Pipe Smoking and Asthma

Do you inhale?

....even if you don't inhale, you still end up inhaling to some degree...I developed asthma from over exposure to rosewood dust many years ago. I usually only smoke every couple of weeks- no problems. When we're on vacation and I smoke daily, I have issues...-tightness of chest, coughing, etc...

Asthma triggers are a mystery. Asthma isn't an allergy, as allergy is understood, but shares some aspects. If you respond, it is probably a trigger. There's a major science prize waiting for the researcher who defines the mechanisms of asthma.

iooss, welcome to the forum. I have had asthma for over forty years. I started smoking a pipe a year ago. Up until that point in time I never smoked. I use a Ventolin bronchial dilator and was using a Pulmicort steroid inhaler as well. The ventolin is a bronchial dilator. The Pulmicort is a preventer. I have a very bad lung reaction to dogs and cats that affects my breathing. The dog allergy is so bad that I have to limit the visits to my daughters to an hour max before I begin to have issues and require to increase my Pulmicort and ventolin use. Now here is the cruel irony. And as MSO mentioned, asthma triggers take many forms and can be very puzzling and frustrating. Smoking a pipe does not affect my lungs or asthma at all. I smoke 3 - 4 bowls a day and inside my garage. During summer months and good weather I will open the garage door. But I can sit in the garage and smoke and get it hazy with tobacco smoke and have zero impact on my lungs. I don't understand it, my wife doesn't understand it but I am thankful I can enjoy this hobby with basically zero issues to my lungs. I don't think tobacco strength or type is an issue or would be a contributor unless you have been allergy tested by the needle method and the tests included specific types of tobacco and/or toppings/chemicals that are used in the process. If I may be so bold to make a suggestion and it is only my ought-dot-ought two cents worth; go to the doctor and request both a dilator and preventer inhaler and try those. Good luck and I hope you can enjoy the hobby. Oh, and one thing also I have found over the years that has helped my asthma. Again, I have no explanation but regular cardio exercise seems to really help.

Kind regards and all the best.

Also : if it's allergy-related (like our cats are to me), in the morning on arising, a cup or two of HOT coffee gets the phlegm in your airway loosened to where you can cough it up/out.

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A hairball?

Some ailments in specific individuals have a psychological dimension. In a sense, all ailments do. But from the science side, one of the greats in environmental toxicology -- and not a particularly sympathetic personality, no molly-coddler at all -- said sternly to a member of his research staff that chemical sensitivities would be seen as all in the heads of the sufferers until someone found the mechanism by which they arise. Having talked with dozens of such people, as well as my share of members of the public with psychological problems, I think the chemical sensitivity people were not imagining or inventing much. Their stories were routine and followed the same scenario, a heavy exposure to some volatile chemical in close unventilated quarters (finishing furniture in the garage, heavy duty lawn chemicals next to an open window, work place exposures}. Then symptoms that repeated. Then the same symptoms resulting from exposures to a wide variety of agents. Not much fantasy in the accounts. No radio reception in their teeth, or anything enthralling. But as the old man said, this only counts when some young hot-shot clinical researcher finds the cell biology that goes with this.

To an extent, some of what is called asthma is psychosomatic...

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To an extent, some of what you write is interpretative, opinionated, hogwash.
While it is entirely possible that to any extent, anything that is labelled may be labelled incorrectly, a casual reader of your post may misunderstand asthma and react inappropriately when they experience someone having an asthma attack.
Thanks for your disclaimer that you were not offering medical advice.
Perhaps you should avoid positing your opinion entirely.
-- Pat

"To an extent, some of what is called asthma is psychosomatic... "

Have had it for 66 years.

When I was a kid, always worse around Christmas.

Now worse around April 15th.

Pipe smoking & cigar doesn't effect it. I don't inhale.

Reminds me of Huxley and his eye exercises, or a gentleman I know who beat stuttering...

Had an old doctor many moons ago that tried to get me to do breathing exercises, pretending blowing a candle out after inhaling as much as you could, 12 times.

Now I pass out after 6! 8)

"These exercises suck!"

So does any exercise.

iooss, I trust you are able to enjoy the pipe smoking adventure. A good word to describe some asthma is 'trigger/s'. Others mentioned that the approach of a certain date would trigger certain symptoms. That trigger is called anxiety. If I may suggest, not advise; see your health care provider and talk to him.

I do hope you are able to find a suitable answer that will allow you to enjoy smoking a pipe. If and when you do arrive at the path forward point, I know lots of folks would appreciate it if you shared with all of us what your particular path forward is/was.

Kind regards and I hope you enjoy the many facets of this forum.

Chris in Red Deer, Alberta

To the OP -- Good luck with your journey. Keep us posted.
Off topic rant:

"The entire mainstream medical establishment has been built upon the supposition that something outside yourself is required for healing to occur. Such a system will tell you that there are no answers to be found within because you alone are somewhat helpless and powerless. According to mainstream medicine, only patented products and procedures that can be billed to your insurance company can heal -- everything else is invalid, illegal, unscientific, or just plain quackery." -- Jefferey Jaxen

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You have a contrarian view. You've made that clear. Others don't agree with your view.
I find your view narrow, dangerous, and presumptuous. Why even put yourself in a position to give someone else advice about a condition that they have... A condition which may not be the same as yours.
Does your need to continue to post comments in this vein stem from a need to have the last word? Is it an issue of disbelief that others could possibly have a differing viewpoint? Do you simply just need to be contrarian?
I'm not sure which but I do wish you would cease.
Especially when you seem to be motivated and inspired by people like this --> http://www.jeffereyjaxen.com/about.html
-- Pat

This is the root issue, as I see it in both cases, is fixation on authority to the complete exclusion of common sense.

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This is the fundamental difference between your position and mine.
Yours is based on a perceived notion as to my world view. My position is based on your dissemination of advice or theory which if taken at face value and without further analysis and review could be dangerous.
I am not interested in engaging you on your philosophy. I am under no misconception that I will change your mind. You should probably come to the same conclusion.
This is a pipe forum, where people look for feedback on how to enhance their pipe experience. This is the case with this thread. You chose to use this as an opportunity to proffer and opinion which could be harmful. I think this is offside. Which is why I addressed it in both instances.
Do feel free to continue to expound upon how I perceive the world, and how I should do so differently, if you so choose. But you'll be wasting calories with the typing.
-- Pat

+1 with what Pruss said.

It always saddens me that when asking such straight forward questions some people have to muddy the waters with pointless philosophical statements about their world view and it staggers me when people are constantly bashing modern medicine.

Anonymous, I respect your right to your opinion and viewpoint. I don't respect your intrusion into a matter that could cause harm or death. Go to the emerg ward of a hospital and ask if you can see an asthmatic struggling for their life on a respirator. Yeah, been there on the respirator. If someone had come and told me that my symptoms were simply psychosomatic and that I should just try some deep breathing exercises or have a cup of hot coffee or tea I would have pulled off my respirator and beat the shit out of his stupid head.

How's that for pragmatic?

...Point taken...and I think we can close this one down and let it fade into the mists of obscurity...