Pipes Magazine » General Pipe Smoking Discussion

1. 

   cortezattic
   

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   Last night I was sitting at my desk in the basement man cave, smoking a bowl of Orlik Golden Sliced.
   I turned off the lights to rest my eyes and maybe give my palate free rein to focus on the tastes.
   Curiously, although I could still taste the tobacco, I found smoking in the dark considerably less rewarding.
   I had no idea that gratification from smoking was tied so closely to the visual feedback of seeing the smoke.

   I find myself sitting idly on the line dividing past and future,
   as if I could kill time without injuring eternity. -- Thoreau

   Posted 11 months ago #
2. 

   portascat
   

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   So...does a blind man smoke a good pipe?

   "To seek freedom is the only driving force I know. Freedom to fly off into that infinity out there."

   Posted 11 months ago #
3. 

   Anonymous
   

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   I have the same reaction to smoking in the dark. I just can't enjoy my pipe if I can't see the smoke. I am glad I'm not the only one. My wife says I'm just weird, lol.

   Posted 11 months ago #
4. 

   kcvet67
   

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   I noticed the same thing years ago but have never been able to figure out WHY. There is a strong link between smell and taste that has been well documented but I've never read anything that would explain the link between sight and taste.

   "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
   -- Thomas Jefferson

   Posted 11 months ago #
5. 

   Anonymous
   

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   I can taste the tobacco, but I just can't enjoy the pipe experience.

   Posted 11 months ago #
6. 

   jayh
   

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   its funny. I really really enjoy listening to records with nearly no light in the room. just the LED's from the kit and the warm tube glow from the amp. i get completely lost. However, with smoking, I generally prefer to do it in the light, or low light like dusk or dawn.

   I've had many dreams of the "nocturne" experience of walking a gravel road in my cord coat, wool trousers in the deep of a starry night with a long contemplative pipe full of a warm english blend...but its never happened. I just havent had many great experiences smoking at night, as I have in the late mornings or late evenings -- and I think its kind of visual as well.

   Posted 11 months ago #
7. 

   Anonymous
   

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   Personally, I don't need a visual of smoke or spit to enjoy the flavor of a tobacco, whether it's a cigar, pipe or snus.

   Posted 11 months ago #
8. 

   colorduke
   

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   The power was just out for 3 hrs so i just sat and smoked in the dark.

   I will give up my pipe when they pry my cold dead fingers off of it!

   Posted 11 months ago #
9. 

   romeowood
   

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   I have had the bad habit lately, due to the exhaustive pace of my daytimes, to recline perhaps a bit too far in the easy chair upon returning home and lighting up an after-work bowl, lit only by the glow of the computer monitor across the room. I enjoy the tobacco immensely; so much so that I've been awakened several times by the scream of burning cinders and flesh in my chest and lap. I've tasked the cats with waking me before this happens but they seem strangely indifferent.

   Posted 11 months ago #
10. 

    kcvet67
    

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    I've tasked the cats with waking me before this happens but they seem strangely indifferent.

    Cats are like that.

    Posted 11 months ago #
11. 

    johnnyrebel
    

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    I've thought of this too in the past weeks. Sitting in the shade I will sometimes close my eyes enjoying the smoke and the relaxation of it all, and I don’t enjoy the smoke near as much. For some reason I too like to look at my smoke. To me it seems to add more to my smoke, the way it exits and curls when it dissipates. I wonder what the reason behind this is. Cause it does seem to affect the taste of the smoke for me. Either that or my smoke is tastless. I've never noticed this with anything else consumable. That’s interesting that many of you are too experiencing this.

    Posted 11 months ago #
12. 

    mjtannen
    

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    I think we need the light to see the smoke to know how the burn is going. When the smoke dies down a tamp and possibly a relight is in order. A good pipe smoke needs careful management. Light in the room is essential. I find the similar experience to smoking with a wind screen outdoors on a mildly windy day. Can't really get a handle on the smoke rising from the bowl and the enjoyment is not the same.

