In the near future I'm going to start a series on this blog that I will refer to as "Pipe Smoker of the Week." I once had another site--well, it's still there but I no longer update it and since the hit counter decided to start charging I don't know if it still gets hits--that showed people who are famous, or at least somewhat notable, who are smoking a pipe (fictional characters are included). Why?
When I started that other site back in 1997 I had no idea or intention that it might become some sort of political statement. It was just something I did for fun. I have been toying with the idea for a while, to use the stuff I had collected there on this blog, and my recent posting of the Santa-with-pipe pictures has been a small part of that.
There's also this (via SayUncle) and this (via Michelle Malkin).
Both of those articles are about cigarettes. They are also both about historical revisionism and nannyism.
I don't smoke cigarettes. In fact, I hate being around cigarette smoke. It has a terrible effect on my sinuses and just plain smells bad. In my opinion, the junk (all the non-tobacco chemicals and accelerants) they put in cigarettes compared to good pipe tobacco (or cigar tobacco) is like comparing a hot dog to a fine roast beef (with the exception of kosher hot dogs, those are good stuff). But from my perspective as a pipe smoker and a gun owner, I can see numerous parallels between the anti-ism against both of these things. Unfortunately, there is no unalienable right to smoke tobacco that is protected by the constitution, and I have no doubt that tobacco will eventually be taxed or regulated out of existence. Pipes will become nothing more than curious family heirlooms. Some people will attempt to grow it in their backyards, perhaps, but the process of creating superior pipe and cigar tobacco is not something that lends itself well to a backyard hobbyist, and the leaves produced will be inferior. Those who do produce it will be at legal risk because they want to continue a practice that has been common among humankind since nearly the beginning of time.
So, this is something I'm doing just to make a small contribution to historical accuracy and to thumb my nose at the nannyites. It will probably start after Christmas.
I have enough pictures to last about three years if I post only one per week. I may as well take this opportunity to say: If you have a digital picture, or know of a location on the Internet of a picture of a famous or notable person smoking a pipe, let me know. I can probably use it.
