Hello Everyone, I am new and this is my first post. I have been caretaking alone on a remote ranch in Wyoming for the past 5 months and have made a couple of decisions while I've been out here. One was to begin smoking a pipe the instant I returned to society. I have had plenty of time to research the subject and have already bought a few pipes from the bay. I'm no expert, but here is my 2 cents on the subject and a reference to a great article that might give you a new way of looking at smoking. The article may be posted elsewhere on this site, and many of you may already be familiar with it, in any case it deserves all the promotion it can get imho.
I started smoking cigarettes at 13; daily when I was 15. I have never been sick a day in my life short of a few sniffles here and there, but I quit 7 years ago convinced by anti-tobacco rhetoric of the health risks. I am now 44. Since then I have enjoyed a cigar from time to time over the years, but the fact is I enjoy smoking, and miss the very act of it greatly. Period. My mother has smoked cigs since she was 19 everyday...she's 66 - Healthy. My father has chain smoked Kools since he was a teenager and still does, often lighting his next one with the last...he is 70 - Healthy; still works as a millwright. Now, his father smoked heavily as well, and died of a massive heart attack brought on by undiagnosed heart disease at age 56. Smoking related? Who knows? Could have just as easily been influenced by working in a saw mill for 30 years, raising 5 kids under the Nixon-Ford-Carter presidential procession, or 70's John Lennon than burning down a pack of Chesterfields a day. A brand touted to the American people with full support by Hollywood wunderkind and future beloved world leader Ronald Reagan, btw.
Point is "risk" is in every single thing we do, every single second of our existence no matter how risk averse our society becomes. I do not skydive, or drive a car in a smog covered city but I do not campaign against those who choose to do so. I say "Live"; and to the naysayers "Let me Live, I am not hurting you despite which scientific belief system you are currently alloying yourself to." I refrain from inquiring as to what personal "life threatening" activities they choose to justify because I would rather just leave them to it and hope for the best(that's my "diplomacy" slipping through).
In my research I discovered a fantastically written essay on the subject of smoking by musician Joe Jackson. I was always kind of on the fence about his music, and often wondered about the health risks associated with hearing it; but after reading his article on smoking I certainly am in full harmony with his views on the current climate of vilification of tobacco and all of it's enthusiasts. Well researched, thoroughly referenced, and articulated this article is a must-read by anyone who struggles with the "should I-shouldn't I" intricacies of smoking. It also gives some small intellectual defenses against the now tyrannical proportions of finger wagging, "everybody knows that will kill you" masses who have accepted at face value the "facts" based more on precepts of religious belief than of true scientific method.
It is a bit lengthy, but well worth the effort. I intend to read it again when I return home. Sitting in my easy chair, Dunhill packed with Father Dempsey, a neat bourbon on one side, my dog on the other while my smoke swells and mixes with whatever culinary wonderment my wife has chosen for the evening meal. Life is short, Life is good. Do not waste too much time on how others feel you should spend it.
"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it" - Mark Twain. I am a fan.
http://www.joejackson.com/smoke-lies.pdf Enjoy and good luck. - JOgrefoln
