What do Pipe smokers think about Cigar smokers and viceversa

[bliss]

So I had a relative come over the other day a cousin actually and we got into a discussion about pipe smoking vs cigar smoking. I have limited experience with a cigar but still prefer pipe smoking. He has very little experience with either but more with a cigar than I do. I have nothing against smoking a cigar or those that do but I always thought there was more skill involved with pipe smoking. After all you don't have to prepare a cigar other than cutting the end not to mention no packing or tamping and I have never had a cigar go out on me while my pipes do all the time. I think he just doesn't want to learn how to smoke a pipe and have to learn to clean it and all. Still he was trying to tell me that cigar smoking is better. I know there is no way to settle this debate as it is based off a matter of opinion but what was funny is he told me "while pipe smoking may look cooler and all cigars are better because of taste." I told him he just hasn't tried the right pipe tobacco. I really don't value any opinion he has on this matter because the last time I knew he tries to inhale whatever he is smoking be it pipe tobacco or cigars despite my warning against it and ended up coughing up blood. So to keep from getting into a deeper debate with someone that doesn't have a clue what they are talking about I changed the subject. But it did get me to thinking about this topic. What do pipe smokers think about people that smoke cigars and Vice-Versa. Really just curious to know. As I have already stated I prefer pipes. I like collecting pipes even though I have a small collection and collecting tools and everything that goes along with it. I haven't heard many cigar smokers that make to much of a big deal about collecting cigar cutters or anything like that and I know a lot of pipe smokers will mix and combine different tobacco to experiment which you can't do with a cigar. I just feel like Pipe smoking has more to offer but that is just my opinion. Someone my have already posted a similar topic about this but just wanted to share my thoughts about it. I would love to hear anyones views on it.

 

[itsKot]

From what I've seen, pipe smokers are, in general, cigar smokers as well, while cigar smokers tend to steer away from pipes. Why is this you might ask? Hell if I know. I also seem to sense, if you will, that there's a handful of cigar smokers out there who not only stray from pipe smoking but look down upon it. With anything there's two sides to the story and I'm sure there's pipe smokers who frown upon cigars. I haven't witnessed either case, its nothing more than a feeling of mine. Personally I enjoy the both of them greatly, although I favor a pipe. And I do find it's true that there are endless possibilities and offerings of pipe smoking that cigars simply don't. There are thousands of types of cigars out there and each of them different in their own right, but pipe smoking has every bit as many kinds of tobaccos compounded by the pipes themselves. While you may find a cigar that you enjoy more than any other you can obviously do that with a pipe and tobacco as well, but you find yourself growing attached to that pipe and soon enough you identify yourself with or by it, to me it's just a much more personal contemplative smoke than a cigar is. I could go on and on for days over this and I would still bounce back and forth, but this seems like enough for you all to read, so in closing I'll say this - Pipe smoking is what you want it to be, smoke what you love love what you smoke; who cares what the others say. As far as cigars go nothing changes much or steps outside of the box too far. If I had a gun pointed at my head and had to make a decision, I'd take my pipe every day.

 

[Patrick]

I also prefer pipes, although a cigar is nice on occasion. Just a different smoking experience. I don't know many people here in Alaska who smoke cigars, and even fewer who smoke pipes. I actually started with cigars, but later realized I was fascinated with pipes. So I bought one, and I enjoy it a lot more (even though the tobaccos I've tried so far from my tobbaconist are apparently second rate compared to what you can buy online).

I don't look down on cigar smokers. Actually my favorite talk show host, Dennis Prager, is a cigar enthusiast but he only smokes a pipe occasionally. It's all a matter of taste. What I don't understand (but can accept anyway) are people who stick to gas station cigars and cigarrettes. It just seems a lot less classy and that it would be less enjoyable. I don't look down on these people though. To each his own I guess!

 

[ZeroContent]

I like to smoke both. I started on cigars years ago and still have a hefty stash. I smoke pipes almost daily now but there's reasons why. 1. Cost per bowl is way cheaper than a good stick. 2. Usually don't have time to commit to a cigar, a pipe I can put down and come back to (ties to number 1 as I don't want to waste a good smoke). 3. Easier to smoke in the car if you have a manual trans, i can hold the pipe in my teeth while I need to shift and not worry about slobbering on the end of a cigar.

With that said IF money was no object I would probably smoke cigars more than a pipe. But as mentioned, they're different experiences. They use different tobaccos too and with cigars almost all of them are free of any casing and artificial means of processing. No steam and pressure processing (cavendish), no smoking (latakia), no flavoring or PG added. The only thing added is a small amount of vegetable gum to act as glue to hold the binder and wrappers together.

 

[Harlock999]

I know this is a gross over generalization, but the whole cigar fad from a decade ago, where all these desperate celebrities became overnight cigar afficionados stills colors my attitude about cigars. Arnold Swarzenegger and Demi Moore may not be great examples, but there was a lot of bandwagon jumping going on, which is typical of our celebrity driven, and, increasingly frivolous culture. I know that those people eventually move on to the next fad (celebrity poker, for example), leaving behind those that truly care, but the image of rich fat cats and their Cohibas still grates on me. But what do I know? Never having been a cigar smoker, barring the occasional wedding, I'm certainly an outsider looking in. Would Sherlock Holmes have looked as cool sucking on a cigar? Hugh Hefner minus his pipe?

 

[Greenleaf]

Cigar smokers are so often just vainglorious *********s about their smoke, as if it gives them license to scoff. True, pipe smokers can be just as bad, but on the whole we're more serious about what we smoke.

