If you're not a hobbit or a college professor, smoking a pipe is a differentiator.
It's a signal to the world that your tastes run in a slightly unusual direction. The character played by Chion Wolf's brother Michael Gladis in the early seasons of Mad Men was one of those people. Always looking for a way to be different. Hence the ever present pipe.
The other major social meaning of pipe smoking has to do with thought. Sherlock Holmes even describes mental puzzles in terms of how many bowlfuls they will take to solve. And Gandalf, in one of Tolkien's lesser works, talks about the virtues of the pipe for clearing the mind of its shadows.
If those two examples are too fictional for you, consider that Einstein said pretty much the same thing. Today on the show, we consider the recent uptick in pipe smoking. And yes, there will be health warnings. I promise.
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