Something you don't see very often

Driving to mum's this morning, I passed a man smoking a pipe. Now that wouldn't have been very remarkable years ago but nowadays, it's something you don't often see. It wasn't a 'basic' pipe, you could see that money had been spent and care had been taken to make it look good. It was a rich mahogany in colour and a pipe typical of the fictional Sherlock Holmes - a real classic.
I did admire the fact that this chap, clearly mature in years, was walking with confidence, his pipe boldly displayed from his mouth. In this age, smoking is sneered at and attempts are now being made to hide it in the UK and push it under the counter - out of sight, out of mind...
I'd raise my pipe to him, if I had one. I don't - I used to, at school, many years ago. Not a period I'm proud of. I progressed to cigarettes, then cigars - which I smoked for many years up until about 2 years ago. I never quite kicked the habit. The birth of my son made me think seriously about it and in the end I decided to try one of these 'electronic cigarettes' everyone was raving about. They provide the full experience of smoking but without any of the harmful stuff - essentially it produces water vapour with nicotine. I'm still using it two years on, and I enjoy it. It gives me the freedom of using it anywhere, even indoors as there is no passive smoke and no smell. A wonderful little device and the best thing to come out of China since noodles.
Good luck to him! I expect in 10 years from now, we will be sneering at petrol and diesel cars as we glide past noiseless in our little electric pods...