HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PIPE SMOKING DAY!

International Pipe Smoking Day was initially organized in 2008 in the U.K. "to bring together pipe smokers for camaraderie, share a bowl in solidarity, and appreciate the tradition of pipe smoking". It has since become a world-wide celebration.

SMOKIN' MONSTERS

An old Hollywood legend has it that Bela Lugosi would walk every day for a cigar to the Hollywood Smoke Shop on Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox, located next door to the Warner Bros. Hollywood's Theatre. While a probable apocryphal story, it is true that Lugosi was a dedicated. life-long smoker. He can be seen in countless photographs holding a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

The Hollywood Smoke Shop (bottom right)).

Lugosi boasted a large collection of pipes and from what I could discern, his tobacco of choice was Kendal Plug from Samuel Gawith. It is characterized as a medium-strength, straight (i.e. not mixed with other tobaccos such as Burley) Virginia flake and is said to smoke sweet in the bowl.

As for cigars, Bela would of course prefer top-shelf brands when he could afford them. When he could not, he fell back on what he called "El-Stinkos or El Ropos".

Decorative tile set in the entrance to the Hollywood Smoke Shop.

The following article from the Pipesmoking.com website provides a little more information about Lugosi's love of pipes, along with a nicely-written biography.

Bela Lugosi: Horror Movie Icon and Pipe Smoker

By Jeffrey Sitts | November 20, 2020 | Pipesmoking.com

Best remembered for his iconic portrayal of Count Dracula in the 1931 film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, Bela Lugosi is widely considered one of the greatest horror movie actors of all time. Lugosi also appeared in several films with legendary English actor Boris Karloff, delivering memorable performances that showcased his acting talents and continue to enthrall audiences decades later. While he was often typecast and his career experienced a decline in his later years, Lugosi's contributions to the horror genre are significant and his work remains highly influential. Lugosi was one of Hollywood's most mysterious actors, often telling stories and giving interviews that blurred the line between fantasy and reality, but even without embellishments he lived a fascinating life.

Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó on October 20, 1882 in Lugos, formerly located in the Kingdom of Hungary and what is now Lugoj, Romania. Bela was immensely proud of his Hungarian heritage throughout his life, inspiring him to adopt the professional surname Lugosi after his hometown. Lugosi was the youngest of four children and quickly developed a disdain for his father's strictness and formal education, reportedly running away from home at age 12 after his father's death though there are conflicting stories. "I was very unruly as a boy, very out of control," Lugosi remarked in an interview.

Lugosi later said he traveled 300 miles (it was actually 34 miles), primarily on foot, to Resita, a Romanian mining town, to work in the mines. Lugosi recalled the fear he felt working underground, saying, "There, in the dark bowels of the earth, I did sometimes think I might go mad ... there I learned my horror, now, of the darkness ... of the earth's deep darkness rather than the darkness of another world." He went on to work as a riveter building bridges and later as a machinist when he was 18, assembling large, powerful machines. However, he desired to work in theater and tried to land minor roles in performances put on by touring groups that came to town.

Lugosi at an unidentified cigar shop.

Early on, his lack of education proved to be challenging: "They tried to give me little parts in their plays, but I was so uneducated, so stupid, people just laughed at me. But I got a taste of the stage. I got, also, the rancid taste of humiliation. It was then I got, too, the knowledge of the main key to my character that I had the ability to focus my will, my mind, my body, my emotions into one deep and driving channel."

Records researched by Arthur Lennig, a cinema professor and author of Lugosi's biography The Immortal Count, indicate Lugosi's earliest performances occurred during the 1903-1904 season. He acted in small roles and because of his pleasant singing voice he often appeared in operettas, later joining other troupes at the end of the season and performing in several towns and cities, gradually refining his acting skills. Early in his career, he was credited as "Bela Lugossy," a name likely chosen since the y ending connotes nobility, something Lennig believes appealed to the young, hopeful actor. Lennig also mentions, "In 1911, perhaps feeling that the aristocratic name was too pretentious, he modified it and so became Lugosi."

"His former acquaintances found him to be personable, polite, friendly, but a 'loner' and a terrible manager of his finances."

