Want To Smoke Or Need To Smoke

[lostandfound]

I'm a former cigarette smoker and dip chewer, so I do have nicotine cravings, but they are fewer and farther between than when I smoked cigs and dipped. Most the time I feel like rsuninv- my pipes want me to smoke them.

 

[spartan]

I merely enjoy the flavorful effects.
Especially in the morning; that cognitive boost is really nice.
Starts off the day quite nicely.
Just like a cup of coffee or morning sex. ::
Hit all three and win the lotto.

 

[warren]

As many of you already know, I am a great fan of nicotine. I've done the cigarettes, Red Man in the cheek when on the flight line or working where flame was not allowed, cigars were always a favorite, and the pipe was usually for evenings.
Now I'm retired and the pipe is my usual nicotine delivery tool followed closely by the cigar.
I suspect many pipe smokers are addicted not to the nicotine but, to the routine of the pipe itself.
I'm more addicted to having something to do with my hands, although I do so love the occasional (red: a couple times a day) nicotine hit. I'm probably a bit orally fixated also. A tooth pick will handle that, but a pipe or cigar are just as satisfying.

 

[jimmyh]

I'm a big fan of vitamin N and uses "snus" besides the pipe.

The pipe cause i want to, the "snus" is for the need which i always have one under my lip when i´m awake and not smoking or eating.

 

[kanaka95]

I think its a want for me as the problem i have right now is the dire need to try every tobacco i can.Everytime i read about a new tobacco i almost have to try it.But i do fear the stronger blends and don't want a nicotine drunk.

 

[bryanf]

I want it really, really badly as often as I get a chance. I've yet to find a moment where a pipe in hand wouldn't make it better. As goes my pipe, want or need doesn't make much difference. I'm never without my pipe and would sooner forget to put on my shoes, than forget my pipe. Actually, that's a good analogy...I want my pipe as much as I want to wear clothes when I leave the house. I don't necessarily need either.

 

[salmonfisher]

I sure hope I can travel the path of want in the future, right now it's admittantly a need. Retired early, got bored and now in a buddies business part time. When home, I find myself heading to the garage almost every hour for a puff. On days I work, it's a bowl in the morning, one on drive to work, a very small royal duke at lunch break n the one again after dinner, followed by one more before bed.
I sure envy the guys that have less then 10 bowls a week. Very impressive and it's where I hope to see myself in the near future. Cigs controlled my life and I can't wait to get to the point of enjoying a puff every now n then versus feeling the "need".
One thing I do enjoy, is the ritual of selecting which pipe, which tobacco, filling n then waiting for that first taste. Two months ago, I inhaled almost every dr ag, now I find it's like every 6th puff. I have also gotten to the point if my pipe remaining cool and not scorching hot as it was at first.
Thank you all for showing me where this hobby can hopefully take me.
Cheers

 

[sailorjeremy]

I want to smoke my pipes because I need to. ::

 

[amiller]

I read an article today that said part of why nicotine is so addictive is when it's inhaled it gets in to your bloodstream almost immediately, which makes you associate the delivery device with the kick, which makes you even more hooked. Apparently, this is part of why pipe smokers are less addicted, we get the benefits of nicotine, but with a delayed reaction so we don't as closely associate our pipes (and therefore our need for them) with the feeling we get from the nicotine.
Anyhow, I find that interesting.
I recently stopped smoking for 30ish days just because I like to stop every once in a while and make sure I'm still in control. I had no physical need, but I did more than ever realize how much I enjoy having pipe smoking in my life. I spend a LOT of time walking places, or waiting for things, or watching my children play outside from a bench nearby, and all of those experiences are excruciatingly boring at times. But not with a pipe. Suddenly, I want to be out in the cold running an errand for my wife when she asks. It turns so many otherwise mundane things in to something I love.
All that to say, while not addicted, I'm THRILLED to be back on the horse!

 

[petes03]

A little of all three for me!

I mainly smoke my pipes for enjoyment and relaxation though.

Having done about every form of tobacco imaginable for many years, the nicotine in nearly every pipe tobacco doesn't have a very big effect on me. But at times, it does give me quite a fix when I'm stressed.

 

[antbauers]

Definetly both, but more so for joy and relaxation.

