After nearly a life time of not smoking...
..I started smoking a pipe.
I received several assurances that people who quit cigarettes and later start smoking a pipe do not often go back to cigarettes, so I feel pretty good about it. I never was much of a smoker, less than a pack a day, and it was almost 35 years ago that I quit. So far it feels pretty safe, the experience is completely different.
The guy at the local tobacco shop steered me right, even though I had watched several (many) youtube videos about it and had read widely. He supported the common knowledge and was able to correct my mis-impressions. It probably helped that he was a 60 year pipe smoker, still running the shop at age 83.
I bought an inexpensive corncob pipe to test it out, and a mild unflavored or tobacco flavored tobacco. I like it quite a lot. It has not disturbed my asthma and does not seem to affect the previous damage to my lungs. Of course I am not inhaling, and I am smoking on my breezy porch, so I don't really breathe the smoke much.
I smoke once a day, which I will do right after typing this and having dinner (multitasking!). I sit out on the porch, the little sparrows who are brave come by to visit, and I spend about an hour smoking one pipeful of tobacco. I don't do anything else, just relax, stay off the computer or phone, don't watch Netflix, don't talk to anyone, and mess around with fire and smoke. It's almost like having a little campfire.
I plan to go back tomorrow and buy a better pipe. I want a churchwarden so that I can see what I am doing, and also so that I can smoke with my elbows on the arms of my chair. Moar relax.
I'll check back in if anything changes, and maybe with some photos of my new pipe... I have my eye on a nice one in his shop.
As long as you are happy, keep smoking my friend.
Thanks! LOL! It really is one of the nice things in my life right now. About 7 days in and learning new words like dottle and stummel.
All you need now is a rocking chair on a porch and a bloodhound or an old cat (or possibly both) XD
Shotgun optional XP
No, I'm going more for the hobbit by his hole kind of pipe smoking.
I'm only using the corncob because it was 1/10th the price and I didn't know if I was going to like it. I'm going into town tomorrow to buy one like this.
https://smile.amazon.com/Savinelli-Churchwarden-Brownblast-Tobacco-Pipe/dp/B00QLI3ON0/ref=sr_1_91?ie=UTF8&qid=1497222664&sr=8-91&keywords=Churchwarden+pipe
But I still might like having a dog to sit out there with me.
I've been smoking a pipe since 1975(ish)...same four or five pipes...all cheap.
I mostly smoke cigars...(same concept...less ritual)
I like the ritual. Also, I never liked the smell of lit cigars (unlit ones smell great!), but I have always liked the smell of pipe smoke. Probably something from my childhood. I used to play in old tobacco barns. Might be that.
I like to smoke my pipe while I sit on the porch and watch the girls play in the apartment complex swimming pool.......er....I mean sit on the patio and think. I started smoking pipes first..then started truck driving later...can't smoke a pipe while driving...too much ritual.
So...I smoked ceegars and played with the smoke...
Now I'm not driving any longer.
I smoke my pipe again.
GOOD CHOICE on that second pipe..that long stem will cool the smoke. Hot smoke is harsh. Cool smoke is more funer.
I'm going to look over his stock when I get there, I don't mind a small defect if it saves me a good amount. I wish we had a pool!8-)
The young girls are lovely this time of year...uh...I mean.
oh yeah pipes.
If the purpose is to SMOKE it...you don't care what it looks like.
the pipe I smoke the most is damn near fifty years old..NOT very clean and has a few pieces bent and missing.
kind of like me actually.
if the purpose is something else...then you may care about appearances.
Nope, it's just me and the birdfeeder. I do really think of it almost like a tiny campfire, I just enjoy fiddling with it.
in one of Ayn Rand's (big) books either John Gault or Henry Reardan is talking about the symbolism of smoking tobacco.
Man is the only animal that has tamed fire.
We make what everything else in the animal kingdom is afraid of
dance to our tune.
we use it for our pleasure and recreation.
Yep. I read that before I started smoking cigarettes regularly. Thought about it a lot when I was smoking pot. Thanks for reminding me, because I really think it's relevant.