Does Pipe Smoking Reduce Stress and/or Blood Pressure?

[Chasing Embers]

There is a difference between cigarettes and pipes.

The only difference are the genes of the user. Your mouth and nasal passages are absorbing the same carcinogens that your lungs would if you were inhaling the smoke. Don't kid yourself into thinking that pipes are much safer than cigarettes.

 

[AJL67]

But...The Sturgeon General's 1968 report says......

marijuana is a class one substance. But thank god because if it didn't we wouldn't have Reefer Madness. Personally i stopped hiding weed in my watch case years ago.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The only difference are the genes of the user. Your mouth and nasal passages are absorbing the same carcinogens that your lungs would if you were inhaling the smoke. Don't kid yourself into thinking that pipes are much safer than cigarettes.

Agreed; mouth cancer, throat cancer, sinus cancer, COPD, heart disease... but of course it all starts with a predisposition to cancer or these illnesses to begin with.

 

[Chasing Embers]

it all starts with a predisposition to cancer or these illnesses to begin with.

Yep

 

[Hutch Piper]

I can’t speak for others but for me, yes, smoking my pipe reduces my stress levels considerably. It forces me to slow down and take time for myself. And to think. I have solved many problems in my head smoking my pipe. I know it’s not the pipe or tobacco but rather the process of slowing the heck down to think clearly about matters.

 

[warren]

The pipe industry needs to go on the offensive and fund a peer-reviewed, scientific medical study of the benefits of pipe smoking to counter the anti-smoking crowd and differentiate the risks and benefits of pipe smoking from cigarette inhalers.

So ... a study with a foregone result? Why not!

 

[woodsroad]

The pipe industry needs to go on the offensive and fund a peer-reviewed, scientific medical study of the benefits of pipe smoking to counter the anti-smoking crowd and differentiate the risks and benefits of pipe smoking from cigarette inhalers. The focus needs to be on stress reduction. The results may surprise the medical community.

I think that you may not understand the meaning of "scientific medical study"

 

[sardonicus87]

You can reduce stress in less harmful ways by meditation.

If you smoke a pipe, it's a lot like meditation plus the low and slow nicotine delivery.

But it's not the pipe smoking directly, it's the mindfulness and focus primarily, which you can get without a pipe. Arguing about stress reduction benefits will get you eaten alive by the popular anti-tobacco sentiment, and that'll be their argument.

Anything you can point to as a health benefit, others will point out those same benefits can be had in less harmful ways. There's no getting around that, you'll never win an argument on the health front, so don't even try.

 

[bullet08]

So is eating red meat and drinking 64 oz. sugar-filled soft drinks from the local convenience store. I suppose we all choose which risks we take in a free society.

And, not "smoking." Pipe smoking. There is a difference between cigarettes and pipes. My guess is that the tobacco industry which supplies both cigarette tobacco and pipe tobacco does not want pipe makers to push that distinction.

We all die one way or the other. Why such a need to justify the pipe smoking? The other side made up their mind. It won't change. Find a different angle for the attack.

 

[Dublin Old Man]

One way to find out is to measure blood pressure before and after smoking a bowl. You would want to abstain from food, alcohol, caffeine, physical exertion, etc. just prior and during the test to avoid having those things influence your blood pressure.

 

[Scottmi]

Why try to justify an unhealthy activity? That just leads to cognitive dissonance. Which means more stress.
Take it for what it is, or quit.

Not just unhealthy, but also dirty, time consuming, progressively more expensive (until your personal PAD and TADs have run their course), increases personal carbon footprint, and is primarily antisocial. It truly is a wonder anyone still would want to do it, let alone be allowed. It must also have a root mental disorder, not unlike the mania-inducing afflictions of golfing and bass fishing. Those should be next on the list of 'leisure' activities society should eliminate, non?

We need to make the world a better place!

 

[anotherbob]

I posted this thought on another thread but felt the topic deserves its own discussion:

I don’t think it’s debatable that ”stress“ in our daily lives contributes to high blood pressure and a myriad of other health problems. Likewise, I think it’s clear to me at least that an evening pipe reduces stress significantly.

