# Women and pipes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 7, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330 "2013-11-07T14:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/1 "2013-11-07T14:32:55Z")
For some reason while at work I started thinking about pipes. The next thought that entered my mind is that it I’ve never known of a woman who would smoke a pipe. l’ve known several who’ve used cigarettes, cigars and snuff, but not pipes. Other than the stereotype of the old hillbilly woman on a rocker smoking a corncob pipe it seems women just don’t get into them. Just curious if there are women out there in ‘Dopeland’ who have smoked or tried a pipe and what did you think about it. I’m not a smoker and have no interest in trying, but if I ever did, I think a pipe would be the cooler way to go. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/2 "2013-11-07T14:38:23Z")
I knew some women in college who occasionally smoked a pipe. It looked a little like [this](http://canadianhempco.com/canadianhempimages/metalpipe2.jpg), and they weren’t packing tobacco in it. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/3 "2013-11-07T15:16:16Z")
Drug paraphernalia aside, I’ve never known a woman who smoked a pipe and can’t imagine it looking good. I’m sure there’s some photos of normally hot women still looking hot with a pipe but it’s not anything that’ll _enhance_ your look in my opinion. Then again, most men don’t benefit from holding a pipe either unless they’re a wizard, British detective, Indian chief or a snowman. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/4 "2013-11-07T15:55:32Z")
A friend of mine used to occasionally smoke a tobacco pipe when she was a grad student in her 20s back in the mid-1970s. She looked kind of cute. It’s been decades since she’s smoked at all, though. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/5 "2013-11-07T15:59:01Z")
right away i thought of Jane Withers. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/6 "2013-11-07T16:01:50Z")
Ursula K. LeGuin smokes a pipe, or she used to. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/7 "2013-11-07T16:22:19Z")
I once had a female colleague who used to smoke a pipe. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/8 "2013-11-07T16:34:42Z")
I have known a few women who smoked tobacco pipes, but I was involved in a pipe smokers community back in Los Angeles at the time. The main reason, I think, why you don’t see it more often is that pipes themselves just aren’t seen that often and these days lots of the people you see smoking them under the age of 60something are hipsters trying to be anachronistic/ironic/generally awful. Pipes are seen as a masculine thing so they end up falling into the same category as the ironic handlebar mustache. So the hipster women generally pass it by. Which is a shame. Of all the various ways I have chosen to partake of tobacco, pipe smoking was by far the most enjoyable, but the barrier to entry is a bit high. It’s expensive (to get started, very cheap once you are set up) and requires you to learn a bit of a skill in order to have it be pleasant. Smoking a cigarette is just easier. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/9 "2013-11-07T16:59:23Z")
I used a [medwakh](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Midwakh.JPG/800px-Midwakh.JPG) to smoke dokha (Iranian tobacco) on and off for about a year–usually just when I ran out of ciggies and was too tired or lazy to make a trip to the gas station. I threw it away in January, after I quit smoking. I never really took it out in public. It looked borderline paraphernalic. It’s not really something you can smoke in a car, either, because you have to keep lighting it for every hit. I can’t really see getting into the classic Sherlock-Holmes-style pipes, though. Cleaning them out seems like a hassle. When I smoked, I wanted to smoke for just a couple of minutes, not half an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/10 "2013-11-07T19:11:20Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > . . . Pipes are seen as a masculine thing so they end up falling into the same category as the ironic handlebar mustache. So the hipster women generally pass it by. Which is a shame. Now that you mention it, I don’t recall ever seeing a female person with an ironic handlebar mustache either. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/11 "2013-11-07T20:38:22Z")
> [@senegoid](#): > > now that you mention it, i don’t recall ever seeing a female person with an ironic handlebar mustache either. exactly! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/12 "2013-11-07T20:52:18Z")
I thought some Congresswoman smoked a pipe. IIRC the Lacey character in _Doonesbury_ was based on her. This was probably twenty five years ago. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/13 "2013-11-07T21:46:04Z")
Former Representative Millicent Fenwick (R-NJ) was known to smoke a tobacco pipe. She’s died a couple decades ago. I haven’t read _Doonesbury_ and don’t know if the character is connected to her. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/14 "2013-11-07T22:57:50Z")
I had a high school teacher who smoked a tobacco pipe. She died at least a decade ago, but she was known for it. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/15 "2013-11-07T23:24:32Z")
We [had a Doper here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=693316) (female, I’m guessing from the username) who was looking for advice on how to start smoking a pipe, but I don’t think she ever told us whether she actually tried it or not. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/16 "2013-11-08T02:56:02Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > l’ve known several who’ve used cigarettes, cigars and snuff, but not pipes. I’ve never seen a woman smoke a cigar in public. And for that matter I don’t know anyone who uses snuff (unless you’re talking about chewing tobacco). ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/17 "2013-11-08T03:03:24Z")
How soon I forget! Who’s the stand-in to Professor Hagrid in Care of Magical Creatures? She uses a pipe. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/18 "2013-11-08T03:22:01Z")
Maybe someone needs to design a feminine pipe? ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/19 "2013-11-08T03:57:54Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > I’ve never seen a woman smoke a cigar in public. And for that matter I don’t know anyone who uses snuff (unless you’re talking about chewing tobacco). I agree, it is rare. I new some girls in high school who chewed tobacco and some older women who used snuff. When in college and when I first came to Houston, I would frequent a few bars where there were women smoking cigars. This was a few years ago, so I’m not sure how much that still goes on. ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330/20 "2013-11-08T12:22:01Z")
Mammy Yokum. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-and-pipes/673330.md?page=2)