Dealing With the Naysayers

The main danger from smoking is the damage to the delicate structure of the lungs when inhaling. As you say, this is a big factor in why many of us have switched from cigarettes to a pipe. Also, there are a lot of nasty chemicals in the paper wrapper of a cigarette which you are avoiding, not to mention the relaxation you get from a nice bowl of tobacco.
I can see why your parents are concerned as not smoking at all is safer than smoking even a pipe.

I am 20 and also a college student, started smoking a pipe last year. I find it does help with concentration, I like to have a pipe going when reading my books or typing up an essay. I also never smoked anything prior to the pipe but really enjoy it now. I generally have one bowl a day, with a break every now and then. It is a world apart from cigarettes, as long as you keep it in moderation and do not inhale, I really do not see a big problem with it.

I'd emphasize frequency too. Some people smoke more or less, but I smoke a bowl or 2 a day. Some days nothing. You can go read the studies for yourself: Even when inhalation is not controlled for, people who smoke only 1-2 cigars a day have little, if any, increased risk. Yes, I said cigars, but I believe if anything pipes are not even as bad as a cigar (cigars usually 1 hour plus on time, pipes can be an hour, or significantly less depending on size)
If you're at a bowl a day or less, your increased risk of anyhing is very slight. Even multiple bowls everyday do not increase risk for oral cancers much, lung disease none.
Pipes, cigars, and premium tobaccos are very different from cigarettes and even cheapie gas station smokes.
This is my opinion... if you even drink water regularly and eat a little healthier than most people, and maybe exercise a little, you are probably in better health than most who do not smoke at all.

You probably inhale more carcinogens from auto exhaust on any given day than you would smoking a pipe from which you do not inhale, but rather enjoy the flavor of natural tobacco that, unlike cigarette processed sheet tobacco, has been unadulterated by nasty chemicals.

Tobacco is bad for you. As is alcohol, red meat, dairy, and a host of other things. When you boil it down, life itself is terminal. That being said, a life devoid of these things is pretty hollow, IMO. Indulgence, tempered with restraint, is the name of the game.
And yes, there are worlds of difference, in both rate of consumption and amount of industrial "overworking", between premium tobacco and mass appeal stuff like cigarettes or moist smokeless "dip". Do right by the rest of your health, get regular check ups, and all should be good.
Oh, and DON'T tell your physician you smoke, as it could likely affect insurance. o)

You won't change their minds..My parents never agreed with my pipe smoking.They just realized that I was going to do it.It never effected my relationship with them.In the end it's your chioce wheather or not you do it.

it's nice to see someone my age on these forums. Good to know I'm not too young for this.

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Im 23, and going back to school for a Ph.D! My wife sometimes gets weird comments when she mentions that I smoke cigars or pipes...stuff like, "how old is he??"
I remeber someone came to my door to sell me magazines or something and saw an ashtray with cigar butts outside. When I answered the door, he said "Oh I was expecting some big fat old guy!!"
Needless to say, I didnt buy shit. Lol!

Every activity has some risk.

Here are to tips to help reduce the risks, and some info to arm yourself against the naysayers.
Reducing Risks - Seattle Pipe Club

Hey, at my last physical exam the nurse asked me if I smoked. I said, yes, I smoke a pipe. She asked, when did you quit? I said, fifteen minutes ago when I got out of my car! She was horrified! I have no intentions of not smoking my pipe, I told her. She was disgusted and so was I!

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I can’t help but marvel at the level of brain washing the general public is under regarding anything related to tobacco use, and yet at the same time hardly anyone seems to wonder what is actually causing the skyrocketing levels of many diseases in non-smokers: cancers, auto-immune diseases, neurological disorders, diabetes, heart disease, etc. There is no lack of evidence, from many studies, that much of the blame for these things can be attributed to chemical additives in food and water, side-effects from pharmaceutical drugs & vaccines, and profound nutritional deficiencies in the avg diet of processed foods. But this information is not trumpeted by the mainstream media and government, so the avg person remains woefully ignorant of most of it.
IMO, it is safe to say that the avg “naysayer” is at much higher risk of serious disease, including cancer, from their own diets and lack of nutrition than anyone is from tobacco use...especially from pipe smoking, which has a very low risk factor.

Why I smoke a pipe.
I routinely use this missive as a broad sheet to answer the question of "Why I smoke a pipe". A question so often asked by many of my anti-tobacco friends. Friends, I might add, that give me a hard time whenever I light up my tobacco pipe. I've even gone so far as to post this on my social forums, as a warning of sorts, should someone stumble upon a photo of me with pipe in hand.