From the Mayo Clinic website: “Stress can cause a steep rise in blood pressure. But when stress goes away, blood pressure returns to what it was before the stress.“

The pipe industry needs to go on the offensive and fund a peer-reviewed, scientific medical study of the benefits of pipe smoking to counter the anti-smoking crowd and differentiate the risks and benefits of pipe smoking from cigarette inhalers. The focus needs to be on stress reduction. The results may surprise the medical community.

ahead of you on that. So is the medical community. There is a movement to accept the medicinal qualities of nicotine and harm reduction.

 

[JOHN72]

Perhaps do physical exercise. Medium or high intensity sports, weight training, running, etc., to delay health problems. It is the only way to slow down the general aging, degradation, and oxidation of our bodies. Don't be fooled, smoking and drinking alcohol is not healthy. I once drank a good shot of whiskey in the bathroom, and if it wasn't for my rubber ducky, I would now be in a tobacco jar, in my cigar cabinet, according to my wife, that will be my resting place when I die. The rubber ducky thing is serious. I never bathe without it. There is no one, like my rubber ducky, to give me advice. Sometimes we spend hours talking. I think my wife is already thinking of calling a psychiatrist, and sticking the fucking rubber ducky up my anus.

 

[brian64]

I find pipe smoking helps reduce the stress created by the forum...so it all evens out in the end.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

The rubber ducky thing is serious. I never bathe without it. There is no one, like my rubber ducky, to give me advice. Sometimes we spend hours talking.

 

[woodsroad]

Not just unhealthy, but also dirty, time consuming, progressively more expensive (until your personal PAD and TADs have run their course), increases personal carbon footprint, and is primarily antisocial. It truly is a wonder anyone still would want to do it, let alone be

Good so far...

allowed. It must also have a root mental disorder, not unlike the mania-inducing afflictions of golfing and bass fishing. Those should be next on the list of 'leisure' activities society should eliminate, non?

We need to make the world a better place!

And...you've left the rails!
But we could do it for the children. You know, the "children" that make up the majority of street-level drug dealers, the "children" who commit the majority of crimes in the inner city, the "children" who end up getting lead poisoning from the other "children"

 

[sardonicus87]

Nobody should have to justify anything, and I don't understand this incessant need to try to justify or understand things that don't really matter. It should go like this... "do you enjoy it and does your enjoyment of it not harm other people?"

If the answer is yes, then that's it. People in general need to mind their own business more. Your body, your choice. "I enjoy it" is the only thing you need.

I love riding my motorcycle. It's inherently more dangerous than driving since there's no airbags, seatbelts, cage of metal over you, crumple zone, etc. Plus, motorcycles have less storage than cars. The only advantage over a car is better fuel economy. Several years back, I got hit by a van while riding (100% the other guy's fault, totally unavoidable, shot from behind another car in a median so it's not like I could even see him coming to avoid). I wound up with 6 rib fractures, bilateral pneumothorax (punctured lungs), fractured T12 vertebrae, fractured tibia (near the ankle), lacerated spleen, lacerated kidney, and several spinal process fractures. I was in a hospital bed for a month. I still ride.

People might wonder, "not only is it dangerous, but you were even severely injured doing it, why still do it?" Because I enjoy it, end of story. My body, my life, my choice. They don't need to understand it, and they need to piss off trying to convince me not to do it. Well, nobody's really tried to convince me personally to give up motorcycling, but I have seen other people try to convince others.

Don't try to justify anything, it'll fail every time. Everyone's goal is to proselytize you into their way of living. They can't just accept different people enjoy different things and just f**k off about it, which seems to have gotten worse over the years. Too concerned with what everyone else is doing in their own private lives for some stupid reason.

 

[Chasing Embers]

primarily antisocial.

Best part about it.

let alone be allowed.

Never experienced that one. I live in a tobacco friendly community.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Seems like the thread's purpose is trying to justify pipe smoking and looking for affirmation? Rally the troops? If you need to justify it or want to push advertising/political agendas about it, why? I'm not wearing the ribbon!

Been making my own decisions/choices for decades and try to make informed ones and also try not to delude myself as to things that are inherently risky not being so, whatever the choice is.

 

[tobakenist]

I have smoked a pipe since 1965, I was born in 55, I should be dead but far off it, I was retired off work aged 50 because of a industrial accident, these years since 2006 I have never enjoyed my pipe so much, I live with pain but I am absolutely certain that I relax and be care free when I am smoking my pipe.