Dad at 80, Remembering Pipe Smoking

I visited my parents this weekend to celebrate my father's 80th birthday. I brought along my two Petersons and my Huck Finn Cob to show Dad. He didn't know I had taken up pipes and I wasn't sure I'd tell him, because I didn't want to get a health lecture (Dad sometimes thinks his children are still teenagers). I was waiting for the right time, if it came up. Dad smoked pipes in his 40s, and as we were talking he said how if he reaches 85 he was going to get a pipe and smoke it. There was my chance. I said I'd started smoking pipes and, to my surprise, his eyes lit up and he got a grin on his face. I brought out the pipes and laid them in his lap. I talked about them a bit, and he pointed to the Cob. "And I bet that one smokes the best," he said. He looked at Mom. "Oh that makes me want to smoke again," he said.
I took the pipes, and was holding one, talking about how I like to sit and watch a movie, smoking. I demonstrated, putting the pipe to my mouth. "Don't! Don't do that," he almost shouted. He got restless in his chair. "That does it. I'm going out tomorrow and buying a pipe!" Mom said the only thing she hated about his smoking before was he never took the pipe out of his mouth and he'd mumble when he talked and she couldn't stand that.
We were talking about the pleasure of smoking and he says:"What you"ll find out is that a pipe is like a lover." He put his hands up like he had a pipe in his mouth and he was tamping it and lighting it. "When I was smoking I was in my own world and everything was outside it. I could sit in a crowd of people and there was me and my pipe in our own world." He talked about the pleasure of packing and lighting and attending to the pipe. His eyes were shining with the memories.
I don't know if he'll start smoking again. Mom probably wouldn't want him smoking in the house, so that might stop him. "A pipe is like a lover." I'll always remember he said that. He said it with tenderness and longing. He doesn't think he'll live many years longer. I hope he allows himself to have again the pleasure he would get from a pipe. He deserves it.

I thought about giving him my Peterson Billiard since that's the shape of pipe he always smoked. A new Cob is a good idea, too. I decided to not anticipate his choice to smoke again and allow him the pleasure of making the choice without prompting. It would be exciting for him to walk into a tobacco store, look over the pipes and pick out his first pipe in 40 years. If he starts smoking I'll bring down some blends to introduce him to something other than Sir Walter Raleigh and Prince Albert, which is what he smoked before. I'll also get him a higher priced Billiard than what he'd buy on his own. I'd bet anything he rooted through the storage room for his old pipes after I left.