How many of you pipe smokers prefer to drive a car with a manual transmission? I started thinking that the nature of pipe smoking vs cigar or cigarette smoking is akin to the difference between a straight drive and an automatic.

Folks who prefer a manual like the feeling of being in touch with their vehicle. They like the added control the stick provides. The driving be comes a whole experience, not just a way to get from A to B.

To smoke a pipe you have to be willing to take responsibility and control for your smoking experience. YOU take charge in selecting just the right tobacco to match the pipe, fill it just the way you like it, and control the burn to provide the best possible smoke.

Cigarette smokers in particular are likely to just see the ciggie as just a nicotine delivery device, getting them (metaphorically) from point A to B.

Am I on to something here? Who likes the stick vs automatic tranny?

I enjoy a manual transmission, but not when in rush hour traffic.

It's all I've ever had.

Yes, i know its a old thread.
Let me answer this way, this is the list of cars i have had.

1 st and current car: Volvo 850 GLT - Manual
2 nd and current car: Vw Vanagon / Caravelle - Manual
3 rd Sold: Volvo 940 Turbo - Manual
4 Th Sold: BMW 325 - Manual
5 th current farm toy: Nissan Laurel - Manual

I would prefer Auto as an A to B car, but i enjoy driving so much i cant get myself to buy one

Prefer manual; bad left knee dictates automatic.

You might be onto something...
My pleasure car is a manual, and I generally smoke a pipe while behind the wheel. But my ugly old work van is automatic (not out of choice, just the cheapest rust bucket that won't break down when I load half a ton of rubbish in it), and when I drive that I often take in a sacrilegious cigarette instead.
Different needs are met by different vehicles, and likewise by different smokes.

I learned to drive stick as soon as I was tall enough to reach the peddles. My mother refused to drive my dads car and because of the shape of our driveway (and the number of project cars my dad and uncle were always working on) we were always shuffling cars around so whoever needed to leave first in the morning would be the first car in line. Mom hit the mailbox once, bucked and stalled and that was it. It was me and my dad and I'll tell you, it made me feel like king of the world.

I bought my first car, an old Saturn with a 5 speed, when I was commuting into the Bronx and then into Brooklyn by way of the George Washington Bridge. Talk about rush hour. 16 miles would take roughly 1hr and 45min.

Yup, manual for me. Getting harder to come by, unfortunately. Tried teaching the wife, she nearly put the car through the neighbors garage. That was the end of that. We're replacing one of cars soon, fortunately its hers so I'll have 3 more years with mine, but I'm worried that after that I'll be nagged into something automatic.

I had an interesting experience once, I parked it in a lot in Washington Heights, near Columbia Pres. It was an open air lot and I was walking out of the lot when the dude, who didn't really speak English, came running after me. He was making a fist and moving it forward and backward (sort of like a horizontal fist pump.) Took me a second to realized that he was trying to tell me that he couldn't drive stick. So he pointed to where he wanted it and I had to park it myself.

I like a stick. Makes me more of a part of the driving experience. These people who like those paddle shifters on their autos because they think they are shifting just makes me think of little kids playing grown-up. Read a newspaper article the other day. Live north of Detroit (gasp). Someone tried to hijack a car. Pointed a gun at the owner, told him to get out and run. Owner did so, called the cops. Cops arrived, walked out to where the incident happened. Car still there. Looked around, found the dumba$$ who was still in the area. Car was a stick, dumba$$ couldn't drive one and too stupid to disappear!

standard transmissions only. all my cars have been, i get bored when i drive an automatic.
learned to drive with a 1981 VW Diesel Pickup, then got a 1982 vw Jetta, diesel of course. and then a 67 bug. sold the jetta, and now have the other two and a 1996 BMW 318Ti. learned to drive on a standard, and unless i get injured, will continue to drive a standard.

Manuel is the only way to drive. It increases the experience of driving.

My cars have all be manuals. Even though shifting makes it harder to smoke a pipe at times