During the summer of 1914, the onset of World War I, Lugosi quickly enlisted in the army even though he could have obtained a deferment due to his position in the theater. He earned the rank of lieutenant in the 43rd Royal Hungarian Infantry, served in the trenches for a year and a half, and was wounded twice in battle, leaving the service to recover in 1916. However, another biography claims he was discharged after successfully convincing army physicians that he was mentally unstable. Lugosi rarely spoke about his time in the war but it's noted in Lennig's biography that one of his most prized possessions was a gold ruble, likely obtained from a Russian soldier. "Bela" was inscribed on one side of the coin and a hole was drilled in it so Lugosi could wear it as a chain.

Years later, Lugosi told a rare war story in an interview though its validity is questionable and it's mentioned in very few sources:

"There was a moment I could never forget. We were protecting a forest from the Russians. All of us were cowering beneath huge trees, each man beneath a tree. A young officer, incautious, went a little way out of cover and a bullet struck his breast. I forgot the Russians were firing from their line with machine guns. Not a selfless man, I had one selfless moment ... I ran to him and gave him first aid. I came back to my tree and found that it had been blown to the heavens in heavy, crushing pieces. I became hysterical. I wept there on the forest floor, like a child ... not from fear, not even from relief ... from gratitude at how God had paid me back for having that good heart."

Following the war, Lugosi returned to acting at Hungary's Royal National Theater, frequently relegated to small parts while older, more experienced actors performed in leading roles. However, Lugosi was determined to succeed and his presence on such a prestigious stage attested to his talents.

An acquaintance who knew Lugosi during this time recalled in 1968:

I saw him as a young, serious actor, who came to his rehearsals punctually, with books under his arm, and tried to develop the possibilities of his roles with dedication. He usually played the roles of a young lover, especially of those who were dominated by extensive passion. He was favored by the audience. In my judgment, he was a very fine actor.

In regard to how Lugosi was offstage, Lennig's biography notes, "His former acquaintances found him to be personable, polite, friendly, but a 'loner' and a terrible manager of his finances." Financial troubles plagued Lugosi throughout his life; he frequently lived beyond his means which caused him to declare bankruptcy years later. Lajos Balint, who later became the National Theater's literary manager, was Lugosi's roommate for several years and observed the actor's peculiar spending habits. Oranges at the time were rather pricey where they lived but that didn't stop Lugosi from squeezing five of them to make a glass of juice. Another amusing story Balint recalled occurred at the outbreak of World War I when he told Lugosi many products would soon be quite expensive, such as shoes. When Lugosi asked Balint why, he explained that soldiers would need leather for their boots. After Balint returned from work one night, he saw several shoeboxes and realized Lugosi frantically purchased multiple pairs of shoes.

In 1917, the film industry was developing in Hungary and studios were hiring stage actors to star in their movies. Lugosi finally started earning leading roles, aided by his acting skills, good looks, young age, and charismatic personality. "Unfortunately, most of the early Hungarian films have been lost through neglect, deterioration, fire, or the bomings of World War II. Of about 500 films, only a dozen or so remain, and Lugosi can only be seen in one of those." (Lennig, pg. 30). Lugosi appeared in several silent Hungarian films billed as Arisztid Olt. It was the film company's attempt to appeal to audiences outside of Hungary, changing actors' names to ones that seemed more pronounceable to European moviegoers.

Between 1918 and 1920, Hungary experienced political unrest following the war and Lugosi developed a stronger interest in politics. He fervently supported the revolution and became one of the leaders of a newly created theater union in late 1918. Perhaps the poverty he experienced as a worker and later as an actor in small roles guided his radical political views, where money would not be the primary goal of the arts and they would be purer and performed with passion instead. Once the communist regime was deposed after four months, supporters were purged, imprisoned, or murdered.

"After the war, I participated in the revolution. Later, I found myself on the wrong side," Lugosi recalled years later. He and his wife Ilona fled to Vienna in 1919, crossing the border while hidden in a cart beneath a large straw mound. Encouraged by her wealthy parents, Ilona left Lugosi and returned to Hungary, while Lugosi traveled to Germany in search of acting work. After appearing in a handful of German films, Lugosi boarded a cargo ship bound for New Orleans, Louisiana in hopes of finding success in the United States. He quickly made his way to Ellis Island in New York City and was lawfully admitted to the country, becoming a naturalized citizen a few years later. Lugosi spoke no English at the time but managed to find plays performed in his native language while slowly learning English from tutors and fellow actors.

