Despite Risks, More Young People Light Up; 'It Looked Like the Coolest Thing Ever'
Jump to full article: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, 2009-02-20
Author: MARY PILON
Intro: Dan Nemets, a sophomore at Central Michigan University, likes the TV show "Family Guy," heavy-metal musician Ozzy Osbourne and a good pipe.
Mr. Nemets took up pipe smoking 18 months ago . . .
Friday is International Pipe-Smoking Day, when a number of puffers will unite to protest tobacco taxes and smoking bans. They will also engage in slow-smoking competitions to see who can keep a pipe going the longest. Each contestant is given just two matches. Events, which will go on all weekend, are promoted by the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.
. . .
Health advocates may warn of oral cancer, mouth lesions and rotting teeth, but Mr. Nemets and his online brethren are in the vanguard of an unlikely set of smokers taking to the brier -- people in their 20s.
"They're eager to learn," says 71-year-old Vernon E. Vig, president of the New York Pipe Club and the United Pipe Clubs of America. . . .
sales of pipe tobacco are rising again after years of decline, and many think young smokers are the reason. . . .
Pipe-smoking groups on social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have attracted thousands of members. Questions in the forums include: A bent or straight pipe? . . .
"It's a misconception that pipe smoking is a healthy alternative," says Thomas J. Glynn, director, cancer science and trends, for the American Cancer Society. Dr. Glynn says that pipe smoking has been associated with oral cancers and lesions of the lip, tongue and gums which can cause severe facial disfiguration.
Youthful pipe smokers seem to think the habit is less harmful than smoking cigarettes because the smoke isn't inhaled.
Jump to full article » |