Excursus: The Pipe as Rhetorical Artifact

Perhaps you may have noticed that smoking pipes are cropping up more lately in film and public consciousness. To be fair, pipes enjoyed a similar resurgence when Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings first came out ten years ago and many current, younger pipe smokers trace their initial interest to this film series. Still, I recently watched Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows during which I noticed more pipes than in the previous film. In the first film, Sherlock is the only pipe smoker but in the second film, Sherlock not only is a prominent pipe smoker but he smokes three different pipes. Also, other characters and random people passing by are smoking pipes throughout the film. Why is this? Why now?

The Three Pipe Problem

Of course pipe smoking is a significant part of both the Sherlock Holmes and Lord of the Rings (LTOR) canons. Still, with the anti-smoking gestalt today, why are movies including pipe smoking in the modern depictions? Certainly traditional pipe smokers identify with the Sherlock Holmes stories and many pipe smokers become "Holmesians" or those who study the Holmes cannon. Many pipe clubs, like the Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club of Boston, tie their identity to Holmes and Watson as the define themselves as pipe smokers. Some even emulate Holmes when they describe the severity of problems as taking one, two or three pipes to solve:

“As a rule,” said Holmes, “the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter.”

“What are you going to do, then?” I asked.

“To smoke,” he answered. “It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won’t speak to me for fifty minutes.” He curled himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.[1]

Perhaps fans of both Sherlock Holmes and LOTR represent niche groups or subcultures of geekdom (a collection of people who avidly follow and/or consume a certain genre or hobby) that have simply edged closer to mainstream consciousness. In order to attract the longterm fan of these stories, these movies use pipes as rhetorical touchstones to identify the film adaptations with these enthusiasts. Certainly pipes are identified with other subcultures of geekdom.

The Steampunk Pipe

Recently, the steampunk aesthetic is gaining in popularity. This genre has been showcased on episodes of Castle and many consider the recent Sherlock Holmes movies to be part of the steampunk movement. Definitions of steampunk are contested but overall it seems to be a retro-futuristic sub-culture of science fiction that focuses on an alternate Victorian Era history and steam power. A good explanation of this definition problem is found on Steampunk.com:

To me, Steampunk has always been first and foremost a literary genre, or least a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy that includes social or technological aspects of the 19th century (the steam) usually with some deconstruction of, reimagining of, or rebellion against parts of it (the punk). Unfortunately, it is a poorly defined subgenre, with plenty of disagreement about what is and is not included. [2]

Because steampunk identifies with Victorian England, many people who participate in this aesthetic use pipes to represent steampunk. Certainly many people smoked pipes during this era; in fact the Sherlock Holmes stories took place in Victorian London. Yeah, it was a good time to be a pipesmoker and many of the pipe styles we see today were originally shaped and defined during this time.

Often steampunk participants will use traditional briar, meerschaum or calabash pipes to define their characters but some pipe makers are experimenting with the genre in their pipecraft. For instance, this pipe was made by Nate King who enjoys the steampunk genre. Although he designed this pipe earlier, a steampunk author purchased this pipe and is going to incorporate it into his illustrations [3]. Nate is now looking at expanding his steampunk pipes into other styles and shapes; personally, I am looking forward to see how he incorporates gears into his designs.

Steampunk pipes seem to function in a similar manner to that of those portrayed in Sherlock Holmes and LOTR movies: they function as rhetorical touchstones that point the attention of the observer to those worlds created by the participants of the respective worlds. However, pipes are appearing more often in movies outside of these genres. Why is this?

The Hipster Pipe

Hipsters are becoming more popular in the USA. This group, once seen as a small sub-culture, is growing. More movies are being made depicting hipsters as mainstream or at least equal to being a young adult today. Hipsters are considered easy to recognize and are defined as:

America does have a long love affair with being hip — not only up to date and au courant, but ahead of the curve. The Urban Dictionary defines hipsters as "a subculture of men and women typically in their 20s and 30s who value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter." [4]

Apparently, many feel that hipsters are rejecting cigarettes and turning more and more to pipes. Pipes are turning up more and more in pictures of hipsters found at various websites like LATFH. Certainly "drug-treatment" organizations are taking notice:

While parents were busy warning against the dangers of cigarettes, two new dangerous habits have snuck in, drawing the attention of teens and young adults. Hookahs and pipes are finding popularity among a new generation of hipsters who think the habits are less dangerous. [5]

Traditionally, many pipe smokers can identify with some elements of the hipster. Pipe smokers are often seen as being more intelligent, independent, and even counter-cultural. However, many hipsters may be adopting pipe smoking because it is "so not cool it is cool." In this way, the pipe serves as a rhetorical touchstone that invokes images of Ward Cleaver or even Hugh Hefner circa 1960 but in ironic ways. In other words, the hipster pipe may serve as an ironic iconoclast to modern pop culture by reframing past cultural memory of 1955 in ways that are seen as individualistic or independent rather than collective norm.

The Rhetorical Pipe

Certainly pipes and pipe smoking is increasing in the public awareness through film. Whether or not these appearances are tailored for specific sub-cultures within American pop culture, pipes do serve as rhetorical artifacts within film, literature, and other media today. Pipes can set the mood of a scene, sell the authenticity of a character, identify with a specific genre or world, or even serve as a way to reject modern culture. It can invoke a sense of nostalgia or fantasy for the observer. For many, it is a defining characteristic of a chosen lifestyle. When you, O' Gentle Reader, see a pipe or pipe smoker, what do you think? What do you feel? How does it affect your life?

-Safari Bob

References
[1] The Red Headed League by Conan Doyle
[2] http://www.steampunk.com/what-is-steampunk/
[3] http://www.natekingpipes.com/2011/12/13-11-gear-punk/
[4] http://www.npr.org/2011/11/16/142387490/the-hipsterfication-of-america
[5] http://www.thecyn.com/drug-treatment/hipsters-turn-to-hookahs-pipes.html

Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

Dreadnought is the second book by Cherie Priest in the steampunk Clockwork Century series. The first book in the series, Boneshaker, was quite well received and features a strong female protagonist with memorable characters. She continues that tradition in this book.

As the story begins, we find the heroine of the story, Vinita "Mercy" Lynch, working in Virginia as a nurse in a war hospital that serves the South during this alternate history of America. She soon receives news that her husband, who was fighting for the Union, has died in a POW camp. Soon after, she learns that her estranged father, who she has not seen since she was very young, is deathly ill and he requests that she come to see him--in Seattle, WA. Having no reason to stay in Richmond, she decides to travel alone through the war, across a dangerous and unincorporated western prairie and over the Rocky Mountains to a strange city on the other side of the continent.

Along the way, she travels by dirigible, steam boat, and the infamous Union-operated steam engine Dreadnought, a terrifying weapon of war that often transports the dreadful steam-powered "walkers" of mass martial destruction. She also becomes involved in a political struggle between the Union, the Confederacy, the Texan Republic and Mexico--all seeking the answer to this question: What happened to a lost legion of Mexican soldiers and why are they eating people in Utah?

I quite enjoyed this book. I love the steampunk genre but Priest does a good job of writing her protagonist as an ordinary human being just doing her best to survive the strange circumstances in which she finds herself. Her narrative is tight, descriptive and introspective. For instance:

She felt alone, in the middle of everybody--even the other civilians who hunkered in the ceter passenger car and read books or played cards or sipped out of flasks to pass the time. She was the only medical professional of any sort on board, which meant that every stubbed toe, every rheumy eye, and every cough gravitated her way for analysis and treatment. It was the nature of the beast, she supposed, but even these small ailments did little to punctuate the wary boredom [1, p. 296].

This humanizing, descriptive prose also extends to action passages:

The hum started slow, and low; it began distant, and thundering, and rough. A cloud clearing its throat, or a mountain shrugging off a small avalanche. A windmill caught in a gale, shuddering and flapping. The conductor called for it, saying, "More hydrogen! Divert it from the secondary boiler! Just power the plow first--we won't move without it!" With more fuel, the hum came louder, and steadier. It went from the crooked fan blade, unbalanced and wobbling, to a smooth and vocal growl that rose up so loud that it almost (not quite, but almost) dampened the sound of Theodora Clay and the men in the passenger car firing; the Mexican inspector, still upright, still shooting, and now openly crying; and the undead hoards oncoming [1, p. 356].

Overall, this is a good, solid read that delivers action, adventure and dirigibles. What is not to love about that? It also touches on race relations, class distinctions and gender roles but all in the modern understanding of each. Still, if you enjoyed Boneshaker, this novel does provide a less pessimistic view of the world (even though its troubles deepen for the entire continent) while continuing the overall tale. I recommend it.

-Safari Bob

[1] Priest, C. (2010). Dreadnought. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN: 978-0-7653-2578-5