"His pipe smoking resulted in a large collection, though if he couldn't fit his thumb into the bowl of a pipe it usually became a gift for someone else."

An American theatrical adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula was written in 1927 and Lugosi was hired to play the titular character based on his acting ability, imposing on-stage presence, and his Hungarian accent that many found intriguing and mysterious. Initially, Lugosi almost turned down the role because of the character's lack of lines. The play ran for nine months on Broadway and was a massive success, with a run on the West Coast creating opportunities for Lugosi to act in "talking pictures" which were becoming popular.

On the set of Dracula in 1931 with Helen Chandler and Tod Browning.

Following the play's success, a film adaptation of Dracula was heavily discussed but several other actors were considered before Universal Pictures selected Lugosi, after he persistently lobbied to play the part he coveted and that he accepted at a low salary. Released in 1931, it was the first sound film adaptation of Dracula and Lugosi's portrayal of the menacing Count is widely considered to be the definitive Dracula. It was a mesmerizing performance with Lugosi's slow, deliberate pacing making the character even more mysterious and compelling.

Dracula was a landmark movie that firmly established horror as a credible film genre and was Universal's highest-grossing production that year. The movie's critical and commercial success also encouraged Universal Pictures to produce several other iconic horror films, including Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man. While Dracula paved the way for other movies, it resulted in Lugosi being typecast as a horror villain since his performance was so brilliantly convincing.

In 1934, Lugosi began working with fellow horror actor Boris Karloff and the pair would appear in eight films together. Despite many thinking they had an intense and bitter rivalry, they maintained a friendly, professional relationship, but rarely socialized off set as their hobbies and interests were vastly different. Karloff was more successful, usually receiving top billing in films before Lugosi, who harbored no jealousy or animosity toward his co-star. Both men respected each other's work and never tried to upstage one another, performing in several excellent films such as The Black Cat, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, and Black Friday.

Beginning in the 1940s, Lugosi's career began to decline due to a variety of factors. Studio management changed hands and Lugosi was relegated to small parts, with movies capitalizing on his name value despite him not being in a leading role. Lugosi was also diagnosed with severe, chronic sciatica, causing stabbing pains running from his pelvis into his foot that Lugosi likened to a dentist striking a raw nerve. While aspirin is often used to alleviate the pain, Lugosi's stomach ulcers lead doctors to prescribe him opiates. Lugosi became dependent on them, particularly morphine. Despite this, Lugosi was cast as Dracula for a second and final time in 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, delivering an excellent performance as a suave, classy vampire in a film that parodied horror movie cliches.

The brief success was short lived and Lugosi began acting in movies directed by Ed Wood, an ambitious and eccentric director who made several low-budget films throughout the '50s. Wood had long admired and respected Lugosi, and genuinely wanted to help the struggling actor who was forgotten by Hollywood. Wood's films were poorly made and received negative reviews, but it was clear there was passion behind them and they were authentic attempts to make Lugosi a star once again.

Lugosi had several projects planned but passed away August 16, 1956 from a heart attack in his Los Angeles apartment at age 73. His funeral was small, attended by his family and close friends, and he was buried in one of his Dracula capes, a decision made by his only child and his ex-wife as they believed it's what he would have wanted. Lugosi experienced a well-deserved surge in popularity thanks to Tim Burton's 1994 film Ed Wood and Martin Landau's portrayal of Bela Lugosi. Landau won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and several other major awards, though Lugosi's son criticized the film's portrayal as being inaccurate. However, Landau's masterful performance was a wonderful tribute to Lugosi and brought recognition to an iconic actor who was frequently underappreciated yet supremely talented.

In addition to being a horror movie icon, Bela Lugosi was also an avid pipe and cigar smoker throughout his life. Bela Lugosi Jr. notes on his father's website, "Once he lit a cigar, if he had to interrupt his smoking, he would leave it in some inconspicuous place like a planter box outside the door." While on stage, Lugosi's fourth wife Lillian would puff on a cigar to keep it lit when he performed on stage so that he would be able continue smoking between scenes.

