onto our covered porch area off of the office kitchen (our Company Smoking Lounge
Almost every time I'm walking with my pipe people comment on how nice it smells or how it reminds them of their dad or grandpa. (the pipe, not me :P )
But in all my time golfing here and smoking my cigars, and now my pipes, I occasionally see other cigar smokers but I never meet another pipe smoker, unless they're with me and I brought an extra one for them to smoke.
I hate to say it out loud, but sadly, it seems that we are part of a diminishing group.
We shouldn't let this dishearten us though. Last week's gathering up in Sparta reminded me that there are still folks that share our passion. Plus there is hope in our evangelizing efforts. My son Nick, my pipe pal, shares a pipe with me 2 or 3 times a week. He smokes a pipe while he's working on one of the local golf courses and has recruited 2 others from his crew. I've given each of them a few baggies of baccy and a restored estate pipe.
I'd much rather "Pay It Forward" than to acquiesce to the group think de jour.
Dino
anti-smoking kick, originally driven to reduce cigarette smoking, cigars
and pipe smoking was also affected. England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy,
Germany were some of the countries that not only produced pipes and or
tobacco, but freely enjoyed smoking in public. All of that has changed
because of governmental controls and taxation designed to discourage and
cease smoking.
Sadly, the anti-smoking health craze sweep across the world has ceased a lot of smokers from enjoying a smoke in public, especially in restaurants and bars. At my local cigar shop, I've asked people from time to time, in general conversation, what they have against pipe smoking. The reply is usually the same; it's too much work. On the other hand, there are pipers who had been smoking a long time and would not trade their pipe smoking for anything. There are cigar smokers who have once smoked a pipe, switched to cigars, and now smoke both pipe and cigar. There are also those who are drawn to the aroma of the pipe tobacco as well as the styles and colors of the actual pipes and curiousness, leading them to at least try it.
It seems, from what I witness in a city environment, there is a slight increase in younger pipe smokers who are willing to acquire the passion of this hobby. While it seems as though pipe smoking is just another favorite old pastime fading into the abyss, it also appears to be making a comeback, albeit a slow comeback at that. I remain optimistic in the anticipation of the rebirth of the piper movement.
I believe there are a lot more cigar and pipe smokers than we realize. Not all of these consumers are interested in hanging out at the local brick and mortar, or online forums. The reason I say this, is because I have spent many hours hanging out at local brick and mortars. There is a continuous steady stream of folks coming in, and purchasing house blend pipe tobaccos, as well as entire boxes of cigars.
My guess is, that these folks are combining their pipe and cigar smoking with other activities, which keep us from observing them, because they are running with a small circle of friends.
I remember hanging out on Fridays especially, and the volume of people coming in and out was staggering. I also got the feeling that a lot of the folks making purchases were picking up product for someone else besides themselves.
Personally, I feel that a pipe as well as a cigar is best enjoyed indoors, for a variety of reasons. While it might be more beneficial for the promotion of the hobby to be seen smoking in public, my guess is that there are a lot of folks enjoying pipes and cigars in a private setting.
Even if we assume that most of the pipe and cigar smokers currently active in the hobby are visible, I can't help but think about how this group of folks have managed to survive the onslaught of technology.
I think pipe smoking is going to be just fine.
@PappyJoe I thoroughly enjoyed the critique. I was immediately reminded of an old satirical talk show featuring Matrin Mull called "Fernwood Tonight" (later changed to "America Tonight"). Martin's character Barth (and later Garth) Gimble was the host of this hilarious satire on the regional public access talk show industry and featured several re-occurring local guests - one being Kenneth Mars whose profession was a Chin-a-donist and he wore strange headgear he designed to keep his chin in alignment. Well on one show the panel was discussing pick-up lines and how to properly compliment a date - and the line Mars used had me rolling on the floor ... "You don't sweat much for a fat girl."
That Kenneth Mars compliment immediately came to mind when reading your opening line starting with 'it sucks' and then going on to agree with 99% of it. As someone with a wicked sense of humor I applaud your delivery. It had the same comic bite as Kenneth Mars' line ... and I loved it.
As the old saying goes ... this place is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
I must say that I'm a bit more optimistic after reading some of these posts. If younger members do pick-up the hobby as some suggest ... even at the expense of being labeled a 'hipster' then maybe there's hope for us yet. Keep up the good fight and make yourself more visible. And for God sake don't stink up the place.
I was going to suggest a catchy new campaign slogan to get more people to pick-up the pipe smoking hobby, but think my line may a little more tweaking ... "MAKE AMERICA COUGH AGAIN"
What'cha think?