He said in the article he liked the smell of them too.
I just recently started enjoying an occasional pipe. My oldest son bought one for me one day when I mentioned that I remember the wonderful (to me at least) smell of someone in my family who smoked a pipe.
I found a tobacco shop not far away that sells actual pipe tobacco (too many ‘smoke shops’ around here sell nothing but cigs, vapes, and paraphernalia for smoking wacky weed). I found a couple aromatic blends that I really enjoy. I only smoke occasionally, and not every day. And I don’t inhale.
(On a historical note, I know that C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, and American humorist Patrick F. McManus were all pipe smokers.)