Lugosi after his release from treatment for morphine dependency smoking an "El Stinko".

American actor Lyle Talbot, best known for his work on the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, mentioned Lugosi's pipe smoking in a 1976 interview:

"Lugosi was a nice man — a very intelligent man. He did have a slight accent though — but a very fine actor. We got into several conversations while shooting this picture (One Body Too Many) because he had just started smoking a pipe. Bela had never smoked one before and was all enthused about getting this pipe. But Lugosi allowed so much "cake" to accumulate in his pipe that he could hardly get any tobacco in it. "Bela," I said, "your pipe will crack if you put too much carbon inside." So he was very grateful to hear this and I cleaned out his pipe. Then, everything was okay between us.

In Gary Don Rhodes' 1997 biography Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers, the author notes:

Bela's great love of Hungarian food and imported sulphur water also remained fixed in the memories of his friends. Along with food, he appreciated fine tobacco. His pipe smoking resulted in a large collection, though if he couldn't fit his thumb into the bowl of a pipe it usually became a gift for someone else. The actor also adored good cigars, though when money became scarce he resorted to a cheap brand he called "El Stinko, El Ropos."

Bela Lugosi's powerful and ominous on-screen presence helped popularize the horror film genre, portraying mysterious characters and delivering enthralling performances. Lugosi's Dracula is legendary and iconic, spawning countless imitations and solidifying his reputation as a horror movie icon. Though he was often typecast as a villainous character and largely forgotten by Hollywood in his later years, Lugosi's work continues to be respected by horror fans and will undoubtedly be admired by future generations.

NOTE: The Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre (aka Hollywood Pacific Theatre) is located at 6433 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, opened on April 26, 1928 with a seating capacity of 2,700. The large building also included office and retail space and radio station KFWB. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1993 and permanently closed in 2000. The Hollywood Smoke Shop opened in 1930 and closed at the same time as the theatre. To learn much more about this historic Hollywood Blvd building, go HERE.

SMOKIN' MONSTERS: MERIAN C. COOPER

Not a monster himself, but Merian C. Cooper created the greatest monster of them all -- King Kong! Coop was a dedicated pipe smoker and it's hard to find a photo of him without his trusty briar.

See more SMOKIN' MONSTERS HERE.

This article from PHOTOPLAY (July 1933) is a profile on the amazing life and times of Merian C. Cooper up until the release of KING KONG. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PIPE SMOKING DAY!

Hef's favorite pipe tobacco was Mixture 79.

PETERSON'S JEKYLL & HYDE PIPES

Back in June I published a post that introduced the Peterson Dracula line of pipes. Now, Peterson has released a line of briars that are inspired by the tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The smokingpipes.com website carries the full line and I can tell you that they are a great mail order company to do business with.

NOTE: Pipes like these are generally made in limited editions. Sell-through can be pretty fast for the more popular brands and shapes.

From the website:

The sepulcher creaks open revealing a shadowy door frame. Broken moonlight bathes a cracked-stone staircase descending into the abyss below, littered with rodents' remains. An aroma of smoke and antiquity wafts from the looming depths, beckoning you to investigate. Inching forward, you're enveloped by darkness punctured only by the miniscule sphere of light emanating from your outstretched lantern, illuminating each step in front of you but offering no glimpse of what skirts and skitters in the surrounding blackness. 

A wide room opens before you cluttered with tables, test tubes, beakers and burners, candelabras, and an open coffin. At the end of the room, opposite the staircase, a stone altar beckons. Atop its weathered surface lay two pipes — one dressed in ebony with a stem of swirled ink and blood-red, the other marked by smooth and rusticated finishes for contrasting personalities. A single scroll between them reads, "Make your choice."

Dracula's bloodthirst or the manic duality of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? The choice is yours. Peterson's most macabre lines come to life in October, inspired by two of literature's most ominous tales and marked by distinctly dark finishes and color palettes. This year, the Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde series seize additional shapes from Peterson's chart, including the iconic 999, 80s, and 150 designs.

Jekyll & Hide or Dracula? Make your choice, or reap the benefits of both… The scroll didn't say to choose only one… Experience the eerie with 60 new Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde pipes from Peterson on site now.

