Does Pipe Smoking Reduce Stress and/or Blood Pressure?

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goalee1

Might Stick Around
Jan 21, 2012
86
10
Pretty much in short, anything can kill ya. I've always had the belief of anything in moderation is fine. Even so, things like Cancer can pop up anytime, with anyone from anything. If one abnormal cell is produced, and that proliferates, boom. Enjoy life and be in tune with your body.
 

Briarcutter

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 17, 2023
577
3,939
U.S.A.
I'm not a scientist or a doctor, I'm just a guy that makes things with his hands, but I'd be willing to bet that if they did the studies they'd find the chemical additives in cigarettes does more harm than the tobacco. Our biggest problem is that the big pipe and cigar giants didn't fight harder to maintain the separation.
 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
12,300
18,324
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Our biggest problem is that the big pipe and cigar giants didn't fight harder to maintain the separation.
Why would cigar manufacturers hookup with tobacco blenders, a tiny customer base? What would be the benefit for the "stick" makers? Cigar makers aren't being all that challenged. Often exempted from many tobacco use taxes. No point in "saddling up" with pipe blenders.
I'd be willing to bet that if they did the studies they'd find the chemical additives in cigarettes does more harm than the tobacco.
You'd lose that bet. The carningens are the same. Put flame to tobacco and you get carcinogens. Cigarettes which use chemically infused papers (not all do) simply add more chemicals to the mix but, it's not a matter of which is more harming since neither are efficacious in the least.
 

SmokerLawyer

Lurker
Dec 3, 2019
40
198
I can admit that (pipe) smoking is a harmful and unhealthy habit that can potentially lead to the deterioration of health. But I believe that the biggest plague of our times is stress, anxiety and loneliness. I believe that the one who eats well, smokes well and lives in peace will probably be healthier than those who live in a squirrel wheel under constant stress and pressure while maintaining a superficially healhty lifestyle.

Yeah we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that pipe smoking is something healthy on its own. But don't forget that there are thousands of people out there who kid themselves into thinking that the only thing they should do for the sake of their health is avoiding alcohol, red meat and smoking. I'm telling you, the biggest murderers are stress, loads of stress and isolation, loneliness, the lack of joy and peace.
 

RookieGuy80

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 6, 2023
734
2,710
Maryland, United States
In this day and age, everything is political. From beer to razors to chicken sandwiches to weather everything has a side or agenda. There could be as many reports as you'd like saying that smoking a pipe ranges from completely neutral to smoking a pipe adds 15 years to one's life. Reports with proof that have been peer reviewed and published in the most respected medical journals and written by the top most respected scientific researchers. Do you really think evidence and facts are going to turn around public perception? Do you think the shrieking antis will abandon their cause in the face of evidence?
 
G

Gimlet

Guest
I can admit that (pipe) smoking is a harmful and unhealthy habit that can potentially lead to the deterioration of health. But I believe that the biggest plague of our times is stress, anxiety and loneliness. I believe that the one who eats well, smokes well and lives in peace will probably be healthier than those who live in a squirrel wheel under constant stress and pressure while maintaining a superficially healhty lifestyle.

Yeah we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that pipe smoking is something healthy on its own. But don't forget that there are thousands of people out there who kid themselves into thinking that the only thing they should do for the sake of their health is avoiding alcohol, red meat and smoking. I'm telling you, the biggest murderers are stress, loads of stress and isolation, loneliness, the lack of joy and peace.
So very true.
 

OverMountain

Lifer
Dec 5, 2021
1,399
4,971
NOVA
Another interesting anecdotal datapoint from a German physician friend. Lots of smoking going on in Germany, but also much more physical activity and walking.

His take, inactivity and a bad diet will get you before the smokes will unless you are way overdoing it.

Enjoy your pipes gentlemen, I know I will!
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,662
31,236
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
the human body is a bunch of complex systems running at a time. And it's hard to actually tell how bad something is for a person long term without looking at a lot of people and what they do and applying lots of annoying math. But nicotine isn't really that damaging of a drug. We all do more dangerous things then smoke a pipe. I always think of two things with health and tobacco. One was a famous scientist (sorry forget who) that survived a plane crash because he was in the smoking section. For the rest of his life he refused to quit saying that it already saved his life. Everyone in the front of the plane died and the only surviviors where in the smoking section. I also think of when I had to lower my blood pressure and I told my doctor I was taking up pipe smoking as a regular activity. They told me to keep doing what I was doing including smoking the pipe because it did get my blood pressure down to levels where I could stop taking meds and not be restricted from things like getting my drivers license. When I speculated that it might help because of stress reduction and the fact i lunt so get more exercise, they literally responded with who cares why or how it's working isn't it?
 

