On Tobacco Regulation

[Sigmund]

Yea ,that's basically a cheapo pipe. Like I said, the pipes I advised on, both low and high end, are good purchases for your future, better, pipes.

You'll be amazed by how much of a difference in smoking quality there really is, especially if you're smoking better brands of tobacco. And since pipe smoking is all about pleasure, there's no point in doing it half-assed. Its like drinking cheap wine, or cheap whiskey, there's really no point. But like wine and whiskey, you don't actually  have to spend a fortune and go "top of the line" to have a good experience, either. The pleasure level works on a kind of bell curve.

RPGPundit

I believe it. When our economic priorities allow, I will be following your advice for sure. I was looking at the Petersen pipes on the knoxcigar website, and those would definitely be in my price range.

[Dominus Nox]

Smokers are just the group that's been pushed into the barrell by societies need to have a group to persecute, harass, abuse, etc.

For some reason every society seems to need at least one group in the barrel. Even a moderately sized community seems to need it's 'acceptable target', which is why so many gamers rant on and on about "CPMs" and "FBs".

I remember a truly awful, stupid movie made by the SNL crew, i think, in which an african nation wanted to buy a large number of poor white people from America in order to bring them to their country and make them the persecuted minority, because they had everything they needed to become a major nation EXCEPT a persecuted minority.

OK, stupid movie, but I think there was a kernel of truth in it, human societies just seem to need someone to shit on, and various groups end up getting pushed into the barrel: overweight people, nerds, geeks and now smokers.

I think the only way out of the barrel is to wait until a new group gets pushed in, or to become extremely violent. After all, in most american media you can't say a damn thing critical of violent groups even if it is completely true.