Anyone else enjoying "The SON" on AMC ?

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standaman

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I'm really enjoyed the first episode of "The Son" with Pierce Brosnan. It's a new series on AMC, set in turn of the century South Texas. A period piece about Texas oil versus the Mexican and Native American population. Pierce plays the patriarch of this family and he is shown often smoking a PIPE!!! He's smoking a half bent billiard with a smooth finish, a dark walnut stain and a tapered fishtail stem with a silver or nickel stem band. I believe it might be a Peterson Aran #69. He not only smokes it often but there's a scene where the camera focuses on the top of the bowl, with a few ribbons of stray tobacco catching fire as he methodically takes match to his bowl and draws a few deep puffs from his trusted friend. This was clearly shot by a pipe lover. And Pierce is the picture of a man's man. Handsome, bearded, rugged. He's clearly going to be the next Kevin Costener quietly promoting pipe smoking for a new generation. I already began scouring my collection to find the exact same pipe as his. The new "Devil Anse"! I also just bought a Peterson 69 Flame Grain that comes with both the black vulcanite stem and a faux Amber acrylic stem, just in case I don't have the exact same pipe. I have tons of Aran's. Some quite similar. But not THAT pipe!! Where are all my PAD brothers out there?
Check out the show. I like where it's going, but as a pipe smoker, I LOVE this show. I'd love to hear your opinion on what that pipe he's smoking is? It could be an old WCD from the turn of the twentieth century, but I need to know more.

Keep Smokin', Stan
,
 
Looks to be as good a guess as any. I'll try to watch it if I can. An actual pipe smoker, "in public," actually smoking a pipe! Someone must notify the authorities at once!

 
Yeah that's the point. I'm feeling like I've been seeing more examples like these recently. Maybe pipe smoking is seeing a new level of acceptance in today's culture? Anyway I love movies with lots of pipes in them. We all know the list of pipe friendly flicks like "The Quiet Man" and stars like Lee Van Cleef. That's why "The Hatfield's and The McCoy's" made such an impact. I wouldn't be shocked to see Peterson 69s start to fly off the shelves, while already being a very popular, perennial choice. Why am I (or we) so influenced by seeing an actor in a movie smoke a pipe? I'll admit that when I see an actor like Cary Grant smoke a straight lumberman in "The Philadelphia Story" or "Mr Blandings Builds A House" I run to find that same pipe, to smoke along with Cary. I do it every time. And I love studying these pipes in the film to decipher exactly what brand and model is being smoked. It's kinda ridiculous!

Stan
 
I plead guilty. Bought a Todd Harris Devil Anse after seeing Hatfields and McCoys. Bought a leather-covered pipe after seeing Charlie Varick. Have a strong preference for straight billiards after seeing a zillion actors smoke them in movies. Fighter pilots, etc. James Mason's Rommel in some movie I forget the name of. Bents channel Sherlock Holmes. Or Lee Van Cleef. Cobs channel Mark Twain. Doesn't explain my liking for bulldogs, though.
 
I must own a dozen or so devil anse pipes. Ever since the movie, I knew I had to have that pipe. Started with Moonshine Pipe Co. Bought half a dozen of those. But the proportions were never quite right. Found what may be the truest rendition made by Paul Menard. It's dark stained, short shanked with just the right forward can't if the bowl and absolutely no frills. Exactly what Anse would have smoked. And my favorite is a Charles Gousard I bought from Blue Zroom Briars. It's got beautiful straight grain, with a plump bowl, lightly stained, and again no frills. It smokes great!
 
standaman":d2ym7ces said:
Yeah that's the point. I'm feeling like I've been seeing more examples like these recently. Maybe pipe smoking is seeing a new level of acceptance in today's culture?
Not likely. More that prop specialists are either more interested in the period details, or like so many other professions, they're victim to conformity. If one show from X period has a pipe, at least in the subconscious, "That's a good idea and we should have it in our show." Same goes for writers, actors, and directors when building their characters prior to filming. In other words, my bet is on the creative more than anything. I wouldn't put a dull dime on the transference into the everyday world of today.

Thanks to shows like Mad Men, where the research, set design, wardrobe, and props people were taking things to new levels of accuracy and art, I believe other teams have upped their game. Don't get me wrong. There were shows and movies plenty before Mad Men that showed expertise, but Mad Men had entire message boards and blog communities taking about every tiny detail for days. By two or three years into the series, they had no choice but to be precision accurate. Otherwise, they'd get called out for it and be blamed for costing the level of the show. And then the awards started coming, and that doesn't hurt to drive people to do exemplary work. I think that kind of other area of accolade has bled into the industry as a whole. If you're going to find work in Hollywood doing this stuff, you're expected to know details and history.

Thanks for reminding me. I got used to Saturday nights being catch-up nights for all the stuff I couldn't see during the week. I forgot that AMC used it for new programming, starting with Hell on Wheels.
 
You're absolutely right Zeno Mark. I don't think that there's any real change in public opinion and certainly the anti smoking zealots. I'm referring to the younger, hipster crowd that seems to be more accepting of the pipe as an alternative. To that end, seeing pipes in any popular and positive light is a good thing for the future of our hobby. You are correct that Hollywood has no pro smoking agenda. But period pieces allow these things to remind us that pipes and cigars and even cigarettes were commonplace facets of life, even if only as nostalgia. If you watch the scene where he lights his pipe, with the camera so focuses on the top view of the bowl, it reminded me of a video tutorial on the proper way to light a bowl. It was a brief and insignificant scene. But it didn't get edited for a reason. And I think someone there loves pipes.
 
I think if you want to appeal to the hipster crowd, it might be best to bring attention to flavors. While they're heavily into aesthetics, they're also generally health conscious and into food. They go after good tastes and healthy living. I think there is an argument to be made for materialism, because they're the ones buying $500 handmade boots, but I also think they have the odd dichotomy of quasi-minimalism and anti-materialism that stems from the sharing economy. I don't know how you accent the great variation of flavors to be found in pipe smoking, but if someone in the tobacco industry hit me up for an advertising campaign to pull in young people, that's where I'd attempt to begin. You could sell it to them right next to cooking, wines, whiskey, and whatever other flavors they chase. Really, it's like my own story many years ago. Being interested in pipes came after falling in love with the flavors. If not for the flavors, the pipes would have never mattered.
 
Very good show and Brosnan is the sort of contained actor who doesn't have to work hard to keep your attention. I think pipe smoking is an avocation that comes with various barriers to entry that have to be overcome before the smoker gets near enjoying flavor.  And by the time a smoker gets to that point (them that perseveres) he/she may notice that it's just so relaxing they like it a lot. Plus it's an avocation that offers a lot of really neat hardware to finger and admire. Pipes convey an aura of calm restraint and thoughtfulness which always has a (limited) market. But there are those barriers to entry that have to be overcome, kind of like fly fishing or golf, which also are largely based on a stoic knack for getting by the torturous beginning to get at the enjoyment and all the interesting stuff.
 
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