RonM

Lurker
Mar 6, 2023
21
89
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.
It may be — in fact, probably is — true that puffing on a pipe can ease stress and help lower blood pressure. However, such benefits are probably outweighed by the increased risk of certain types of cancer — certainly oral cancers if not lung — and other possible health issues. So let’s not kid ourselves.

It’s all about moderation. I’m 66 and only smoke a pipe occasionally, so I consider any health risk under my circumstances minimal enough that I’m comfortable with it. If I were 30 and smoking a pipe all day every day, I’m not sure I’d risk it whether it relieves stress or not. There are other ways to relieve stress.

So weigh your personal pleasure from pipe smoking against the risk, given your individual circumstances, and go with what works for you. But I’m not sure you want to go there with promoting any type of smoking as a health benefit. Just being honest.
 
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sardonicus87

Lifer
Jun 28, 2022
1,341
13,974
37
Lower Alabama
One was a famous scientist (sorry forget who) that survived a plane crash because he was in the smoking section. For the rest of his life he refused to quit saying that it already saved his life. Everyone in the front of the plane died and the only surviviors where in the smoking section.
That wasn't a scientist, that was the philosopher and public intellectual Bertrand Russell (although he was pretty dick-hard about math and science):

 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,334
Humansville Missouri
Trying to make smoking as a health benefit doesn't really work. Take it as what it is. It's a slow death accentuate by lung cancer.
Smoking tobacco is bad for your health.

That said not inhaling the smoke is a common sense way to limit the risk.

There have been peer reviewed medical journals since the late 1800s.

It took over forty years of huge populations smoking modern mild cigarettes twenty to forty per day for medical science to completely incriminate heavy cigarette smoking posing a far higher risk than nonsmokers for lung cancers and COPD.

And why don’t the Japanese have higher lung cancer rates, because they still smoke?

The 1964 Surgeon General's report found pipe and cigar smokers who did not inhale lived slightly longer than nonsmokers.

That was probably because they were of higher socioeconomic class.

Anybody can open a pack of cigarettes and learn to smoke them by smoking one carton.

The pipe smoker is deliberative and calmer.

His habit might kill him, but not very quickly.:)
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
10,216
41,475
RTP, NC. USA
Smoking tobacco is bad for your health.

That said not inhaling the smoke is a common sense way to limit the risk.

There have been peer reviewed medical journals since the late 1800s.

It took over forty years of huge populations smoking modern mild cigarettes twenty to forty per day for medical science to completely incriminate heavy cigarette smoking posing a far higher risk than nonsmokers for lung cancers and COPD.

And why don’t the Japanese have higher lung cancer rates, because they still smoke?

The 1964 Surgeon General's report found pipe and cigar smokers who did not inhale lived slightly longer than nonsmokers.

That was probably because they were of higher socioeconomic class.

Anybody can open a pack of cigarettes and learn to smoke them by smoking one carton.

The pipe smoker is deliberative and calmer.

His habit might kill him, but not very quickly.:)
I still smoke even with heighten risk to my brain and heart. I used to think that most dangerous issues with smoking was tar and other stuff. But someone with high risk of stroke is nicotine itself. You see, with ton of narrowed blood vessels in my head, and severe coronary calcification, blood vessels being narrowed and blocked don't work very well with nicotine constricting them.

So, the danger is there. You don't have to smoke cigarettes only to risk your health. Cigar, vape, pipe.. Anything that delivers nicotine can do the trick. And in some ways nicotine in cigar and pipe can be worse. Duration of exposure to nicotine isn't just quick 5 min. Of course it isn't strong as that 5 min, but imagine things happen while smoking a pipe for two hours.

I still love my tobacco. But my smoking has changed. I do not have any issues with lung, so I'm taking calculated risk with limited exposure to nicotine.
 

sardonicus87

Lifer
Jun 28, 2022
1,341
13,974
37
Lower Alabama
Funny this thread popping back up. I was looking for something else in the last few weeks and stumbled on an article I will link below. It was specifically about pipe smoking, and even mentions a common refrain given by smokers (that it's healthier than cigarettes), which is apparently a misunderstanding of the original study. Though an interesting tidbit at the end: "Evidence suggests that while cigarette smoking has dropped 39% from 2000 to 2015, pipe smoking has jumped 556.4%."

It's just boggling to me that people try to justify vices, or feel the need to. Some things aren't healthy, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as you've made that informed choice for yourself and understand the risks. Which are just that, risks and not guarantees. And there's nothing wrong with trying to be safer or healthier in your vices (like through moderation for example), but it does nobody any good to try to bend over backwards and kid yourself about realities.

Here's the article: