Am I Smoking Too Much?

[smudgersmissingleg]

My dad had it done many years ago and it worked for him like a dream, he just can't burp now, so he sounds like a walking duck farm as it all finds its way out the.........err......other way.

Hahaha! Well I pray I don't end up like that :lol:to be honest what with heartburn, sore throat and gums I'd be willing to take any option they offer whether surgical or whatever as long as it does the trick. I just hope there is an operation and they can get it done in a reasonable amount of time, maybe a year would be bearable as long as there's an end in sight.
Chris

 

[docrameous]

I am a very new pipe smoker. For me there are two major factors...
Time - if I can't sit and enjoy the pipe, in a good place, with no interruptions or concerns, I won't do it. Sometimes I will smoke a number of evenings in a row and then I won't smoke for a number of days as well. Right now I have not smoked in almost a week due to my work and travel, but I'll probably fire one up today sometime! ::
Enjoyment - at least for me, like any luxury, there's always a point when I have had enough. I just know it when I hit that point. Most of the time for me this is one or two bowls. Beyond that, I start to not enjoy it as much. However, on one occasion last month I took my pipe with me fly fishing and I think I smoked four bowls because it was just very, very enjoyable that day.
Beyond that health, finance and other considerations are out there, but these are the two major ones.
I can't at the moment see me smoking all day. I would never say never, but I live this way with other luxury items. For example a bottle of a really nice single malt will last me a long time for the same reasons. It is always special when I can sit and have a 'wee dram' as the Scottish would say! :D

 

[warren]

with other luxury items.

Fascinating that you consider the pipe to be luxury and you use a cob as your avatar. Simply fascinating!

 

[haparnold]

Fascinating that you consider the pipe to be luxury and you use a cob as your avatar. Simply fascinating!

Don't want to speak for doc, but I think the luxury of pipe smoking is in the activity, and not the cost of the implement. They used to call tobacco 'poor man's pleasure' for exactly that reason.

 

[warren]

I understand that. No explanation called for, it was simply an observation. It's the juxtaposition (wrong word but, close enough) of "luxury" and the disposable pipe avatar that caught my attention. I fully realize that many revere the cob and take umbrage to it being "disposable." But, that's simply my thinking.

 

[panamacharlie]

I'm thinking that maybe I should try to cut back to 8 or 12 a day. Naw.

 

[docrameous]

Fascinating that you consider the pipe to be luxury and you use a cob as your avatar. Simply fascinating!

Don't be too fascinated. I'm lame when it comes to creative stuff... so I just threw that on as that particular cob was the first pipe I smoked.
I definitely need to find a better avatar!

 

[chopper]

Life is for living so I smoke for satisfaction. [Who was it who said 'Self-denial is for the self-indulgent'?]

Around 6-7 bowls a day satisfies so that's what I smoke.

It's only due to the outrageous cost & woeful choice of blends here that has me considering cutting back.
As I was once heavily addicted to cigarettes, I intentionally choose blends that are low in nicotine. Compared to 40 cigs a day, I consider 6-7 bowls a day [or 8-12 for that matter] as rather insignificant.

 

[hiplainsdrifter]

If you think you might smoke to much, you are right.

 

[lelik]

2 to 3 medium-sized bowls a day, twice a week.

 

[docrameous]

I am new to pipes, but so far three bowls has been my max for a day. I guess this is in part due to pipe smoking being something I stop everything to do. I might read or fly fish while smoking on occasion, but usually I just sit and think. So most days I don’t have time to have multiple bowls due to lack of time.

Also, there’s the taste. At least for me, the first one or two are the best. After that, by the third I am not enjoying it as much. This might change as I experience more tobaccos to add into a rotation.

So these two factors mean that most of the time I smoke one bowl, with days off due to schedule demands, with occasional days where I smoke up to three bowls, usually the weekend or holidays. I haven’t smoked since Sunday and it is likely it will be Thursday or Friday before I smoke again.

As I figure this out as a new piper I am also mindful of my body and health. In particular, if I have had a number of days in a row of smoking and then a few days off, how do I feel? My general sense for me and my physical makeup is that days off here and there are good for me.

My guess is everyone is different. This is one of the things I enjoy about pipe smoking. It is definitely an individual experience.

 

[sablebrush52]

I know I'm overdoing something when I stop enjoying it as much. As far as bowls a day, I've cut back considerably from a few years ago and enjoy them much more.
If it was a health concern, I wouldn't be smoking at all. Come to think of it, I wouldn't be living in or near any major metropolitan area since all the pollutants are giving their entire populations black lung anyways.

 

[lawdawg]

I know I'm overdoing something when I stop enjoying it as much. As far as bowls a day, I've cut back considerably from a few years ago and enjoy them much more.

I'm in the same boat here. I still overdo it sometimes on the weekends, especially if I'm just relaxing at home. Too many bowls in a day, and I get palate fatigue, end up pvffing away too hard, and wind up with tongue burn. There have been many Saturdays of pipe smoking that have resulted in almost no pipes on the following Sunday.

I think Tolkien once said something about how he enjoys pipe smoking so much that he often smokes it past the point of enjoyment... I understand that sentiment puf

 

[SpookedPiper]

Ditto

 

[mso489]

If you ask the question, you may want to cut back a bowl or three. Moderation is good, whatever that is to you.

 

[cigrmaster]

I say smoke till you puke and then smoke more.

 

[adui]

I say smoke till you puke and then smoke more.

Nah, when I go that far I don't enjoy it anymore.. I HAVE smoked till I was nauseated. Quit, let it settle, and went back to it.

 

[weezell]

I say smoke till you puke and then smoke more.

I agree !!!

 

[Picas]

"This is the schedule I vouch for:
After breakfast: 2 pipes
At luncheon: 2 pipes
Before dinner: 2 pipes
Between dinner and bed: 10 to 12 pipes
(Cigars and cigarettes as occasion may require.)"
-Christopher Morley

 

[d750]

I kind of disagree with the idea that how much is too much is subjective. I suspect that cancer risk (mouth, throat, esophagus) is dose dependent. The more you smoke the higher the risk. How much higher is certainly up for debate.

But when you look at risk it is not just about the probability of getting cancer but also the nature of the cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus. In other words, the risk of falling for most tight rope walkers is relatively low but the risk of a real bad outcome if they fall is very high. Mouth, throat and esophageal cancers are gruesome and deforming at best.

And there is another consideration as well. Addiction. We all have our 'addictions'. But when the need for something starts to dominate your life then it has gone, in my opinion, from a simple pleasure to a problem. There are those rare folks who enjoy their addiction and escape the repercussions, and we like to cite them as an example to justify our own addictions, but the truth is that they are few and far between.

Unlike alcohol or caffeine, there is no actual safe dose of tobacco.

I'm not lecturing or preaching. I smoke a pipe too. I view it as a risk though and I smoke accordingly which is a few times a month. And don't get me wrong, that's not my recommendation for anyone else but me. But I don't think the risk of cancer or addiction should be overlooked. And how much you smoke is critical to both of those risks.

George