About Peterson Pipes:

The oldest continuously operating pipe factory in the world, Peterson produces some of the most recognizable and iconic pipes on the market. They've been featured in exhibitions, films, and television shows for the past century; many famous writers, artists, and inventors smoked a Peterson pipe, including Mark Twain, whose love for his System pipe is still perhaps unparalleled to this day. Even those uninvolved in our hobby likely think of a Peterson when asked to imagine a pipe. And all because of the functional design of the marque's most important contribution to the history of pipemaking: the System Pipe.

In 1874, Frederick Kapp opened a tobacco and pipe shop in Dublin; within a year a young Latvian woodworker named Charles Peterson was employed there. During his first years with the Kapps, Peterson made and repaired briar and meerschaum pipes, thinking critically about how to improve their design. In 1890, after 15 years of handling and repairing multitudes of pipes, Charles secured a patent in his own name, titled "A certain new and useful improvement in Tobacco-Pipes," introducing a unique system comprised of a higher draft hole and a moisture reservoir bored into the shank and transition of a briar pipe. Over the next eight years, Charles continued to refine his System, applying for and securing patents for a graduated bore mouthpiece (1891), and a unique button design known today as the P-Lip (1894-1898).

Charles Peterson's patented System isn't just a novelty offered by Peterson; it is the Peterson pipe. Its engineering and overall design are intertwined with the marque's foundation and raison d'être. They're the invisible source behind Peterson's unique Irish aesthetic — its muscular shank and transition, tubular profile, and generous bend. Over the last 120 years, Peterson has evolved and adapted to suit modern tastes, maintaining an expansive regular production shape chart, while also ushering in new series like the celebrated Sherlock Holmes line, as well as special edition releases like the annual St. Patrick's Day and Christmas pipes. Yet Charles Peterson's intention and original design language is preserved in each piece to leave the factory.

And while you're at it, don't forget to order some tobac for your pipe. Cult's Blood Red Moon is a popular seller.

PETERSON'S DRACULA PIPES

Dublin's Peterson Pipes has been crafting smoking pipes for over 150 years. They are noted both for their pipes and for their line of tobaccos. They often commemorate certain events and anniversaries with special edition pipes and tobacco.

Currently offered is a line inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula that features a blood red stem.

Shop for Peterson pipes HERE.

Peterson's Dracula line offers smooth and sandblasted pipes dressed in ebony finishes, accented with nickel bands and blood-red acrylic stems with ink-black swirls. A worthy homage to Bram Stoker's celebrated novel, the Dracula line renders the iconic dress-pipe motif with spooky airs and remains one of the Irish marque's most striking and colorful series. For years the line has featured a select number of Peterson shapes, but today the selection expands to include the 150 Bulldog and 80s bent Bulldog, with new pipes showcasing the macabre finish on site now.

And why not fill a bowl with and H.P. Lovecraft-inspired tobacco that will take you into the realm of the Dreamlands?

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PIPE SMOKING DAY!

It's a bit of a rare thing to see anyone smoking a pipe in public anymore. Years ago, pipe smoking was ubiquitous and many a' magazine ad extolled the virtues of the captivating aroma of a good tabac. Now you're more likely to see glass dope pipes and vaping products in so-called "smoke shops", with maybe a few cigars thrown in.

Maintaining a pipe in good, smokeable condition takes some time and patience, the two things that most people lack in their daily lives. A "quick smoke" usually isn't included in a pipe-smoker's lexicon.

Nevertheless, there's still a strong core following of pipe smokers as the innumerable websites that specialize in pipes and cigars attest. The fact that there is a day like today only shows that pipe smoking is still being enjoyed around the globe.

SMOKIN' MONSTERS

ELDRITCH SMOKE

A wisp of incense from the monastery at Leng. Exotic spice from the City of Ulthar. Wine fermented by the ageless Kuranes himself. Only in timeless Celephaïs could these esoteric ingredients be procured. A ritual performed over a bed of Red and Bright Virginia, with hints of Dark Fired Leaf and Kasturi results in an otherworldly aroma that beckons all dreamers back to Celephaïs.

