Woman Pipe Smoking

I have often wondered at the stigma against women smoking pipes, and now more than ever do I have to consider it since I have started. Smoking––it has this grandfatherly, English appeal to it. It brings back subtle universal memories, of generals and gentlemen, of explorers and philosophers, of quiet nights by a hearth fire. Pipes carry an entire world in each puff.

I flip the lighter and pull in drafts of the tobacco, and my mind wanders. I'm using a friend's pipe at this moment, since I do not have my own yet; I need one. There is a great feeling of release in a pipe. The stars grow brighter, the air smells sweeter, and the conversation (for smoking alone is a bother) more intimate. This semester has been crazy––an odd crazy, like there is something wrong with the world, and you cannot quite put your finger on it––and I need a break somehow. Some might say I'm using an external substance to cope, but––what of it? The means are there, use them.

But women smoking? Tsk, tsk. You think of grandfathers when you say the world pipe. Not grandmothers. I cannot say, "Oh, get over it, you prudes," to whomever may object. I have to say that to myself first. My family is traditional, and a disagreement with women pipe smoking (or cigarette smoking, or cigar, or hookah, or anyone smoking anything, despite the sex) has been slipped into my cereal with the raisins. I don't know if the thought was implied or present. It just exists. So, before I make a grand habit of this new hobby, at least before I start on the street corners on a parade day, I have to stand and stare in the mirror with a pipe in my mouth and come to terms. Of course, if you google images of "women pipe smoking", the search engine pulls up sultry pictures of sexy, bad ass women smoking and winking. I smoke. I don't usually wink. Not in that way, anyway. Traditional family, remember?

I am no rebel. I just want a way to relax, to think, to philosophize. As my writing teacher (he also smokes) said one day, "You must choose your vices." I choose pipe smoking. If I'm going to be eccentric without trying, I might as well direct it a bit.

This is an interesting article. I'm ignoring the part that will reveal itself in an obvious way: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123509294170728733.html.