The Old Vicar

[brightleaf]

The old vicar, restored to his old parsonage, enjoyed a pipe when seated in his arm-chair, pondering on the subject of his next Sunday's sermon, with a jug of sound old ale and a huge tome of sound old divinity on the table before him, for the occasional refreshment as well of the bodily as the spiritual man.

From the book A Paper Of Tobacco by Joseph Fume published in 1839
Almost 200 years ago this was published. Today we have sin tax on alcohol and tobacco. This passage is a good reminder of how arbitrary public perception is when it tries to identify morality with a natural substance. Imbibing ale and the word of God then drawing inspiration from the pipe and one's muse. Relaxing the body and mind, allowing divine inspiration to offer it's wisdom to share with our neighbors. Tobacco is surely a Holy Herb.

 

[mcitinner1]

Amen brother.

 

[cortezattic]

Tobacco is surely a Holy Herb.

I think so. ::

 

[aldecaker]

Preach on, brother! Preach on.

 

[weezell]

Amen I'm in...

 

[brian64]

Good post brightleaf. Tobacco is a beautiful and sacred part of God’s creation. It is ignorantly vilified by making it synonymous with mass-market cigarettes.

 

[brightleaf]

There is a lot confusion between a substance and it's abuse. The way we approach our life is much more important than the inanimate objects that fill it. We are all different and can benefit from different things and in different amounts. Trying to copy an idealized image to attain a "healthy" life is shallow and is transitory with the times. To label tobacco bad for everyone is just as silly as to claim it is good for everyone. Even mass market cigarettes can be something that allows me to turn a new page on how I approach the day. I have had plenty of misadventures in my relations with substances, it wasn't due to the substance but with my immature relationship to it. Some days I will smoke a pipe 6 times and other days not at all. The steps involved in pipe smoking are much more meditative for me than smoking a cigarette, in my opinion it is the best way to experience the plant.

 

[brian64]

^ Well said, and I agree. But from what I understand about most mass-produced cigarettes, their ingredients and how they are manufactured, I don’t think they should be considered tobacco.

 

[brightleaf]

You may be right about that Brian64. In my life I find myself almost constantly in a position where I am eating, drinking, living, working, wearing, and am otherwise immersed in artificial, imitation, low quality, phoniness. I thoroughly believe in variations of quality and the impact it can have on a person's life. There is another factor that I think is more important, especially for those who don't have the option/luxury of high quality goods. And that is simply to change one's personal disposition towards the product.
A short tangent into an insight I gained from Ayurveda:

Diet = Everything we consume through any of our senses. This is what we eat, listen to, read, think, breathe, touch, etc.

A person of sensitive constitution, or ill health, will need to be careful what they have in their diet. Someone who is healthy, with strong fires of digestion can readily assimilate most anything in their diet. They can burn impure materials, extracting the essence and getting rid of the waste.
I keep this in mind, coupled with my knowledge of placebo/nocebo and hope for the best. If I am with a friend and he shares a cigarette with me, I still say thank you to my friend and feel blessed for the gift. While smoking it I try to appreciate the flavor, warmth and pleasure of smoking. In other words, I try not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

[oldmansmoking]

I’ve seen the light!
And the tobacco and pipe!

 

[brightleaf]

And a mug of ale. Soon you'll be feeling well.

 

[mso489]

Preachin' to the choir here.

 

[gnesiohamartolos]

This is a response to brightleaf from a retired Lutheran pastor. Among Lutheran clergy, those who partake of pipes, cigars and “Lutheran beverages” are most often the most confessional, that is, most conservative. (Among us, “conservative” is a socio-political designation.) We are the ones who in public dress in BDU (black, white collar, pectoral crucifix). Our theology is Concordia of 1580, liturgy is historic, complete with proper vestments (chasubles, copes and dalmatics) and “smells & bells” as the liberals say – thurible (incense burner), processional crucifix and chanting. Several months back at a conference of like-minded clergy and laity, we gathered after dinner for discussions during which we partook of different beers from a local artisanal brewer, cigars and pipes. None of us smoke cigarettes that constitute an unacceptable health hazard. The founding president (bishop) of our synod (denomination to most of you) back before the Civil War smoked a pipe as does the current president who is more a cigar chomper. The alcohol and tobacco prohibitionists among us tend to be more liberal in both doctrine and practice. They are vexed when we remind them that “Lord Katie,” Katharina von Bora Luther, Martin Luther’s wife, brewed beer for the Black Cloister, the first Lutheran seminary over which she was functionally the quartermaster and manager.