Do You Smoke a Pipe For:

[Jef]

I smoke a pipe because it helps me to relax. At 66 I only seem to want more peace and quiet.

 

[Lumbridge]

I like the taste and smell of pipe tobacco, and I like pipes themselves and the small collection I've built up. I like collecting tobacco too and trying new blends and blend types. I like the act of picking out a pipe and a blend, sitting down, and relaxing with a pipe. It helps me forget about other things nagging me for a while.
Addicted? I frequently go days or weeks without any tobacco use and just pick it back up whenever I feel like it, so you tell me. Pipes, in my opinion, are the most enjoyable means of tobacco consumption, albeit with the steepest learning curve.

 

[Chasing Embers]

the steepest learning curve.

That's always the comment I have the hardest problem understanding. Pipes have for me always been the most carefree and mindless means to enjoy tobacco. RYO can be a bit tedious but you just fill a pipe chamber, light it, then go about your business. Almost as thoughtless and involuntary as breathing.

 

[Winnipeger]

At 66 I only seem to want more peace and quiet.

I'm 46 and I feel the same, maybe because I have a 5-year-old kid and two hound dogs.

My daughter asked me when she was 4, "Dad...what's your favourite thing?" Only a 4-year old could expect an answer to such a broad, out-of-the-blue question. Without skipping a beat I replied, "Silence." She thought I was joking, but I'm not so sure I was.

 

[Lumbridge]

That's always the comment I have the hardest problem understanding. Pipes have for me always been the most carefree and mindless means to enjoy tobacco. RYO can be a bit tedious but you just fill a pipe chamber, light it, then go about your business. Almost as thoughtless and involuntary as breathing.

It seems like most who are new to pipes have trouble with packing, lighting, and excessive relights until they start to get a feel for it. Most of my trouble starting out was due to paying heed to bogus multi-step packing "methods" and other nonsense pipe superstitions. Now I just scoop and smoke.

 

[bullet08]

For the world peace. I said it first. Eat your heart out Miss America!!!

 

[OzPiper]

I started while I was an undergrad
1) to get away from cigarettes. Successful
2) to look cool NO, It DID’NT work

Latterly, smoke mostly on my own at home.
Wife is intolerant of tobacco smoke, so couple of hours of peace, quiet and downtime for me
And I love the flavours

 

[Sigmund]

I like the taste. Cigarettes taste terrible, cigars cost an arm and a leg.
I like he quiet time and I also like to fiddle with things so a pipe is great
I like to look at them and collect them.
I dont know or care how I look with one. I smoke it when Im alone the majority of the time.

 

[Gimlet]

Not for me. I hate the cleaning and prep rituals. If I was filthy rich, I'd hire a buttler to do all that crap for me, trained to hand me a pipe of what I want, when I want it.

I absolutely hate all the ritual aspect, every part of that is annoying rather than enjoyable. Not enough to make me not smoke a pipe, I enjoy the flavor more than anything, but I do the bare minimum upkeep for cleaning. Most don't get any until they start tasting off.

I guess really, I don't do any ritual. But even the basic loading and wiping out the bowl is annoying. Just like, well I like eating food, hate making it. If I buy microwave garbage food, if it has too many steps (like heat for 7 min on 50%, then stir, then heat 6 min on 100%, basically anything more than set it and forget it until it beeps), I pass.

Maybe ritual was the wrong word. Process might be better. Or just involvement. Pipe smoking for me is a hobby first and foremost. An unnecessary but pleasurable activity that adds to the sum enjoyment of life, not just a means of ingesting a chemical hit.

Riding motorcycles is also a hobby of mine and I get satisfaction from the owning and maintaining of them, as well as riding them. The riding is the main thing, and I ride them a lot, but I also enjoy the pride of ownership that goes with it, keeping them clean and in good condition and modifying/fettling them to my tastes. They're not just transport.
I don't like the palaver of cleaning visors, donning heavy riding gear, gloves and helmet, locking and unlocking the garage before I can get in the saddle. I'd like to just walk up to the bike, swing a leg over and take off - the equivalent of stuff 'n' puff approach to pipe smoking maybe - and when I'm zipping up the jacket stuffing ear plugs in and relocking the garage door, I'm impatient just to get going. So I think I get where you're coming from.

But saying that, I'm envious of some people's smoking rooms with their neat pipe racks and well ordered smoking accoutrements and comfy chairs, just as I envy some people's pristine bike-dedicated workshops/mancaves.

 

[Peter Turbo]

For flavor and it looks cool.

 

[Gimlet]

I smoke a pipe because it helps me to relax. At 66 I only seem to want more peace and quiet.

Amen.

 

[bangzoom]

Wow! That's a downer. Life is an embracing experience for me. It's a roller-coaster sure but, entertaining and energizing. Every day I learn and grow my knowledge of ... well, anything that interests me. Veil of tears? How sad.

If I bought into that I'd be sadly depressed. For me, life is simply too much fun, exciting day after day. You have my abject sympathy.

Well, sorry it came across that way...it's an old saying...didn't intend to project that I'm in a state of depression..I'm not...but your point is well made and understood.

 

[tobakenist]

I smoke a pipe because I have been smoking one since 1965 and would feel lost without it.

 

[JOHN72]

It's like when you go to the neighborhood barbershop. On Saturday morning. All in all, a pleasant day with your barber, the environment, the aromas of fragrances, soaps, and in the old days you smoked pipes, cigars, cigarettes. Well, with what you say, it's the same feeling. Pleasure, and addicted to pleasure.

 

[telescopes]

I smoke because "I want to be left alone"... But that rarely happens.

 

[Sigmund]

I enjoy the rituals and care. Im someone who needs to keep their hands busy. I guess hyper. For me its all part of a process. If I didnt enjoy it I wouldnt smoke pipes.

 

[bangzoom]

I enjoy the rituals and care. Im someone who needs to keep their hands busy. I guess hyper. For me its all part of a process. If I didnt enjoy it I wouldnt smoke pipes.

Yes..I also enjoy the ritual here...similar to when I make a cup of coffee..it's a ritual of pleasure.

 

[SBC]

I wouldn't be surprised if "Why you started" and "Why you continue" have somewhat different answers for many of us.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Because I like it.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

I love tobacco in all forms, its pretty simple. But the pipe is different. It's slower, it can take a little more work and attention. You can also control the smoke better than something like a cigar. It also doesn't stink up my house and my wife enjoys when I smoke my nightly pipes next to her. Most importantly, taste is much more prevalent in the smoke.
Variety is also a big factor. I can't find my favorite tobaccos in other forms (American Spirit Perique cigs are good, but it's no Tudor Castle or other great VaPer - it's just a quick fix.) This is why I roll my own cigarettes on occasion if that's the kind of smoke I'm looking for.
The pipe aspect is another rabbit hole. I'm a collector (hoarder) - LP's, Watches, vintage audio gear, art, coffee, etc... artisan pipes fascinated me. Its like collecting art work, only I can smoke that artwork.
It's the superior method of smoking tobacco. Plain and simple.