“A pipe in the mouth makes it clear that there has been no mistake–you are undoubtedly a man.”
-A. A. Milne
In a photo album I think my grandfather received for his 50th birthday (1954), there are several photos of him smoking a pipe. I vaguely remember that from my childhood as well, but I think perhaps he mostly smoked outdoors.
The top left photo in the collage is one of my favourites from the old albums. It shows my grandparents at the well on the property they (or my grandfather) bought in the spring of 1930. The house was built over the summer and they got married in the autumn the same year. The well would have been built before the house; and indeed there is also a bill dated 26 April 1930 which does not only serve to date this photo to around that time, but also informs that the well was built by their future brother-in-law (he married my grandmother's sister later the same year). The other two men in the photos above are named in the album, but unknown to me. My grandfather was a journalist, so met quite a lot people.
Linking to: Sepia Saturday 561
14 comments:
center bottom with hat and pipe n mouth, makes me think of my dad, he had that same look when I was a child... my dad's brother always had a pipe in his mouth, he was trying to break the cigarette smoking habit. i loved his cherry pipe tobacco smell.
I agree about the top left photo, it tells a story. Funny, you don't see near as many men with pipes nowadays. My great-grandfather smoked one all the time. He used a tobacco in it called Cherry Blend, and it smelled divine! But of course likely quite unhealthy.
It seemed that ever man smoked a pipe when I was a youngster. I always thought that it gave a man an air of calmness.
More elegant than a cigarette and usually a good scent to go with it. Great photos of men with pipes.
Your post brought back memories of my grandfather . I remember as a child watching him light up his pipe,
My paternal grandfather smoked cigars (I have a photo of him holding one.) My Dad smoked cigarettes. But my husband smoked a cigar when we were first married. I always laugh about that because that first Christmas after we were married when my Mom asked what his favorite tobacco was, thinking to give him some as a gift, I told her he smoked Amorpha. You'd think I could remember the proper name of the tobacco I bought for him every shopping trip! ("Amphora" - although 'Amorpha' is probably more appropriate in a way.)
The well picture is lovely, but my favourite here is the bottom right one - an elegant and kind-looking gentleman!
When I was a kid, for a while my Dad experimented with pipes. He had always been a smoker of cigarettes, and we were used to that, but the pipes were different - the tobacco smelled nicer, and a small array of pipes looked rather nice on a shelf in the living room next to his usual seat. I don't really remember how and why he gave up pipes; he remained a heavy cigarette smoker until 2018 when he was forcibly weaned off them during his hospital stay.
Sandra, I don't think my grandfather used to smoke much indoors (or at least not when I was around), as I don't really recall the smell. No one else in the close family smoked.
Ginny, I only associate pipe-smoking with men of my grandfather's generation (and I did not even come across many of those, I think). But I grew up in an otherwise basically non-smoking family. I never smoked myself and never could stand the smell of cigarettes. I was relieved when smoking indoors in restaurants was banned here in 2005 (had to look that up). Nowadays it's even banned at open air cafés and entrances to public places, and I understand smoking has gone down quite a lot in later years.
Graham, I seem to recall seeing old photos of your father with a pipe in hand, too?
Kathy, I don't think I ever liked the smell, but I also can't quite recall it, which makes me think my grandfather probably mostly smoked outdoors. Or at least when we were visiting.
LaN, no one else in my close family smoked at all, and I can't recall that I've ever actually seen anyone smoking a cigar except on film!
Meike, as no one else in my close family smoked, the few people I met in early childhood who did tend to "stand out" in my memory. I never liked the smell and never felt tempted to smoke myself, even in my teens. Pipe-smoking I associate only with old men, with one notable exception: One girl in my upper secondary school class!
I don't have pipe smokers, but if we ever need a cigar photo, I'm ready.
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