Run your eyes down the list below of names and see how many you recognize. Collectively, I would argue, these men actually made the 20th Century, both literally and figuratively. To a man, all avid pipe smokers, each and every one. Moreover, many lived well beyond the average lifespan of their day, many passing in their mid- to late-eighties.
Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Norman Rockwell, Orson Wells, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Douglas MacArthur, Admiral Arleigh Burke, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Bing Crosby, President Gerald Ford, Carl Sandburg, Harold Macmillan, Konrad Lorenz, Errol Flynn, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John D. MacDonald, Warner Baxter, Thomas Selfridge, Charles Nelson Reilly, Ossip Zadkine, , Max Frisch, , Paul Casals, Jack Lynch, Patrick Moore, Anthony Hulme, Ronald Colman, Alexander Kent, Jacques Brel, Lino Ventura, Alfred Wainwright, Rudolph Bultmann, Philippe Sollers, Jean Gabin, Leo Malet, G.E. Moore, Gilbert Ryle, Edmund Husserl, J.L. Austin, Lalo Schifrin, James Whitmore, Anthony Quayle, Ralph Richardson, Bernard Grebanier, Jean-Paul Sartre, Stanley Holloway, , Carl Jung, Paul Kruger, Curd Jurgens, Gerard Walschap, Trevor Howard, Tony Benn, Rod Hull, Trevor Baylis, Joss Ackland, Frank Muir, Manny Shinwell, Jack Hargreaves, Warren Mitchell, Rupert Davies, Russ Abbot, Van Gordon Sauter, Walter Cronkite, Robert Fulghum, Milorad Pavić, Glenn Ford, Erwin Shrodinger, Moustapha Akkad, Evelyn Waugh, Harold Wilson, Bertrand Russell, Alf Landon, Edgar Buchanan, Dean Jagger, Edward G. Robinson, Rudyard Kipling, Aaron Spelling, P.G. Wodehouse, Allen Dulles, Otto Klemperer, Henry Fonda, Lee Van Cleef, Jack Lemmon, Peter Cushing, Barry Fitzgerald, Hume Cronyn, Graham Chapman, Nigel Bruce, Bennet Cerf, Raymond Chandler, Alexander Graham Bell, Arthur Frank, Richard E. Byrd, Gregory Peck, Albert King, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Edward Abbey, Juan Trippe, Frank Sinatra, General George S. Patton, Jacques Derrida, Hurbert Hoover, Sid James, Fred Trueman, Vincent Schiavelli, Eric Morecambe, Stephen Fry, Fred Thompson, Roscoe Dickinson, Guy N. Smith, Gunter Grass, Sean O'Casey, A.A. Milne, Sir Compton Mackenzie, Laurie Lee, W. Somerset Maugham, J.B. Priestly, Andre Dubus, Gordon Parks, F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, W.W. Denslow, William Conrad, William Gillette, Edwin Hubble, Rober Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr, Robert Young, Clark Gable, Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy, Cary Grant, David Ogilvy, Sir Winston Churchill, Kind George VI, Arthur Miller, Ernest Hemingway, John Ford, Shelby Foote, Herschel Burke Gilbert, Thomas Johnston Taylor, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Sir John Mills, Owen Barfield, Alan Christopher "Al" Deere, Elliot Harold Paul, Healey Willan, Harold Tucker Webster.
After perusing such a list, I ask: Can it be that the greatest minds of the 20th Century were all common miscreants, who did not fully fathom "what they were doing to themselves"? Are we, with all our advances of modern science, more intelligent than they were? How many men today can you count that can measure to the list above? I am hard pressed to find a handful, if that.
We current tobacco pipe smokers actually represent the historical legacy of a community of world pipe smokers, a community which, in the not too distant past, encompassed some 35% of the adult males in the United States. Lest it not be forgotten, these anonymous pipe smokers were our grandfathers, and allowed for the freedoms many of us enjoy today. Although far fewer in number today, we nevertheless still hold the candle to the memory of these men and the deeds they accomplished, with, of course, a pipe in hand.

Great info in the link from the Seattle Pipe Club. Thanks for posting that.
I've talked to many people about smoking and agree that you probably will not change their mind. But, hopefully you can show that you've done your homework and know the potential hazards. Taking a calculated risk is one thing but being foolish is another. Don't try to convince them that smoking is risk free, but show them that you aren't being naive.

I recently went to my first appointment for my first ever physical. The Dr. saw my answer to the "tobacco products" question. He asked me about it. I told him I smoke a pipe. He asked me if I inhale? No. Ever smoke cigarettes? No. Listened to my lungs. All clear. He advised me to make sure I see the Dentist regularly. He asked me if I had tried Frog Morten Cellar? Told him I love it! He asked me where I found it? He as been wanting to try it. I ordered some to be delivered to his office with my regards. Moral of the story? In a world where literally everything is bad for you, it's all a matter of perspective. We all make multiple choices with regard to life's risks everyday. I'm comfortable with my choices. - bp

To the original poster:
Are you of legal age? If so, please read on. As a life lesson, it's never too early to start leaving the nest and realizing that it's your life, and you are in control. While it certainly is a nice touch to appreciate well-meant advice from your parents, they don't have a say anymore. You will grow from your own experiences and your mistakes, they are part of life and adulthood. If you want to smoke a pipe, then smoke a pipe. Wait, let me say that again ... if YOU want to smoke a pipe, then SMOKE a pipe.
If you are not of legal age: do as your parents say, they know best!
Btw., I don't eat junkfood, I drink lots of water and tea, with a healthy dose of coffee, the only smoking I do are pipes, and I run 5k three times a week (well the other days I play Volleyball, Soccer, and Ultimate Frisbee), and I work a lot. I'd consider myself healthy as can be. Small doses of everything keep you happy and healthy. May that be caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, or salad.

I'm 28 and over the past year lost 100 lbs mostly by running. I do on average 5 miles a day now. I love how people tell me how unhealthy I am when they get winded walking from their desk to car.

In my experience, naysayers will always be just that -- naysayers. That doesn't make them wrong, but skepticism against something controversial doesn't make he/she right. In the end, you are your own man; your decisions are your own, as are the consequences that result.
If you are of age, and you want to smoke a pipe, that is your right. End of story. The naysayers just have to deal with it.