The rituals of the pipe smoker

Smoking a pipe comes with a whole set of rituals. Pipe smokers readily point out that they are holding a finely worked object in the palm of the hand, which is not the case with a cigarette. Here is what they themselves describe as an art.

Smoking a pipe: a way of doing things

From the eighteenth century onwards pipe smokers grew in number, before becoming rarer with the arrival of the cigarette. They account today for 1% of smokers, and younger people are taking an interest in the pipe as well. Pipe smokers look for excellence, which is why they are increasingly drawn to well-made pipes cut from good wood. And the pipe smoker takes his time when it comes to choosing a first pipe.

A quality pipe is sometimes marked out by its price, even if it is now possible to find very good ones at a very affordable price. The better the wood, enthusiasts say, the more the aromas of the tobacco are preserved.

The smoker is expected to handle the object with care. Habits and the way of smoking, too, follow a precisely measured ritual.

The small gestures that make the difference

Facial expressions, gestures, the way of drawing on the pipe, the way of exhaling: none of these mannerisms are the same from one smoker to the next. They already differ between a cigarette smoker and a pipe smoker. That makes each case distinct, particularly in small details, such as the way the smoke is expelled and the smell of burnt tobacco, which bears no relation to that of a cigarette.

A pipe smoker is also sometimes described as a gentleman among smokers, leaving no trace of his passing beyond a faint smell of woody tobacco and some ash. Nothing is dropped on the ground. Pipe smokers themselves present the pipe as a break in the day, in the same way that some people like to take a bath, exercise or go for a walk.

It is also a practice handed down from one generation to the next, notably through pipes passed from father to son, or indeed to daughters.