    Posted 11 months ago #
13. 

    oldmanwinter
    

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    Meh... I prefer low-light in-general. My study has no overhead lighting - just a floor-lamp and a fireplace. In Winter, the hearth is blazing and that's all the light I really need to tamp/dump/pack, unless I'm reading during. Ambient light sucks the fun right out of an evening smoke for me. That said, it is beneficial to be able to gauge the volume of smoke you're producing. I tend to smoke too fast if I'm blind to that.

    Posted 10 months ago #
14. 

    winton
    

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    This discussion reminds me of smoking in very cold weather. After a while of enjoying the smoke, you realize that your pipe went out 10 minutes ago and you are watching your breath instead of smoke.

    Winton

    Posted 10 months ago #
15. 

    ranger
    

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    At first I thought it was nothing but a load of crap, until I just now tried it with eyes open, and eyes shut.
    Damn if you're not correct...I do enjoy smoking more when I can see the smoke....amazing!

    I never realized that before.

    RLTW

    Posted 10 months ago #
16. 

    unclearthur
    

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    Dark, light I don't care as long as I get to smoke my pipe.

    If at first you don't succeed you are running about average.

    Posted 10 months ago #
17. 

    fhb2532
    

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    For me, I think the art of pipe smoking involves at least four of the senses. the feal of the tobacco as you prepare and load it in the pipe, the pipe itself, smooth rough bent or straight how it feals in your hand and mouth. How the pipe and tobacco look, colors and shapes, the smoke rising and curling about. The smell of the tobacco , both before and after lighting. The taste of the tobacco as you smoke. and even sometimes the sounds of the smoke, crackling and sizziling as it burns. Maybe even a sixth sense, the passage of time as you contemplate on the cosmos.
    At least IMHO.

    Posted 10 months ago #
18. 

    ranger
    

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    Maybe even a sixth sense, the passage of time as you contemplate on the cosmos.
    At least IMHO.

    

    Posted 10 months ago #
19. 

    Lawrence
    

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    Love makes time pass...
    Time makes love pass...
    For every thing else... fiber.

    
    My Pipe Slide Show
    

    Posted 10 months ago #
20. 

    seanz
    

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    This discussion reminds me of smoking in very cold weather. After a while of enjoying the smoke, you realize that your pipe went out 10 minutes ago and you are watching your breath instead of smoke.

    
    I hear ya my friend

    New Zealand
    Peter Piper.
    Give me the weed, the fragrant weed, My wearied brain to calm; In a wreath of smoke, while I crack my joke, I'll find a healing balm.

    Posted 10 months ago #
21. 

    pdmus
    

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    I, too need to see the smoke. But I truly enjoy smoking at night, in the dark, outside under the stars. Watching the smoke trail off to nothing is wonderful, sort of ancient - like imagining the smoke going up to the powers that be, taking my wishes and dreams to let them be known. fhb2532 - your description is perfect!

    Posted 10 months ago #
22. 

    grouchy
    

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    i can find contentment whether in or out of darkness.

    dont do quite so well unenlightened or wandering around in the dark reaches of the mind but the wandering always breaks out into the light, just not as often as i would like.

    ah, fiber is good. except for me, most things just seem to pass me by......

    Posted 10 months ago #
23. 

    ohin3
    

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    I like to see the smoke. I too noticed this a long time ago early in my pipe smoking career. Pipe smoking is more a state of mind if you ask me.

    Posted 10 months ago #
24. 

    tiltjlp
    

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    The only time I've smoked in the dark was when i pre-loaded a pipe and then forgot what the tobacco was. Still enjoyed it, and usually figured out what blend it was. But yes, like Frank said, smoking involved more than just taste and aroma.

    John : The CobFather : Have Cobs, Will Smoke
    
    

    Posted 10 months ago #
25. 

    bootlegbonvivant
    

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    I definitely enjoy being able to see the smoke. Cyndi and I just bought a couple of recliners and set up the sunroom to a more comfortable smoking area. The lights are, for the most part, mood setting. But it doesn't take away from the enjoyment at all.

    Southerners don't talk slow because they're dumb, we do it because there's really no rush.

    Posted 10 months ago #
26. 

    teamhavoc28
    

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    I prefer seeing the smoke because well it's just fun. I can handle smoking till about dusk after that might as well quit for the day.

    Posted 10 months ago #

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