Cornell & Diehl: Visions of Celephaïs

The sixth entry into Cornell & Diehl's celebrated Old Ones series, Visions of Celephaïs combines Indonesian Kasturi leaf with choice red and bright Virginias and dark-fired Kentucky, resulting in a naturally spicy, complex base that's elevated by a unique grape wine topping. The combination makes for a unique aromatic pipe tobacco, with a deep, rich flavor, balancing spice with sweetness, similar to that of a tawny port. Packaged in 2oz tins with stunning Lovecraftian artwork, it's an excellent addition to the eldritch line, and quite unlike anything else we've smoked.

Purchase the entire line of Old Ones exotic tobaccos HERE.

IT'S INTERNATIONAL PIPE SMOKING DAY!

Go easy on the Tana leaves, okay?

THE VANISHING ART OF PIPE SMOKING

I remember walking out of Bob's Pipe and Pouch at Old Towne Mall in Torrance, CA, puffing away at my newly-lighted first pipe, full of a heavenly aromatic blend called Dutch Comfort. That was back in the mid-1970's and I was barely in my twenties. I have been smoking a pipe off and on since. The store is long-gone and so is said tobacco, and my original briar is long burnt out, too. But, when the spirit is willing, I still insist on going through the ritual of packing the bowl, lighting up, tamping down, lighting up again, and if everything goes well, smoking it to the bottom without lighting up again.

Hollywood movies were full of pipe smokers in the 30's into the 50's. Some of our favorite horror stars were pipe smokers: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill and Basil Rathbone to name a few. And who can forget the most famous pipe smoker of all -- Sherlock Holmes?

I rarely see pipe smokers in public anymore. I know they're still out there, because on some of the websites I visit certain tobaccos sell out and get backordered rather quickly. There is also a long-standing desire for pipe smokers to "cellar" their favorites and let them age like fine wines, to perfection.

Sounds like a lot of work just for a smoke, doesn't it? Which is the reason why I thing smoking a pipe has fell out of favor these days. Cigars have become the "go-to" smoke, mainly because a cult has grown out of smoking them in social situations, along with "pairing" a certain type of cigar with a variety of alcoholic beverages, the most popular being single malt whiskey.

Following is an article that I came across from a Washington Post entry in 2005. Even then, pipe-smoking was disappearing. I hope those of you who either are pipe smokers, too, or are just interested because of the nostalgia factor, enjoy this insightful essay on a dying art. Heck, maybe it'll get you interested enough to put down the stogie and try out a briar!


Bowled Over No Longer
The Once-Ubiquitous Aroma of Fatherhood Is Fading Away
By Peter Carlson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 19, 2005 

It smelled like cherry or chocolate or chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Or leaves burning in the back yard in those long-ago autumns when you were still allowed to burn leaves in the back yard.

In those days, pipe smoke was a man's signature scent. It was the incense in the Church of Dad, a burnt offering to the god of domesticated masculinity, a symbol of benevolent paternalism.

A passing whiff of your father's or grandfather's brand -- Erinmore Flake, say, or Royal Yacht Mixture -- can summon vivid memories even decades after his death. Smell is a key that unlocks the vault of memory, and the rich aroma of pipe smoke conjures up a lost world of armchairs and ashtrays, humidors and dark-wood racks holding pipes with WASPy names like Dunhill and Ferndown and Hardcastle.

It was a world of wise, contemplative men who sat and smoked and read serious, leather-bound literature, as well as a world of rugged outdoorsmen, canoeists and fly fishermen and clipper ship captains who puffed their pipes as they pored over nautical charts before sailing 'round the Horn.

It was a magical world, part reality and part myth, and now it has all but disappeared, fading like smoke.

"A lot of pipe smokers have died and new ones aren't coming along," says David Berkebile, owner of Georgetown Tobacco.

"The decline has been persistent and unrelenting," says Norman Sharp, head of the Pipe Tobacco Council.

Sharp rattles off the statistics: In 1970, Americans bought 52 million pounds of pipe tobacco. In 2004, they bought less than 5 million pounds. "That's a decline of 91 percent," he says.

In a 2003 survey, the Department of Health and Human Services calculated that there are 1.6 million pipe smokers in America. The same survey revealed that there are 14.6 million pot smokers and 600,000 crack smokers, which means that if an American is smoking something in a pipe these days, it's more likely to be dope than Dunhill's Mixture 965.

