ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 15, 1996 TAG: 9612160080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-16 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
When Joliet attorney Doug Sullivan recently was offered a fat cigar by a co-worker, he grimaced and shook his head no. Cigars, Sullivan explained, are passe.
Now when the 32-year-old Sullivan smokes, he lights up a pipe. He is considerably younger and less wrinkled than the images of venerable pipe smokers like Sherlock Holmes, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and is just the type helping revitalize the pipe industry.
Even as the cigar craze continues to spread, the pipe and tobacco industry is perking up as well, luring in smokers who want to try something different and distinct. Meanwhile, those who abandoned the practice in the no-smoking 1980s are digging out their old pipes, encouraged by the explosion of cigar-smoking rooms in restaurants and bars.
Pipe tobacco sales are expected to increase 24.8 percent over the next year, according to a recent market survey conducted by Raleigh, N.C.-based Communication Technology.
The research firm also says sales are growing for two of the most popular types of pipe - briars, made from briarwood and by far the most popular type, and meerschaums, the second-most popular type. The latter are made of a white claylike material.
``I just can't get them out fast enough,'' said Park Forest pipemaker Clarence Mickels, 59, who has been carving pipes since 1976. ``I've got stores in California and on the East Coast who want pipes, and I'm putting in 18 hours some days.''
And while women generally aren't smoking pipes themselves, some are buying them for their cigar-smoking husbands for Christmas, hoping to encourage a habit with a less offensive aroma.
``It's not just cigar smokers who are turning to pipes, it's people trying to quit cigarettes, too,'' observed Gift and Tobacco Emporium owner Harry Yablon. ``Guys also pick up corncobs just to test them and then move on to real pipes.''
Despite the recent surge, pipe smoking still has a long way to go before it matches its previous peak of popularity. In 1970, an estimated 52 million pounds of pipe tobacco was sold, compared with 7.5 million in 1996, according to the Washington D.C.-based Pipe Tobacco Council. What encourages tobacconists is that the rate of decline is slowing from year to year and may be bottoming out.
``The feeling among pipe tobacco companies is that as more people walk into tobacco shops to buy cigars, they smell the aroma, pass the blending bars and the pipe displays, and they'll start to purchase pipes and tobacco,'' said Norman Sharp, president of the Pipe Tobacco Council and Cigar Association. ``Pipe evenings are taking place for pipe smokers just as they are for cigar smokers. They're just not as widespread.''
The cigar rage really began to take off in 1992, when Marvin Shanken launched the slick magazine Cigar Aficionado, sending cigar sales soaring.
The pipe industry responded by launching the quarterly Pipes and Tobaccos Magazine last year.
``There are a lot more pipe smokers out there than people realize,'' said Pipes and Tobaccos Editor Dayton Matlick. ``I've had an outpouring of people saying, `Thank God, finally something about pipes!'''
The Pipe Tobacco Council estimates that of the 3 million pipe smokers nationwide, 90 percent are white males and 46 percent graduated from college.
The Pipe Tobacco Council says most pipe smokers are in clerical, sales or technical fields, followed by those who work in precision crafts and repair.
It makes sense; many pipe smokers love the ritual and careful attention it takes to smoke a pipe.
Pipes can be hand-carved and personalized, and collectors see them as wooden sculptures that require upkeep and polishing.
``It's the process and complicated nature of smoking that is so appealing,'' said Jeff Price, 36, of Glenview, Ill. ``It's kind of like making tea. You have to get the tobacco just right and keep it lit just right. There's a delicate little balance. It forces you to sit and adopt a relaxed mind-set.''
Not everyone is excited about the resurgence of pipes. The American Cancer Society reports that pipe and cigar smokers experience overall mortality rates slightly higher than those of nonsmokers, but substantially lower than cigarette smokers.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB