Pipe smoking in fiction (novels, TV, movies)

[Benzadmiral]

It turns out the Sherlock Holmes story "Adventure of the Yellow Face" not only contains a pipe, it provides Holmes a series of deductions about its owner. "A nice old briar, with a good long stem of what the tobacconists call amber. I wonder how many real amber mouthpieces there are in London. Some people think a fly in it is a sign. Why, it is quite a branch of trade, the putting of sham flies into the sham amber."

(Rereading this now after many years, I realize what a sharp dry wit Doyle gave his hero. I can just hear Jeremy Brett saying the lines.)

 

[Columbo]

All these great pipe characters and stories ... and we overlooked the one that every little boy grew up with. Popeye. Who else could eat spinach through a pipe, and then use it like an acetylene torch?

 

[Benzadmiral]

That just occurred to me. I think Fleming mentioned M's pipe as being a bulldog.

M's pipe smoking is mentioned at the least in From Russia With Love, Doctor No, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but the kind of pipe or the blend of tobacco is not mentioned. Possibly my idea of his smoking a bulldog comes from one of the movies. Fleming does tell us that his tobacco jar is made out of the base of a fourteen-pounder shell!

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

In one episode of boardwalk empire. The Misses is talking to a doctor about hosting seminars for women's health. He smokes a bent pipe of some kind. She said his tobacco stinks and he should stop or choose a different tobacco. A few episodes later she didn't comment and then he said he switched blends.

 

[brandaves]

In the HBO series The Pacific Eugene Sledge picks up the pipe while on Okinawa. When he gets home someone asks him why he started smoking a pipe. He replied something along the lines of, "It calms me down. I always have something to do, be it smoking or cleaning."

 

[Columbo]

In the HBO series The Pacific Eugene Sledge picks up the pipe while on Okinawa. When he gets home someone asks him why he started smoking a pipe. He replied something along the lines of, "It calms me down. I always have something to do, be it smoking or cleaning."

Along those lines, in The Bedford Incident, the newly assigned Ship’s Doctor (Martin Balsam) smokes a pipe throughout. He’s the calm older voice of reason that understands the ship‘s crew is being driven to the breaking point.

[spoiler alert]

Meanwhile, the maniacal Destroyer captain (Richard Widmark) quips that he would bite the stem off his old pipe, as he chain-smokes cigarettes nonstop ... and insanely hunts down a Soviet sub to the point of an accidental attack ... forcing it to launch a nuclear torpedo at the Destroyer, causing WWIII.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

Excellent idea. I always notice pipe smokers in films. Most recently, there is a remake of “All Creatures Great and Small” on PBS Masterpiece Theater” where the main character, Siegfried Farnon, is a pipe smoker. Excellent series by the way and beautifully filmed.

Three episodes in and Dr. Farnon seems to only own the one pipe.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

As Walter Nicholls, Burl Ives often had a pipe going in The Bold Ones: The Lawyers on NBC in the late 60s/early 70s.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Lt. Hunter (James B. Sikking), the SWAT officer in Hill Street Blues, is often shown with a straight billiard clenched in his teeth. Not sure if he is ever shown actually smoking, i.e., with smoke coming from pipe or mouth.

 

[Benzadmiral]

It appears also, based on member Shave_Rat's avatar, that Bogart smoked a pipe (looks like a straight billiard) in Dark Victory w/ Bette Davis. At least I'm pretty sure that's the movie.

 

[emwolf]

It appears also, based on member Shave_Rat's avatar, that Bogart smoked a pipe (looks like a straight billiard) in Dark Victory w/ Bette Davis. At least I'm pretty sure that's the movie.

One of my favorites, but I haven't seen it for several years. Bogey is a supporting character in the flick (a stable manager). I could easily see him with a pipe. I'll have to bust out the DVD.

 

[Benzadmiral]

One of my favorites, but I haven't seen it for several years. Bogey is a supporting character in the flick (a stable manager). I could easily see him with a pipe. I'll have to bust out the DVD.

It's one of his rare non-gangster roles from the period before he played Sam Spade in Maltese Falcon and became a leading man.

 

[bberg100]

Seems like the Twilight Zone "To Serve Man" had the government cryptologist smoking a pipe at his desk.

 

[Columbo]

Leave It To Beaver, Season 2, Episode 9, “The Pipe”.

An entire episode about a meerschaum pipe.

Coffee doesn’t smoke well.

 

[RookieGuy]

Last night I started watching a documentary on Monty Python. And there was Graham Chapman smoking various pipes.

 

[Whisky]

New movie on Netflix called “The Dig.” One of the main characters has a pipe in his mouth throughout the entire movie. It’s worth watching (and not just for the pipe.)

 

[2Vu5_T]

Chato's Land (1972)

 

[RookieGuy]

Chato's Land (1972)

My first thought was "Hey! An Old Dominion! I have one of those!" But then I saw it was made in 1972. So probably not one of those.

 

[2Vu5_T]

Louis van Beethoven (2020)

 

[SharpieB]

Lots of pipe smoking in Netflix’s Enola Holmes. Sam Claflin and Henry Cavill (Sherlock Holmes) are seen with a pipe quite often.

Excellent movie. Geared more for teenagers, but I really enjoyed it.