They come from all walks of life. Judges, bank presidents, museum directors, and truck drivers, all puffing on their treasured pipe - be it a James B. Russell or another popular brand - as they showcase their talents in the annual pipe smoking contests held throughout the U.S. The object of these unique competitions is to keep the pipe lit the longest - the international record is 2 hours and 42 minutes, and in the U.S., the average time is about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Men and women alike have taken up this art of puffing, according to Regis McCafferty, co-founder and current board member of the North American Society of Pipe Collectors. McCafferty was first introduced to pipes while serving in the U.S. Army. Desperate for a smoke and low on cash, he decided to buy a pipe and two pouches of tobacco instead of cigarettes. From that moment on he was hooked.

“The secret to outlasting your competitors is learning to slow down,” reveals McCafferty. He recommends smokers draw slowly on the pipe, while, at the same time, tamping the tobacco.

Michael Reschke, president of the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club, has his own tips for beating the competition. He believes that using a pipe with a bowl that will comfortably hold the tobacco can get you closer to a winning time. Reschke, who won his club’s contest in 1994 with a time of 1 hour 7 minutes, said competitors need to be cautious about their smoking.

“You need to learn to leisurely puff on the pipe,” said Reschke. “Don’t let adrenaline take over. Just take slow, easy puffs.”

According to the World Pipe Smoking Contest sanctioned rules, participants are provided with about three ounces of tobacco and two matches, and are allowed only one chance to light their pipes. Contestants have five minutes to load and pack the bowls, using fingers, tampers, or other devices. At the end of the five minutes, contestants are commanded to “light up,” and are then given about one minute to do so. Once the official time begins, contestants cannot relight their pipes. Tamping is allowed, but only with a tamper. Blowing through the pipe stem also is allowed, but no blowing on top of the tobacco chamber.

“What most people do is use one of the matches to start a false, or charring light, to get it started,” said Steve Fallon, president of the Waco Pipe Club in Texas. “Then they use the second match to start the fire. Once it’s lit, it’s lit. They can’t blow on the bowl to keep it going. They have to leave it until it goes out.”

The Waco Pipe Club was born last year with 16 members (including three women), and decided to have their first slow-smoking contest after hearing about club-sponsored contests in other states. Bud Price won the Waco club’s contest, keeping his Sherlock Holmes-inspired pipe lit for 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 58 seconds. Known as a fast smoker, Price was certain he wouldn’t make it past the first 20 minutes. When asked if he practiced for the competition, Price responded, “I’ve had 48 years of practice.”

While smoking contests are increasing in popularity, most pipe smokers agree they are not for everyone. “To me, they are not enjoyable,” Reschke said. “There’s too much concentration on keeping the pipe going. There’s usually a sigh of relief when the first pipe goes out. No one wants to be first; there’s too much pressure.”

Reschke would rather sit back, relax, and enjoy a pipe. In fact, his pipe smoking has led to a passion for collecting. When he first started smoking pipes, about 20 years ago, he never saw himself as a collector. Then one day, while attending a pipe show in Tennessee, he was bitten by the collecting bug. He now owns over 650 pipes, including pieces from the coveted Parker Factory era and old English pipes from the 1800s and 1900s.

With hand-carved pipes from Turkey, Germany, Africa, England, Russia, and China, Bud Price (of the Waco club) is also a collector, owning about 300 pipes, tampers, and tobacco tins. His collection also includes an extremely rare pipe discovered inside an Indian pyramid, six Sherlock Holmes pipes, as well as a unique specimen from the Australian Outback. Price can rattle off the story about each of his pipes at the drop of a hat, whether it’s about the person who gave him the pipe or some interesting tidbit about the original owner. A favorite of his is a German porcelain pipe with intricate artwork, dating back to the late 1800s. Price tells the story about a German army officer who gave an American soldier his regimental pipe after the American spared the life of the German officer’s son.

Although his collection is massive, Price doesn’t plan to stop adding to it. “I don’t know why I started collecting them,” he said. “I just like pipes. I smoke to enjoy.”

Price and Reschke aren’t alone in their collecting quest, as more than 20,000 pipes and accessories can be found daily on Internet bidding sites, such as eBay. There are also more than 30 major pipe shows taking place in the United States each year, drawing thousands of pipe smokers and collectors. These passionate collectors are just as serious about their pipes as numismatists are about their rare coins. According to the North American Society of Pipe Collectors, “If you have one pipe, you’re a pipe smoker. If you have two pipes, you’re a collector.”

Like in any fine collectable, counterfeits can be a problem, warns McCafferty, especially on the Internet. “Like anything else you buy from a picture, you can never be certain if it is authentic, but I have to say that most pipe collectors who list pipes give accurate descriptions. Those who don’t or mislead, are usually not pipe smokers, just someone who has found some pipes to sell.”

But McCafferty doesn’t credit himself as a dedicated collector. He owns about 36 pipes, all of which have been used throughout his 40 years as a smoker. “(At one time) my collection had grown to 307 pipes,” he wrote in a recent publication. “... The logical question is, of course, what would anyone do with hundreds of pipes? The rare collector might smoke them all over a period of time, but most pipe smokers/collectors tend to favor a smaller number to smoke on a regular basis.

“Collecting anything has its own merits and detractions, though,” reveals McCafferty. “Eventually, it occurred to me that I had come to the proverbial fork in my ‘Tobacco Road.’ It was obvious to me that I wasn’t going to be smoking all the pipes I had. It was equally obvious that I would never acquire all the pipes I wanted.”

“Yet, I find a great deal of comfort and contentment in pipe smoking,” he continued. “It’s relaxing and contemplative. There’s also the camaraderie among pipe smokers rarely found in any other group. Now, I’m not going to go so far as to say, once a pipe smoker, always a pipe smoker. But if you ever smoked a pipe and enjoyed it, you’ll always have a fond feeling for the pipe and a pleasant thought when you catch the aroma of a rich pipe tobacco on a soft breeze.”