Peterson in South Korea

International Peterson *er, pipe* Smoking Day is less than two weeks away! I Thanks to everyone who has submitted their answers and photograph(s) to qualify for their Certified Pete Geek certificate. It's not too late if you want to be counted among the Pete Elite.* As we ramp up to the IPSD celebration (Saturday, February 20th), I’m very pleased to present fellow Thinking Man Troy Lambrecht, an avid Peterson smoker who lives in South Korea. Among his other talents, he's a great photographer and has sent a number of beautiful pictures reminding me what a great thing a brick & mortar pipe & tobacco shop can be and how much I wish there was one near me! What’s the culture of pipe smoking like in South Korea? As many of us know, people smoking culture has been on a decline in the last century. Korea is no stranger to this, as pipe smoking here is almost non-existent. In a country where cigarettes dominate the market, it is very rare to see another pipe smoker unless you visit the shops and by chance there is another pipe smoker there. The only pipe smokers I have ever met here in South Korea were through social media means and having a meet-up and it was only one other person. The pipe shops are scattered throughout the country in various cities all under the same company, Pas Tobacco. Along with numerous brands of pipes (Peterson, Savinelli, Chacom, Stanwell) they also sell RYO cigarette tobacco, cigars and smoking accessories. One of the more interesting tidbits of smoking a pipe in South Korea is that most people have never seen one, or seen someone smoking them. There have been many times where I would be smoking outside my apartment and a passerby would stop and take a look for a few seconds and continue. Pipe smoking here is not frowned upon, as smoking cigarettes (generally for older men) is ingrained in their culture. South Korea is mainly a patriarchal society and it is, however, disfavored to see women smoking in public. You’ll often find that they are crowded down the alleyways of streets and corridors out of plain view. Too many Silver Caps!! The Hopkins, the most original shape in the Sherlock Holmes chart.   How did you wind up in South Korea? I’ve been living here since the Fall of 2014. I came on contract as an ESL Instructor (English as a Second Language) working at a provincial language institute run by the government. I never saw myself teaching English on the other side of the world, as before I was doing carpentry with my father. It has been an eye-opening experience and has allowed me to travel to places I would have never seen myself going to. While here in South Korea, I met my wife in 2015 and we were married in 2019 and we plan on moving back to the United States sometime this year. Other than collecting pipes and tobacco, I…