Totally in the dark ...smoking

cortezattic · Jun 14, 2011

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.

portascat · Jun 14, 2011

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

kcvet67 · Jun 14, 2011

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.

jayh · Jun 14, 2011

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.

colorduke · Jun 14, 2011

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

romeowood · Jun 14, 2011

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.

kcvet67 · Jun 14, 2011

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

Cats are like that.

johnnyrebel · Jun 14, 2011

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.

mjtannen · Jun 15, 2011

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.

oldmanwinter · Jul 10, 2011

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.

winton · Jul 10, 2011

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

ranger · Jul 10, 2011

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.

unclearthur · Jul 10, 2011

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

fhb2532 · Jul 10, 2011

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.

ranger · Jul 10, 2011

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

At least IMHO.

:worship:

pstlpkr · Jul 10, 2011

Love makes time pass...

Time makes love pass...

For every thing else... fiber.

seanz · Jul 10, 2011

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 :D

pdmus · Jul 10, 2011

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!

grouchy · Jul 10, 2011

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......

ohin3 · Jul 10, 2011

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.

Totally in the dark ...smoking

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