But the evidence of the pipe's decline goes beyond statistics. Fifty years ago, nearly every male movie star who wanted to be taken seriously posed for PR photos smoking a pipe and looking contemplative. These days, about the only pipe smokers found in the movies are the hobbits in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Pipe smoking is going the way of the shaving brush, the straight razor, the fedora, the Freemasons, the liberal Republican.

Maybe that's good, considering the risks of mouth cancers. But there's something charming about pipe smoking -- an appealingly retro air of reflection and relaxation, a uniquely masculine mystique that's somehow large enough to include tweedy professors and Maine hunting guides, detectives and novelists, Santa Claus and Gen. MacArthur, Albert Einstein and Popeye the Sailor Man.

And, of course, the kind of father who always knew best.

Puff of Wisdom
"I think the appeal of the pipe came from images in movies and pop culture," says Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine. "It was an image of intelligence and sophistication, like a martini."

Hefner, 79, is one of America's most famous pipe smokers, although he doesn't smoke anymore. He started in 1959, when he began hosting a TV show called "Playboy's Penthouse" -- "it was something to do with my hands" -- and he quit in 1985 after a stroke.

"I was very influenced by pop culture, which had certain symbolic images of smoking," Hefner says. "Cigars had the symbolic implication of a businessman or a politician. Cigarettes could be romantic or related to crime in a film noir, but the pipe had a different quality: It was both thoughtful and adventurous. I was a fan of the comic strip 'Terry and the Pirates,' which had a character named Pat Ryan who smoked a pipe. He was Terry's mentor and he was kind of a dashing hero. One of my influences was Sherlock Holmes. He smoked a pipe and he wore pajamas and a smoking jacket, which sounds kind of familiar."

Hefner laughs at his own famous fondness for wearing pajamas in public. "And then," he adds, "there's the pop cultural image of a pipe and slippers in front of the fire with a good book and your dog at your feet."

A pipe projects a calm, peaceful image -- except when it's clenched in the fiercely resolute jaw of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the only man in history who could make an oversize corncob pipe look like a weapon of mass destruction.

Many of the great thinkers of the 20th century puffed on their pipes while they pondered deep thoughts: Bertrand Russell, Carl Jung, Jean-Paul Sartre, William Faulkner, George Bernard Shaw and, of course, Einstein, who once said, "I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs."

For generations, young men entering college began smoking pipes as a signal that they were joining the high priesthood of knowledge. A.A. Milne, the pipe smoker who created Winnie the Pooh, wrote this about his college days: "At eighteen I went to Cambridge and bought two pipes in a case. In those days, Greek was compulsory, but not more so than two pipes in a case."

Even Sammy Davis Jr. took up the pipe when he lived in London, keeping a corncob in the breast pocket of his natty tweed suit, a look he found classy.

On both sides of the Atlantic, the pipe became a pop symbol of contemplation and relaxation. Detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret were towering intellects who smoked pipes and solved crimes through rational deduction. Bing Crosby exhibited his ease, his cool , by holding a pipe while he crooned.

And in the early days of television, sitcom dads like Robert Young in "Father Knows Best" and Fred MacMurray in "My Three Sons" were wise paternal figures who effortlessly solved all family problems while puffing calmly.

Now, however, contemplation and relaxation are pretty much passe in a pop culture that has come to prefer the quick and the dumb to the slow and the wise.

Today, detectives solve crimes with guns. Pop singers are more likely to bite the head off a bat than puff on a meerschaum. And Homer Simpson, the sitcom dad of our day, doesn't inhale a pipe and exhale wisdom. He sucks up vast quantities of Duff beer and belches out "D'oh!"

The pipe is a relic of those bygone days when dads wanted to look -- and act -- like grown-ups. These days, dads hope to remain young and hip, and they're likely to appear in public wearing sneakers, shorts, a replica of their favorite quarterback's jersey and a backward baseball cap.

You can't smoke a pipe wearing a backward baseball cap. It just wouldn't work. It would be like presiding over the U.S. Supreme Court while wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

Fiddle vs. Burn
"I started smoking a pipe in the Navy," says Berkebile of Georgetown Tobacco. "My father never smoked one, but my brother did. I used to smell the inside of it. He smoked a cherry blend and it smelled good. There was a lot of nostalgia with that odor."

