Sociology Alum Named 2015 National Slow Smoke Champion in Pipe Smoking

The U.S. champion on the 13th national slow smoke competition was Mike “Doc” Garr on May 3, 2015, at the Chicagoland International Pipe and Tobacciana Show.

Mike “Doc” Garr, ’74, ’78M is the 2015 national slow smoke champion in pipe smoking. As winner of the national contest, he won a trip to Italy to compete at the international slow smoke competition last October.

He also is currently president of the United Pipe Clubs of America and vice president of the Americas of the Comite International des Pipe Clubs. In addition he won the Northeast Regional smoking contest last December. This October he competes in Slovakia.

“I am a force to contend with!” he says.

And a Professor of Sociology

When not engaged in his successful hobby, Garr is involved in his role as a Professor of Sociology at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He has been at Wilkes since completing his Ph.D. at Indiana University after earning his B.A. and M.A. in Sociology from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University.

Since arriving at Wilkes in 1984, Garr has three times been designated a Top 20 member of the faculty.

He teaches a variety of courses, including Introduction to Sociology, Quantitative Reasoning in the Social Sciences, and Sociological Theory. His research interests include Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods, Drugs and Alcohol, Social Theory, Deviance and Social Control, and Medical Sociology.

His most recent research combines his personal interest in pipe smoking with a scholarly interest in harm reduction, more specifically, pipe and cigar smoking as tobacco harm reduction. He has also completed a recent internet survey in conjunction with PipesMagazine.com.

Garr was co-director of the Wilkes University Survey Research Center. In this capacity, he completed many telephone surveys regarding issues of local interest. His last project was a community needs assessment done for the United Way.

In addition, he oversees all senior projects done for the majors in criminology and sociology. As a result, Garr works closely mentoring student research.