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jazzlover

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 15, 2013
119
0
Ok, I'm going to ask a scary question. Have any long time puffers here ever developed tobacco-related cancer or hardening of the arteries?
I know this is an unpleasant topic but it's one that's always at the back of my mind.

 

ravkesef

Lifer
Aug 10, 2010
2,927
9,550
82
Cheshire, CT
Hard to tell. I've only been smoking a pipe for 54 years. Paul Spagnola knows a lot more about this than most of us do. Perhaps you might check with him. http://paulspipeshop.com

At any rate, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice. Are there risks? Of course. But the risk is greater from eating a charcoal broiled hamburger. Enjoy life. Carpe diem!

 

oklansas

Can't Leave
Apr 16, 2013
441
0
DC
The problem in the United States is that the health effects of Pipe smoking are difficult to measure on a longitudinal basis - mostly due to the relative scarcity of pipe smokers compared to the rest of the population. Additionally, the studies that do exist, are often outdated - reflecting a time when Pipe smoking was often undertaken with other forms of tobacco use, and when pipe smokers often inhaled (something that is more of an outlier in the 'modern' pipe smoker).
BUT, there is still some interesting studies out there. One of the more interesting ones: http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/11/853.full

"In this cohort, pipe smoking conferred a risk similar to or greater than that for cigar smoking for cancers of the lung, larynx, esophagus, and oropharynx and for coronary heart disease."

But this particular study, I believe, lumped inhaling and non-inhaling pipe users together - odd, considering this difference has the greatest effect on what health chances you take.
In a nutshell, the consensus seems to be that pipe smoking is on par (as far as health risks go) with cigar smoking, but less risk than cigarette smoking. As a pipe smoker (non-inhaler), your risks of certain types of mouth cancers will be higher - increasing with the more bowls you smoke per day. The big increase in health risks comes from inhalation from a pipe - several studies have indicated this can actually be worse than inhaling cigars.
However, Studies that solely look as the instances of cancer in pipe smokers vs non-smokers - rarely look at the effect that pipe smoking can have on the other aspects of an individual's life, such as stress management and stress related disease. In fact several studies of both moderate pipe users (1-3 bowls week I think was the range) and alcohol drinkers (same range?) show that this moderate usage can actually increase lifespans over that of total-abstainers. Presumably owning to the calming effects they impart on the user, reducing overall stress. I believe the relevant pipe study was from the Surgeon General in...1964? (I'm too tired to look it up at the moment). However, what I've jotted down here is hardly comprehensive of the available information - so its best to google around and gather your own conclusions.
The Bottom line is that while the positive attributes of stress reduction likely balance a bit against the increased chances of contracting a mouth cancer...your overall risk of those cancers will still be higher than the general non-smoker.
But hey, you can still get lung cancer if you've never smoked a day in your life. Life is about choices, you make them, and they have consequences. So, is the enjoyment you get from puffing, worth the risk? For many here, it is. :puffy:

 
Apr 26, 2012
3,381
5,601
Washington State
I agree that life is about choices. I choose to drink beer or other alcoholic beverages periodically along with enjoying pipes and cigars periodically. I enjoy it and it makes me happy. Are there risks to it, yes but there are also risks for many other things in life. Heck, everyday I get in my car and drive to work or while I'm at work I take risks of something happening to me. If I wanted to live in a bubble I could but I wouldn't be happy.
My wife you doesn't smoke, never has, basically doesn't drink other than a random glass of wine here or there; was diagnosed with Lymphoma almost 2 years ago. She's cancer free now, but she is someone that exercises, and tries to maintain a healthy diet. Cancer can happen to anyone at anytime. Sure things we do or things we expose our body to can increase those risks, but its more fun to live then to worry about dying.
Everything in moderation!

 

auspipe

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 19, 2012
222
0
Australia
The major effects really only come from inhaling, 20+ times a day as it damages the body internally and has no time to repair itself. One or two bowls a day, no inhaling, I think the risk is really quite small. I do not know anyone who has died of a tobacco related disease. It is a plant that deserves respect, cigarettes have ruined that.

 

jah76

Lifer
Jun 27, 2012
1,611
35
Metal. Man, my thoughts out to you and your wife.
It is a plant that deserves respect, cigarettes COMPANIES have ruined that.
This plus my own addition added in caps. I've been reading Tobacco: by Iain Gately. I'm not a stranger to some of the history of the Lady but this book has been an informative and at times mildly humorous look into nearly the entire history of tobacco in civilizations. I'm only 2/3's of the way through it.
I am conscious of the affects smoking can have on my health, but I am honestly more concerned about the garbage I eat and drink. The food additives, preservatives, coloring, etc. I can't understand how all that shit gets a free pass from the Anti crowd. I guess I just chalk it up to the intellectual dishonesty that's prevalent in our group think culture.
Our company nurse chided me once not just about smoking but how much sugar "They" added to pipe tobacco. Of course she was sucking on a diet Coke and I'm sure had a degree in tobacco processing.

 
Apr 26, 2012
3,381
5,601
Washington State
jah76
Metal. Man, my thoughts out to you and your wife.
Thanks man. I appreciate that. It's been a long road back to recovery, but she's doing really well now. She still has a few small side affects to deal with from the chemotherapy treatments and radiation treatments, but overall she's doing good. Thanks again.

 

drwatson

Lifer
Aug 3, 2010
1,721
5
toledo
Good luck to you and your wife metal!
I have never known anyone personally that pipe smoke and had that type of cancer. Again moderation!

However this DR. thinks America does everything wrong, we look for treatments not cures! I've read alot about B-12 and cancer, our FDA calls it bad medicine. But these are the same people that allow all the other RX to come through, so I dont trust them.

Want a cure for cancer? Inject Congress with the cells today, and a cure will be here tomorrow. (But then again I'm one of those who believe there has been a cure for years, but big business wins)

 
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