 

[layinpipe]

I think it is more of a part of my day, sort of like a ritual that i feel weird if i don't get to do it. i smoke on average 2 bowls a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. For me it is the whole experience and process that i dig. I work all day at my 9-5, then go home and take care of my dogs and then right to teach martial arts followed by training martial arts. Then it is finally home to spend time with the girlfriend. She is a gym teacher and volleyball coach for both the middle school she teaches at as well as JV at a local high school. She is also almost done with her masters as well and she has been juggling all of these at the same time. To say we are both busy would be an understatement. She passes out a lot earlier than i do, as i am and always have been a night owl, so that is usually when i will go outside for some relaxation and a bowl or usually 2. I'll watch my dogs play in the yard and listen to music, read a book on my nook, watch youtube videos or whatever else. It' sort of my "me" time and it allows me to unwind from the long day. On the weekends i smoke when i have the time, but i don't necessarily have to, though i can usually find the time to at least enjoy 1 bowl. I always carry a pipe and tin with me when the gf and i go somewhere on the weekends, as you never know when a pipe appropriate ocassion may pop up. If it doesn't though, no big deal i'd just rather be prepared.
I don't know about anyone else, but i also enjoy cleaning my pipes. It allows me to sort of study them and admire their characteristics more in depth and really appreciate each pipe for what it is worth to me. It is also relaxing to me and also allows me to both listen to and space out to conversations i have with my gf, depending on the topic at hand, lol.

 

[phred]

Definitely not a need thing for me - though I did smoke more while I was unemployed and kind of stressed out about that fact. I've been experimenting to see if I can manage a smoke at lunch from time to time, but that's as much about using up some older and less satisfactory blends so that I can justify trying something new as it is about addiction - I have no problem stopping for days or even weeks at a time.

 

[sparrowhawk]

I quit cigs a little less than a year ago, then started with a pipe about a month later. I do smoke a pipe often, but I don't feel the same pull from the pipe that I did when I was on cigarettes. I can and have gone all day without a pipe, but I usually chose not to. It's a different experience entirely.

 

[adam2]

I will say that I want but don't need to. There can be months between I smoke a bowl and when I am smoking "wild" it is about 3-4 bowls at month. I don't smoke to get relaxed but I instead feel that I need to be relaxed to enjoy my smoking most.

 

[Perique]

I think I pretty clearly fall into the "need to smoke" category. But that shouldn't imply I enjoy it any less than a "choose to smoke" guy. I don't crave a pipe at certain times the way one might a cigarette. But then again I smoke pretty much all day and night, so it's more of a slow, steady, constant nicotine dose. If I'm in position where I can't smoke for an extended period (working on a project, meeting, airplane, etc) I'll take a pinch of Copenhagen...
So, yeah, I'm a nicotine addict. But I've never hidden that fact on the board

 

[andystewart]

I honestly don't know. I've smoked on and off for 30 years, but never cigarettes. Pipe and cigars, but sometimes with years in between. The cigars drifted away in about 2002 without a murmer, but I've found that this time around I do love my pipe. I don't smoke nicotine heavy blends and I don't focus on any type of high (I've never done drugs and I don't drink), but I do carry a pipe most of the time and I smoke when I can. I know that I need routine and associate hard and that goes for my pipe, as well. I need to do certain things at certain times and so miss my pipe moments if I don't get them. I've also found that pipesmoking (or lack of it) affects my mood. I'm ratty if I feel I'm being prevented from doing what I want to do, when I want to do it. I definitely think that part of this is that I'm now so immersed in all the things that wrap around my pipe and smoking. This site is one of them. PAD and TAD are others, fuelled by the fascinations I get from this site. My pipesmoking is a (largely) solitary passtime and it's for me. It has enhanced my life and generally changed me for the better, making me calmer and more thoughtful. I can see a world where I need the nicotine, but I'm not there yet. However, I think I need the enjoyment, interest, routines and associations that I now have with my pipes, and I'm under no illusions that this could become physical. We'll see!
Andy

 

[carcosa]

I'm addicted to cigarettes but haven't smoked them in 7 or 8 years, but I have been smoking a pipe for six months and have no trouble going a couple weeks without it. I usually smoke a few bowls in a row a few times a week.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

My pipe and cigar hobby is purely for enjoyment. I was never a a cigarette smoker, so I don't crave nicotine. I smoke a pipe or a cigar because I enjoy the taste and the ritual. There are times where I will enjoy a pipe or cigar several days in a row, and then there are times I will go a week or more without either.

 

[cuchulain]

I'm a nic fiend. I dipped for five years straight, and I'm definitely hooked. My pipe started off as a diversion when I was dipping, now that I've quit I find myself smoking as much as I can, about 3 bowls a day. Still better than dip but still could be better.
Part of the reason I smoke as much as I do is I'm an irritable bastard even when my cravings are sated. When I'm jonesin'...