Denmark Tobacco Nation – Smoking & Culture

In the fictional story of Winnetou (chief of the Mescalero tribe of the Indian Apache) and Old Shatterhand write by Karl May, if there is make a peace between the Apache tribe and the foreigner during the wild-west era, they will smoke a pipe together as the sign of peace hood.

Another story is Popeye the Sailor Man that he always smoking pipe. The fiction detective Sherlock Holmes, during investigating a case, to solve the case he always put his pipe on his lips.

The above illustration figured a relation between pipe and culture, even it is only occasionally. The other illustration is showing in Denmark that the culture there that has been enjoying a second wind in recent years.

Denmark has a long been a hot-bed of pipe smoking and making.  Many of tobacco pipe carvers and artisans coming from Denmark, and Danish pipe are very famous among the pipe smokers.

Danish smoking pipe Championship

In Denmark there is an annual event Open Danish Championship in Pipe Smoking, organized by the Nordic Smokers Guild (NSG).

That event not only the competition of pipe smoking, but also a pipe and tobacco exhibition, that so far smoking business is one of a good business in Denmark.

Denmark has a long history with tobaccos; it is back to the year 1665 when the Danish monarch Frederick III allowed the first tobacco processing to begin work, following with the international tobacco trading that the tobacco business gained the momentum at that time.

During the Napoleon war, the cigar introduced to the Danish people and become popular within a short time, even to the palace.

Later, Danish cigar art settled in many European palaces. And many cigar factories established in Denmark.

Nowadays the tobacco business in Denmark is not like the golden era, many factory are closed, but for the pipe industry and tobacco business are still running.

One of the big tobacco business emporiums in Denmark is Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), which until today still supplies the Danish market with cigars, cigarettes and tobacco.

From smoking habits into Championship

Annual event of Open Danish Championship in Pipe Smoking organized by Nordic Smoker’s Guild (NSG) is a national event that starting from the end of 1970s.

NSG is a society for every person’s who is interested in pipes and tobacco, established in 1971 that today the member roughly 700.

Most of members, however, are associated though membership of one of the 18 local pipe clubs from the Nordic countries.

That is why NSG make an even of pipe smoker’s championship, because of smoking pipes is like a culture for some Danish or Nordic people.

The scene is small and everyone knows everyone.  They regularly meet in Copenhagen in the back rooms of the pub Vinstue 90, whose walls are lined with posters of old Danish brands, and where an old ventilation system battles against the clouds of smoke.

Aside from the private lounges of Splendid Cigars and Davidoff places that welcome cigar lovers are rare.

Today, to find a tobacconist of cigar specialty stores is difficult, not like a few decades ago. Outside Copenhagen only a limited selection cigars available, and the cigars often did not keep in the good humidor or poorly maintained, that is also same difficult to find any smoking products

There are many pipe brands, pipe carver or artisans coming from Denmark, but nowadays the number of pipe smokers in Denmark decrease dramatically.

The culture has seen resurgence in recent years, partly due to more Danes embracing a more refined lifestyle.

Family business

For some of Denmark’s premier pipe makers the craft is a family business, from generation-to-generation.

One of them is Nanna Ivarsson, a daughter of famous pipe maker Lars Ivarsson and granddaughter of the legendary Sixten Ivarsson.

Nanna is one of the few female pipe makers in the industry, She also one of the best.

The production is very limited around 50-60 pipes annually, but their client mostly coming from many country likes Japan, China, US, Russia, Germany and Switzerland.

Sixten Ivarsson is one of the persons who bring the name of Denmark’s become popular in the world because of his pipes.  Lars and Nanna Ivarsson.

Again, smoking pipe is not only a habit of smoking, but also bring along a culture, and in some places it is also become a social status, same as smoking cigars.

Sometimes that is also showing a figure icon likes Albert Einstein, Mac Arthur, Joseph Stalin, Greta Garbo, Virginia Woolf, Ray Charles, and others famous persons.

Pics: NSG,