Berkebile, 65, is sitting in his office in the attic above his store. He flicks a lighter and fires up a cigar. He stopped smoking a pipe years ago.

"I don't have the patience for it anymore," he says.

When Berkebile founded the store, back in the mid-'60s, well over half his business was pipes and pipe tobacco. "In those days," he says, "college kids came into the store in groups and started smoking pipes." Now pipes account for only about 10 percent of his sales.

"The pace of life today is much faster, and people don't have the time to smoke a pipe," he says. "They don't make the time."

Pipe smoking takes a lot of time and a lot of bother -- tamping and tapping and scraping and cleaning and lighting and relighting and re-relighting. It's fiddling-intensive activity. And maybe people just don't like fiddling anymore. Or maybe they'd rather be fiddling with their computer. Or they just don't have the patience anymore. Berkebile doesn't.

"Pipe smoking isn't convenient," Berkebile says. "You have to have tools. You have to have pipe cleaners. If you're on the go, you have to take all that stuff with you."

Walter Gorski, vice president of Georgetown Tobacco, wanders in. He sits down, takes out a pipe, fills it with tobacco and lights it up. Now 37, he started smoking a pipe back in college.

"It was one of the only things that kept my dorm room from smelling like a sewer," he says, laughing.

Inspired, Berkebile snuffs out his cigar, rummages around the office and returns with a pipe. He fills it with a pinch of Gorski's tobacco, tamps it down and lights it up. Aromatic smoke curls toward the ceiling while the two men discuss the differences between pipe smokers and cigar smokers.

"Pipe smokers are hobby people," Berkebile says. "They like to collect things, esoteric stuff."

"Touchy-feely stuff," Gorski says.

"Contemplative stuff. Antiques," Berkebile says. "They're fly fishermen -- and fly tie-ers. And chess players."

Cigar smokers are too cranked up for contemplation, Berkebile says. "They're faster paced. Hard chargers. Type A's. They're more interested in better cars and better clothing. They're entrepreneurs, CEO types."

Berkebile's wife, Sandy Brudin, walks into the room. He gets up to greet her, then he announces that she married her first husband because he smoked a pipe.

She smiles sheepishly and acknowledges that there's a germ of truth to that story.

"He smelled nice," she says.

Pop's Culture
There's something about the smell of pipe tobacco that brings back memories of fathers and grandfathers and, yes, even ex-husbands.

"I remember my father smoking a pipe," Brudin says. "I remember liking the smell. It was a sweet smell, a comfortable smell. . . . My father smelled horsy. He rode horses and he smelled horsy, leathery and pipey. He was charming. He was handsome. Movie stars smoked pipes, and he smoked a pipe. It was dashing, and I thought he was dashing."

Allen Haddox, 55, a librarian at the American Insurance Association, still recalls the smell of his father's favorite pipe tobacco -- Dunhill No. 21. "It had a very strong, spicy aroma, kind of on the acrid side," he recalls. "Sort of like that smoky scent of the fall but sweeter."

His father worked at the State Department, and Haddox remembers the smell of his office. "I would visit him as a kid in the '60s and early '70s," he says. "That was the heyday of pipe smoking. My father worked in a room with at least 40 people and nearly everyone smoked a pipe. It was like going to the bazaar in Istanbul -- you get all kinds of different aromas. It was very exotic."

In America, we've pretty much obliterated aromas from our public places -- supermarkets smell about the same as airports these days -- but you can't deodorize the human memory.

Sara Newcombe, 25, a recent graduate of New York Law School, recalls the unmistakable smell of her father's pipe. "It was a really good smell -- vanilla and cherry and chocolate," she says. "I just remember it smelling really, really good."

Like a dad in some ancient New Yorker cartoon, her father would smoke his pipe after dinner, sitting in the den with the family dog curled up at his feet.

"It was just a very relaxed time," she says. "He'd be sitting in his den, in his study, and he would give us wise advice. My dad is very wise."

A passing whiff of pipe smoke on the street can bring back the memory of that scene, she says.

But these days, she adds a little wistfully, "it doesn't happen very often."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company