They may ask "why a pipe?" Well, if you have to ask, you'll never understand the answer.

 

[Natch]

I think that a lot of today's pipe smokers came to our art through the cigar boom of the 90s. There was a period of almost 10 years during that time that I smoked more cigars than I did my pipe. I think while you can find a few elitist members in any activity, (including cigars and pipes!), in this case I believe we are for the most part, the same people.

Flexibility and adaptation is a good thing, isn't it? :lol:

Natch

 

[Greenleaf]

About those elitists, it's unfortunate that they seem to give us all a bad name. The smoke truly is and should be just a smoke. This reminds me of when I was a reviewer for an online magazine. In the tastes section, we might have these haughty ***** bragging about what "true cigar smokers" they were and all that nonsense. I was the lone pipeman, and I also wrote of cigarettes. Some people just like the idea of their smoke or the image it projects more than the smoke itself. They lose sight of what really matters. "Smoke what you like and like what you smoke."

 

[Justpipes]

My Grandfather on my father's side was a cigar smoker, and he was the most humble individual that anyone could ever meet. The only time that an Optimo cigar wasn't in his mouth was when his feet weren't on the floor!

My father was a pipe smoker and until the last five years or so of his life, he was a hard man. Completely opposite of his father. He got the hardness from my grandmother (his mother).

 

[Dutch]

I enjoy smoking both pipes and cigars as each have their advantages.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

I like cigar smokers. Even the fussy ones. They keep the B&Ms in business, they like a good smoke, and you never have to wonder what to get them for Christmas.

Plus, cigars are a big part of forgotten CT culture... you can still see the shade-grown wrapper field when you take off from Hartford, and there's a great old Muniemaker sign painted on an old brick building by the train station. A few of my family were even cigar rollers around beginning of the 20th century.

I'd rather talk tobacco with a pipe-smoker, but heck, there's other things to talk about. That's what sports are for, right?

 

[hobie1dog]

I'd much rather see cigar smokers over cig smokers. The room note of a pipe is much more acceptable, but they do keep the B&M's going

 

[RealtorFrank]

I started pipe smoking (very recently) after being a cigar smoker for about the last ten years. I had always noticed the guys who would come into my B&M who smoked pipes. I always had respect for them, but it was just not my cup of tea. Over time, I got more and more interested, well about six months ago, I started. My mistake was I bought a crappy pipe, and said this sucks. After talking with the Keith Moore, my B&M's pipe guy, he convinced me to try a Savinelli Capri estate pipe. Needless to say I love it now, found you guys on here, and have way too many pipes and tins of tobacco. I still enjoy a cigar about once a week, but am primarily smoking a pipe. I have discovered that pipe smoking does have much more skill involved, and I now have a new respect for other pipe smokers I meet. At the end of the day, I look at it like this, if I hadn't been a cigar smoker, I never would have tried a pipe. We all really need to band together so the smoke nazis won't put an end to us all together!

 

[mark]

As everybody and their brother jumped aboard the cigar craze in the 90s I watched the price on my favorites double or more. These stylish fad followers gladly popped for whatever the cigar mags latest best stick was at the moment driving the whole market up. Brands came and disappeared just as fast. It all got so frenzied that even gas stations hopped on the bandwagon. I don't know what happened but the rug got yanked out from underneath the whole shebang,,,all the macho dudes weren't scrambling for the latest boutique hand rolled exotic Cuban wannabe overpriced limited production "impress your buddy when you light this one up" ceegar. I hate fads and I'm not impressed by those who follow them. This was a sad case of the cigar industry being raped by a fad, ramping up production to meet demand and fading after the bottom dropped out.
Give me a pipe anyday, I don't have to try to impress anyone at the 19th hole with a rare stick.

 

[Patrick]

We all really need to band together so the smoke nazis won't put an end to us all together!

Well said! That would apply to cigarrette smokers too.

 

[PipePuffer]

I am often the lone pipe smoker at my B&M. Lots of cigar smokers though. Without the cigar smokers, my B&M would probably have gone out of business a long time ago. Some cigar smokers seem a bit fussy (mostly young professionals with boatloads of money) but most old timers are anything but. The first time I smoked some Frog Morton there, I thought they'd kick me to the curb because of the "stench". But they didn't. We all get along just fine.

I have only smoked a few cigars but the thin pipe bit is a better fit for my mouth. Plus I can enjoy the finest pipe tobacco for less than $1 per bowl. I cannot imagine spending $5, $10, $15 or even $20+ on a single smoke.

 

[itsKot]

Some cigar smokers seem a bit fussy (mostly young professionals with boatloads of money)

I think you hit the nail on the head there.

 

[Harlock999]

Well said Mark, I agree wholeheartedly!

 

[Frost]

I generally don't think about cigar smokers, I'm too busy thinking about pipes .

In my opinion, the presence or absence of a cigar habit/hobby has very little to do with my opinion of a person. Unless it's a really fat cigar and he also has a mustache. The fat cigar/mustache combo makes me nervous. I don't know why.

I like cigars and used to smoke them back in the day when I would spend double digit hours sitting in a Denny's drinking coffee and talking to friends and all the wonderfully crazy customers and employees. Now I just feel like I wasted a whole lot of potential pipe smoking time.

 

[MisterE]

Pipe smokers see cigar smokers much like a flyfisherman views a bait fisherman.... :lol:

No offense to the cheese, worms, and marshmallow crowd.