Between Clenched Teeth

Ceremonially blowing smoke to the four winds, Mayan priests puffed their pipes to please the gods; the Sioux passed around the calumet to seal the peace; 16th century Frenchman Jean Nicot (whose name is immortalized in the word nicotine) promoted pipe smoking as a sure cure for ulcers; and 19th century authors rhapsodized like Bulwer-Lytton: "A pipe, it is a great soother, a pleasant comforter. Blue devils fly before its honest breath. It ripens the brain, it opens the heart, and the man who smokes thinks like a Samaritan."

But despite the perennial popularity of Sherlock Holmes, dripping shag tobacco from his well-blackened clay pipe; despite the graceful pipemanship of Bing Crosby; even despite the theories of Freud about what pipe smoking really means--pipe smoking is on the decline.

When cigarettes were first indicted as a possible villain in producing lung cancer, pipemakers anticipated a wholesale swing to the relatively exonerated pipe. No such thing happened. On the contrary, cigarette sales zoomed on upwards to record heights for five successive years. Over 528 billion cigarettes were turned out in 1961, up 26% from 1950. The sale of pipe tobacco was scarcely checked in its long decline. Only 75 million pounds of pipe tobacco were sold in 1961, compared with about 210 million pounds in 1920, when there were 77 million fewer people in the U.S.

Tobaccomen blame high pressure living, war years in which thousands of G.I. pipe smokers switched to more easily portable cigarettes, even the vogue for tighter suits which make pipe-and-pouch bulges bulgier. "We're striking back." says Executive Director Jerry Nagler of the Pipe and Tobacco Council. "We have lots of plans in the works." Among them:

> Prepacked bundles of tobacco, wrapped in cellophane or fiberglass, and designed to be dropped into the pipe and lit.

> Magnetic pipe bowls which can be parked on a car's dashboard and stick there.

> Steam-cleaning devices for deodorizing pipes.

> A campaign to persuade clothing manufacturers to add special pockets for pipe and pouch.

One curious sidelight: one out of every five college boys who smoke at all chooses a pipe, yet the per capita consumption of pipe tobacco on campus is far below the national average. The Pipe and Tobacco Council can only conclude that many Big Men On Campus are chewing on empty pipes to impress girls with their virility or professors with their contemplative natures.

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