Smoking is a Sleep Aid?

Nope, not crazy..I can do the same with a large bowl of Penzance and seem to stagger back into the house from the truck(when it's cold outside), and feel quite intoxicated and immediately go to sleep. I'm not sure what causes this.

yes, it's relaxing. Sometimes a stress reliever. Coupled with a nice shot of Whiskey and sleep is moments away. Aahhh.... The benefits of the pipe over the hectic paced cigarette. ::

Nicotine is not just a drug but also a potent stimulant, pretty much in the same league as a strong Coffee, Red Bull and Coca Cola. Having said that it's horses for courses, so if you think it relaxes you before bed then who am I to argue.
By the way I like to have a bowl just before bed too. It's probably my subconscious saying to me "Last Nicotine for 6 hours....stock up now"

funny how it can relax some people and then have the nicotine have an opposite effect on others. :crazy:

I've found the act of smoking ,particularly in a quiet way and while sitting is very close to meditation. It brings natural rythmic breathing, the mind focuses on details of the act of smoking or some other small thing to such great and tiny detail or else random unexamined thoughts that seem to drift as lazily as the smoke itself. . . the analogy of the mind like the fog of pipe smoke has always allowed me to reach a calm centeredness that nothing else can. In fact since Is tarted the pipe my normal 1-2 hours to fall to sleep has been reduced to 20 minutes to an hour, the twenty being commonplace on days I smoked a pipe before bed, and the hour days I didn't.
In other words, and I know this may be unfounded and (unlikely) possibly coincidental, but a lifetime of severe rotations from the extremes of insomnia and narcolepsy has been alleviated, not entirely mind, but to a massively relieving point since starting up with the pipe. And I have not had a single night where I was not able to sleep at all, although I have had a couple that after a little over an hour I went out with my little ten-minute smoker (a black clay) and was asleep almost as soon as I lie down afterwards.
On the other hand the presciption meds the FDA touts, the ones I was given that made me violently ill, that made me mentally unstable (even moreso than weeks of insomnia at its worst will do to you), that did not work at all, that made me physically and painfully more exhausted than I already was without allowing me to actually sleep and made me clouded in the haze of drugs to boot (barbituates, god only knows why drug seekers actually like the damned things) --- all these things they swear by did absolutely nothing good, but something they'd crucify someone for claiming has any benefits has helped me more in 3 months than anything has in my life.
Sorry -- that was a bit off topic. What I really want to say is that yes, it does appear (for some people in the least) either the chemicals of pipe smoke, or the ritual of pipe smoking itself do facilitate a greater calm, peace of mind, or otherwise ease of sleep.

Late evening latakia laden tobaccos are great for a good restful night of sleep. The aroma on my mustache as it hits the pillow and bedsheets is my last pleasant memory of a great day.

^That was very eloquent mate, would you be terrible averse to me adding that to a little scrap of quotes I sometime use in essays? I could either quote you as an anonymous wise man, or yer proper name, whichever you prefer -- assuming I have a chance to use it, and I've been writing a lot of pro-tobacco essays lately so it is likely I will.

I smoke an hour or 2 before bed every night, and on the nights that it's too cold or I'm to busy I don't sleep as well. I know there are certain tobacco's that are blended for night time.

This has been a very interesting read though, thanks for posting it!

I might add something to this old but seemingly true post. Not only does Pipe Tobacco help me relax and fall asleep at night, it seems to have the opposite effect in the morning. After I smoke a couple/few bowls in the A.M. I feel ready to go for the day !! It seems to have a stimulating effect in the morning, and a relaxing effect in the later evening that helps me fall asleep.

I'm having my pre- bedtime smoke right now, and I'm sure I'll sleep like a log!

I prefer a good read (until I start to nod off), then a bowl of Nightcap and either some good brandy or whiskey to sip on, just listening to the ceiling fan. Puts me out every time. Nicotine is a very fascinating chemical for sure.

I've been writing a lot of pro-tobacco essays lately

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Great to hear yoru! We, as a community need more of that. Thanks for your contributions.

I knew there was a good reason Dunhill named one of its more fulsome nicotine blends Nightcap. The legal

uppers and downers have contrary effects. For some coffee and tea are always stimulants. Coffee usually keeps

me up, but occasionally tea will help me sleep. Alcohol can make me sleepy but tends to wake me up in the middle

of the night, for some reason. Nicotine is known to be active in the hippocampus, a region of the brain that relates

to activities below consciousness, so nicotine may well both turn on and turn off the chemicals that produce sleep,

and its various stages. It's interesting, too, that hyperactive kids and adults are given stimulants to make them

behave more calmly. Bottom line, these chemicals and their activity in the brain are mostly mysterious, but they

plainly are active, but in unpredictable ways. And yes, nicotine probably encourages sleep, and sometimes also

wakefulness.

The fire marshall asked me to remind everyone to take care not to smoke in bed. Finish off your bowl of tobacco

and put the pipe in a safe place, like a ceramic ash tray or bowl, then retire to bed.

@mso489: Notting strange over your experience with alcohol. Alcohol is no good sleeping aid. It induces sleep, but the effect is short acting. Therefore, you wake up.

Same here, by the end of a bowl of nightcap im so peaceful i basically walk straight into bed!

A very interesting topic and one which I've often wondered about myself. Personally I don't think that nicotine itself is the explanation. There are other things in pipe tobacco which may have intoxicating/soporific effects, as well as the calming effect of pipe smoking itself.
I notice that the effect is more pronounced with Latakia blends and with my darkest tobaccos - Dark Flake/Plug, Black Irish/XX/XXX etc - which is exactly why I smoke them at night, and avoid heavy machinery!!