Happiness is a Full Tobacco Jar - Introducing Pipe Smoking to Steemit

Everyone's writing about meditation and mindfulness these days. People are over-stimulated and exhausted by their responsibilities and the torrent of information they face. Why is it so hard to sit still and enjoy a moment of peace?

Smoking a pipe provides a lot of the benefits that people are looking for. I honestly believe that we'd live in a calmer, more thoughtful and peaceful world if more people smoked pipe tobacco. We'd also enjoy ourselves more.

Smoking a pipe is a ritual. It takes patience and a bit of practice. It can't be rushed. The nicotine stimulates brain function and improves focus. (There's a reason so many famous scientists, artists, and politicians smoke.) You can puff while you're doing something else, or you can focus on the flavor and really enjoy it like a good meal.

Pipe tobacco is also remarkably affordable. Even with the insane taxes applied by the states, I can usually acquire a pound of the stuff for $40 - $60, and that's enough to last me six months or more. Even a small tin of a luxury blend is around $15 - about the cost of one fine cigar. But that small tin enough to keep me puffing a few bowls a day for a week or so.

Unlike with cigarettes, it's possible - and preferable - to enjoy pipe tobacco in moderation.

There's a ton of history associated with pipe smoking. Here's just a couple of pages from The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris, a publication maintained and distributed by the late Tom Dunn for over 40 years. This bound volume covers the years 1980 to 1994, and weighs in at 800 pages.

All of this material was sent in by the readers who supported Mr. Dunn's efforts. He laid out and produced this magazine entirely by hand¸ with an electric typewriter and heaps of patience. It was a miracle of self-publishing. And he distributed it to thousands of readers for free. (After his death, it was discovered that Tom had over fifty filing cabinets of carefully indexed material to share.) I share this as an example of the sort of dedication and enthusiasm the pipe can generate.

Since Tom's passing, pipe enthusiasts have continued to share their passion for the hobby at sites like Pipes Magazine. Back when newsgroups were a popular thing, one of the first places I hung out with my new Compaq computer (circa 1997) was "alt.smokers.pipes." It was one of the friendliest havens of the early Internet.

I've noticed there's a pipe shaped hole here on Steemit. @gregm is doing a nice job sharing some cigar reviews with us, but he's the only one I can find. (If I've missed anyone please leave a link in the comments.) I've been a devoted pipe smoker for over 20 years and worked in tobacco retail for nearly a dozen. So I think I might just start sharing a few pipe related observations on here - smoking basics, pipe and tobacco reviews, visits to worthwhile tobacco shops (too few and far between), discussions on the health and psychological benefits of moderate tobacco use, observations on the industry and the crazy politics that seem to follow it around.

I'm enjoying this stuff anyway, so why not share it on here?