Oy; my mother smokes a pipe! (As does my father, but that seems to surprise people less than the sight of my mother, wearing her short, tight faux-leather jacket in a vivid shad of purple, with her pipe...)

I have often considered purchasing a pipe myself, merely for home use, at it would seem too pretentious for a student of literature to walk around with a pipe... -Especially on days of bad weather, when I have to make concessions to the cold and damp and stick on the tweed jacket!