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Pip probably felt like Strider wasn't acting like himself. He was acting more like a high, important, royal person instead of the Ranger that Pippin knew him as.
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Between Bree and leaving Rivendell, we find out that "all that is gold does not glitter", that within the body of a grubby ranger can dwell a great king. The episode at Isengard shows us that the opposite is true as well: the most high and mighty nobleman even in an epic fantasy still has a kernel of basic human nature within him, and the desire to just sit back and smoke a pipe. Nice symmetry.
It also shows us the heartening thought that Strider has not completely disappeared, and that Aragorn will still retain some of his humble roots. As an aside, I always liked Gandalf the Grey slightly better than Gandalf the White, but he seems to have disappeared even more than Strider has by the end of the story.