Pressing issue of the day:
At what age does smoking a pipe stop looking ridiculous?

Obviously, a 20-year-old pipe smoker looks silly. An 80-year-old, not so. But what's the transitional age?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:03, 34 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I've say between 37 and 42

( Lisette von Falcon, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:04, Reply)

I think you'd have to be an old-looking 37...
Mind you, if you smoke enough, that could become self-fulfilling.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:09, Reply)

not old-looking, I was thinking sophisticated

( Lisette von Falcon, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:16, Reply)

Pipe smoking and sophistication are not things I'd ever linked.
A kind of rugged friendliness, perhaps. Salt-of-the-Earthiness, too. Intellectual acuity, frequently.

Sophistication, not so much.

But maybe I'm running together sophistication and suaveness.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:19, Reply)

Get yourself a smoking jacket and a cigarette holder.

( thealternativefact, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:24, Reply)

If you talk to Al,
he'll tell you that I already have the smoking jacket, in crushed velvet. He'll also tell you that I have a Turkish catamite.


I deny any such allegations.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:26, Reply)

I'm sure you do.
But however untrustworthy Al is (and that's very), I can quite imagine you in such attire.
( thealternativefact, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:33, Reply)

And we've never even (knowingly) met!

( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:37, Reply)

Amazing huh?
For some reason, I always feel like you've been here as long as I have, which makes me think I should have met you by now!
Still, maybe you'll make it to London for the Bash just before Christmas.
( thealternativefact, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:39, Reply)

I'm pretty much a cert for the November one.
December, I'm not so sure yet. We'll see.

EDIT: You're not the only person who's told me I've been around ages. Chickenlady said the same thing a couple of years ago - I'd been a member for five months at that point.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:42, Reply)

You've clearly made an impression :)

( thealternativefact, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 16:18, Reply)

Alright, when I think of pipe smoking I think of Sherlock Holmes, or some other smug twat in their dressing gown sipping brandy in their library or conservatory
or it could be the typical characters around these parts that wear over-alls, have long white beards and white hair and wear dirty baseball caps
( Lisette von Falcon, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:28, Reply)

I also think of pot heads with their stupid tie-dye shirts that hang out behind the local rite aid smoking weed from corn cob pipes

( Lisette von Falcon, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:29, Reply)

Oh...
I was definitely thinking more in the Meerschaum line.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:35, Reply)

oh those are quite cool

( Lisette von Falcon, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:37, Reply)

65

( thealternativefact, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:14, Reply)

I'm with you!
:D
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:43, Reply)

There isn't one.
It depends on who is looking.

Teenagers see anyone over 25 as old.

20-somethings perceive 30 as death.

I'm (nearly) 34.

I'm taking it up soon.

rafter
baz
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:15, Reply)

*walks up to the mic, taps it a couple of times, gives a little cough*
I'm going to let you finish, but beyonce had the greatest video of all time.

*walks down from the podium and goes back to take seat*
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:18, Reply)

hahaha!
:D
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:20, Reply)

Great question, I've always wanted to know.
I reckon it's not so much age, but when your hair turns grey.
You need grey hair to smoke a pipe convincingly.
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:28, Reply)

Mine's going silver/ white.
Fortunately, I've not cut it for 16 years, so it doesn't show much. But were I to cut it and let it grow back, I think my head'd be somewhat greyer.


I'm 32.


(Actually, white hair'd be cool...)
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:36, Reply)

I think "distinguished" is the best word for it
(At least, that's what I'm telling myself about the white hairs that occasionally pop up quite visibly on my otherwise dark mane)
(LongJohnBaldry, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 16:16, Reply)

I'm 31 with a few side-on silvers
I'm nearly ripe for the pipe.
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 16:46, Reply)

"Ripe for the pipe"
Nice turn of phrase. And suitably suggestive of something else...
(LongJohnBaldry, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 16:52, Reply)

I really want to smoke a pipe.
I just need someone to teach me.

Or maybe I'll just move onto cigarillos.
( Lampito rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:37, Reply)

put it in your mouth and suck.

(PsychoChomp, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:52, Reply)

I wonder where I get my reputation from.

(PsychoChomp, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:53, Reply)

So you don't exhale?
COOL

What reputation, darling? You're just a pandering girl, as far as I know...
( Lampito rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:56, Reply)

Well, you don't really inhale.
It's all done with the cheeks, rather than the lungs.

You only draw the smoke into your mouth, so you get the flavour, but not a lungful of smoke. It does, therefore, take longer to get the hit than, say, a cigarette, but it smells considerably less vile. (Actually I quite like the smell of flavoured pipe smoke)
(LongJohnBaldry, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 16:14, Reply)

I've always wondered this...
I've been saying for years that I want to start smoking a pipe but people always laugh at me when I do. I'm not 30 until christmas so can see it being a few more years yet.
(Pirate Monkey is not the goddamn Batman, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 15:56, Reply)

I think it depends entirely on the person
My good friend smokes a pipe - only occasionally, I must admit - but is only 24 and does not, I would argue, look ridiculous.

But then, he has never dressed like a modern young male ponce. He is without skinny jeans and specially coiffured floppy haircut and so actually looks like a bloke*. Therefore the pipe does not look ridiculous on him. Amusing, perhaps, but not ridiculous.

*_{I could go into a separate rant about how fucking stupid a lot of young men seem to look these days, but I'm sure it can be saved for a separate thread...}
(LongJohnBaldry, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 16:12, Reply)

My dad smoked a pipe and he died in his 30's
My mate john has smoked a pipe since his teens

I think its mostly about the facial hair. The more you have the more its looks fine.
( Peej, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 17:48, Reply)

20 year old pipe smokers
look fucking COOL
cos they've chosen not to follow the crowd and smoke B&H
( mictoboy shitting in your cunt since, Mon 14 Sep 2009, 23:04, Reply)