The Streets of China #3: Tobacco Pipe

I took this picture at the bird and flower market of Kunming, China. This guy is smoking a cigarette out of a gigantic pipe. I'm not quite exactly sure how it works, but I think the guy places a cigarette in the small hole in the side of the pipe. He then sucks just enough to fill up the large bamboo pole with smoke before sucking in a large mouthful of tobacco smoke.

These types of pipes are very popular at tourist shops in China, but it is rare to see someone actually using this type of pipe. Two years ago at the same market I actually saw a group of old men smoking out of a hollowed out artillery shell.

By the way, China today is much like the United States was twenty or thirty years ago- everybody smokes. People smoke openly and without apology at restaurants and on public transportation. As I walked up and down the hallway of a university, some of the professors were even smoking while conducting classes.