Longtime favorites of Sherlock Holmes, Scarface and grandpas everywhere, pipes and cigars are also popular among University of Illinois students.

Many students look to pipes and cigars as a way to relax and get away from the stress of school.

”When you heat the tobacco, it comes to a nice even burn, and it really releases the flavor of the tobacco,” John Jaeger, junior in LAS, said about smoking a pipe.

Jaeger is the president and one of the founding members of Smoking Illini, a registered student organization for pipe and cigar enthusiasts.

The Smoking Illini meet on a weekly basis to enjoy pipes or cigars. As you can easily observe outside any residence hall, campus building, or on Green Street on a Friday night, the state of Illinois has banned indoor smoking in public places.

Because of this, the Smoking Illini’s meetings move between members’ apartments or houses, beer gardens around campus and Jon’s Pipe Shop on Green Street.

Patrick Callaghan has worked at Jon’s Pipe Shop since 1972 and thinks the ban is partly responsible for the increased student interest in pipes and cigars.

“With fewer places to smoke, people are looking to enjoy it more when they do smoke,” Callaghan said.

Since cigarettes are mass-produced to appeal to as many people as possible, they’re “not very flavorful,” Callaghan said.

Jaeger agrees that pipes and cigars offer a wider range of flavors, saying that flavors can go from “the subtlest of subtles, to your granddaddy’s Irish black.”

Black tobacco is known for its robust flavor.

Many enthusiasts romanticize pipes and cigars, talking about them in a way you don’t hear people talk about cigarettes.

“A lot of the writers I admire, like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, would get together and have a smoke and have a pint,” said Nora Ellis, junior in LAS and member of the Smoking Illini.

“We call ourselves the old souls,” Jaeger said. “I like the idea that it goes back to a vintage era, that it’s not entirely the norm.”

Callaghan said that pipes and cigars provide a much more enjoyable experience than cigarettes. “It’s like the difference between burning leaves in the fall and burning garbage,” he said.

“Smoking a cigarette is about getting your nicotine,” said Casey Thiel, freshman in LAS. “With pipes and cigars, it’s more about everything that’s going on around you.” Thiel mentioned a Smoking Illini meeting where members enjoyed a glass of port wine along with their cigars as an example.

Jaeger also said that with pipes and cigars “it’s all about the relaxation.”