05.19.2010
Ceci est une pipe (1)
Like the bicycle, a neither-nor vehicle that’s unwelcome both on the street and the sidewalk, the pipe is a neither-nor vehicle for tobacco-smoke. To the lowbrow cigarette smoker, the pipe-smoker is a highbrow snob. To the sophisticated cigar connoisseur, the pipe-smoker is a lowbrow tobacco addict. HiLobrow endorses pipe-smoking (in moderation, naturally), on the grounds that — as Edward Bulwer-Lytton put it, “A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan.”
***
First in a series of twelve items celebrating the pipe’s role in hilobrow culture.
Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based writer, publisher, and cultural semiologist-for-hire. He does business as KING MIXER, LLC.
He is coauthor and/or co-editor of TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY, THE IDLER'S GLOSSARY, THE WAGE SLAVE'S GLOSSARY, the object-oriented story collection SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS, and the kids' field guide to life UNBORED. He is co-founder of the websites HILOBROW and SEMIONAUT; and co-founder of the science fiction imprint HILOBOOKS. He produced and co-designed the iPhone app KER-PUNCH. He manages a secretive online community known as THE HERMENAUTIC CIRCLE.
In the '00s, Glenn was an editor, columnist, blogger (BRAINIAC), and new media producer at the BOSTON GLOBE. In the '90s, among other things, he published the philosophy/pop culture zine HERMENAUT; co-produced the DIY website and early online social network TRIPOD; and was an editor at UTNE READER.
Print this page
Tu prétends fumer une pipe, M. Glenn? Je pense pas . . .
Which part of “celebrating the pipe’s role in hilobrow culture” failez-vous to understand?
I’m going to have to voyez it to believe it ; )
A pipe does up the sartorial ante, you know
Yeah, pipes are a little trop facile to celebrate. Make mine snuff.
Yeah, where does Skoal fit in here? I know: a pinch between the cheek and gum.
Which part of “vehicle for tobacco-smoke” failez-vous to understand?
Kidding aside, questions of the pipe’s place vis-a-vis snuff & Mail Pouch, Drum & Zig-Zag papers, Kools & Marlboros & Players Navy Cut, cuts to the heart of the HiLo matrix. Of course, the HiLo matrix doesn’t offer protection against oral cancers.