The Smoking Pipe Isn’t Just for the Old - It’s for the Mindful

The Beginning of My Pipe Journey

I'd like to begin by sharing my thoughts from when I first got into pipe smoking.

I was exactly eighteen years old, and like many of you, when I heard the word pipe, I immediately pictured an “old” person. But what also crossed my mind—and what puzzled me—was the image of someone wise. I was extremely curious about smoking pipes and pipe tobaccos, and this whole experience intrigued me deeply.

When I started, I can honestly say that—except for one or two friends—everyone around me found it odd. I'm thirty-two now, and even today, people still find it strange that I smoke a pipe. But you can't imagine how much more bewildered they are when they find out I run a YouTube channel about it. You see, in most people’s minds, a pipe is something smoked by someone over fifty, reading a book in their living room. And for someone like me, who’s lived life at full speed, the pipe seems too slow. But that’s exactly what makes it so beautiful—it's unexpected. It's strange because pipe smoking isn't for everyone—and it never will be.

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Understanding Pipe Smoking: Hobby, Not Habit

I'm glad that the word pipe doesn’t instantly evoke thoughts of severe addiction. This is a hobby—not, as many assume, an old man’s habit. The biggest proof of that is our community. There's such a strong awareness of using the pipe in the healthiest way possible—without falling into nicotine addiction or using it to satisfy such a dependency—that now, more than ever, I understand why the word “wisdom” came to mind back then.

Friends, tobacco is harmful to your health. But so is stress. Exhaust fumes, carcinogenic packaging, microplastics—they're all harmful too. I firmly believe that someone who smokes two or three cigarettes a day purely for pleasure, or enjoys a few bowls of pipe tobacco in the evenings, is unlikely to suffer a tobacco-related illness. The greatest harm to health is addiction. The essential thing is to make sure everything stays under your control.

From this perspective, the awareness among young adults—and even younger generations—is quite high. And in that context, pipe smoking can be just a hobby. It shouldn’t become an addiction or be used so frequently that it becomes harmful.

But here's one thing that's certain: pipe smoking is not just for the elderly! The joy of slowly puffing on your favorite blend while watching a movie and sipping your coffee cannot be limited by age. Yes, unlike cigarettes or cigars, the pipe isn’t something that naturally fits into our social lives. That, I think, is what creates the "old man" stereotype—because older people are often isolated from social life, too. But I personally think it’s wonderful that pipe smoking doesn’t need to be part of our social lives.

And yet, ironically, even though pipe smoking isn’t a vehicle for social interaction, and even though it belongs to such a tiny niche market, pipe communities are some of the most loyal, highest-quality, and most refined communities in the world. We’re using one of the oldest ways of consuming tobacco, and just like with other things, tobacco isn’t the only concern here. For us, the pipe is as important as the tobacco itself—if not more.

This is, after all, a culture. A culture with its own rituals. And look—we’ve found yet another reason for the "old man" image.

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Refined Pleasures in a Rapid World

I believe we’re entering an era where we’ll begin to understand what we’ve sacrificed on the road from slow and joyful things to fast and soulless ones—like from classic cars to flying cars. Why didn’t vinyl records disappear? Why are classic cars still classic? From this angle, it becomes even easier to see why pipe communities are among the most loyal and distinguished on the planet. As we approach the end of the 21st century, people will better grasp what this ever-accelerating progress—and the pursuit of speed itself—has dulled and sacrificed. You don’t need to be a scholar to see this; just study the painting “Les Mousquetaires du Roi” by Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel from 1885. No AI-generated image will ever be studied or admired with that level of attention.

Refined tastes, quality pursuits, aesthetics and art—high culture is not just for the elderly. I understood this even more clearly when my eleven-year-old nephew Ata passionately talked to me about Roman history, World War II, the Middle Ages, and the Codex Cumanicus.

May your smoke be plentiful and cool, my friends.

-Hakan Badik