Hobby vs. Habit: Pipe Smoking

[cigrmaster]

If I wanted nicotine, I would smoke nails. I smoked them for over 30 years and when I quit, the pipe helped a little with the cravings. I smoke a pipe for the flavor and the relaxation. I know I get some nicotine, but it is nothing like a cigarette. Am I addicted, probably, but I really don't care. I live my life how I choose and the government has no business in it as long as I am not breaking any laws. They will keep coming after us smokers and have already created a huge black market for cigarette sales. The ATF is spending millions now busting smugglers who are bringing cigarettes from the low tax states in the south to the high tax states in the north. It is a disgrace that we as tax payers are now having to foot the bill for the ridiculous decisions that our scum bag politicians continue to make. Unfortunately both sides of the aisle are too blame and eventually you will see a huge black market for all tobacco products.

 

[lankfordjl]

To continue my previous post...
(3) Withdrawal from a psychological addiction or from a chemical addiction can have the exact same symptoms...anxiety, blood pressure changes, excessive sweating, pain. All these things are physical changes created by the brain... and again can result from withdrawal of either type of addiction.
(4) Since psychological addiction and chemical addictions have the same effect. It is scientifically impossible to know which one is occuring in a tobacco addicted individual.
(5) The number of people who are chemically addicted can not be determined.
Obviously, if a smoker can just stop smoking for weeks or months, there is no addiction of any kind.
Some psychologists talk about the "pacifier" effect when talking about smokers who smoke for comfort. There might be something to this, but the idea of using a pipe as a pacifier is usually offensive to pipe smokers.

 

[doctorthoss]

Allow me to clarify something about my original post, as some people seem to be reading into it something that isn't there:
I did NOT say, and in fact repeatedly stressed, that I do NOT believe that everyone who smokes a pipe is addicted to nicotine. Period. Several commenters seem to have misconstrued this, so I just want to stress this point again.
My point wasn't about whether all pipe smokers were addicts. My point was the Kevin seemed to be saying that 'luxury tobacco" users are, by definition, not addicts. My point is that claim is false. Many of us are. In fact, addicted to nicotine. Like me, for example. Also, in my personal experience (meaning pipe smokers I've known "personally" as opposed to through online forums) all of the pipe smokers in my life were certainly addicted to nicotine. They had no problem admitting this. Also, however, the vast majority of them were what we often call "codgers" or "old school" smokers, meaning that they started with pipes decades ago and have little to no interest in the hobby as we enjoy it today. Pipes were just another nicotine delivery system, albeit one that is much tastier and has much more variety. Of course, virtually all of them would argue that it was less unhealthy than cigarettes, but none of them would have claimed to not have a serious craving for nicotine. I an aware that many pipe smokers today don't routinely alternate between pipes and cigs as they did, and that many of them smoke only occasionally. I have no problem accepting that they aren't addicted to nicotine. My issue was with the claim that none of us are, when my experience tells me the exact opposite.
My issue with Kevin's article is that I think the general thrust of his argument isn't one we should be pushing if we wish to remain credible and have an impact in the political arena. I think it's probably a lost cause anyway (which is why I cellar aggressively), but in any case I think we do a disservice to ourselves by pretending that our hobby is in no way addictive or harmful. I've seen plenty of scientific surveys and studies, and it's pretty clear from them that we run some health risks by smoking a pipe. Now, if we do it in moderation and never inhale than the risks of developing serious problems are GREATLY reduced, but that doesn't mean they are zero. Heck, I've yet to see a study that didn't note that pipe/cigar smokers have higher incidences of mouth/throat cancers than cigarette smokers, although our risks of developing lung cancers are only about 1/8 that of cigarette addicts. And the effect on the heart and BP are not only well documented but are easy to check yourself, at least if you smoke blends with appreciable amounts of nicotine (I've done this for myself and other smokers, out of curiosity). Of course, I imagine that none of this is a problem if you smoke McClellands blends exclusively, as they rarely contain any nicotine at all LOL....
Personally, I think we hurt our credibility by arguing that pipe smoking is non-addictive or harmless. Even if such a thing were true (and I believe it to be false, but will certainly concede that I could be wrong), it's still the kind of argument that will actually hurt us in the court of public opinion, where the majority will simply accuse us of being in "denial" and use it as further proof that we can't be trusted to govern ourselves.
To me -- and this is, as I have said -- only MY opinion, we should be focused on trying to argue that it's simply not the government's business what we do. The war on tobacco is just another manifestation of the war on drugs and countless other prohibitions meant to protect us from ourselves. It might be a losing battle, but since I think that's actually what this ideological war is actually about, I think we should focus our efforts there.
I certainly didn't (and don't) mean to offend anyone here. I like and respect Kevin's opinions -- it's just that we differ here.

 

[baronsamedi]

I smoked nails off and on for 15 years and ultimately quit by using Zyban, which works similarly to Chantix. I quit the cigs because I was tired of burning butts to feed an addiction and I was nolonger enjoying the tobacco.
Ten years later, I picked up the pipe, because I wanted to enjoy tobacco again and didn't want the beating on my lungs that cigs have. I don't smoke for nicotine at all, and prefer the low nic blends. I don't inhale except what I get through the occasion French inhale or just what's in the air. I can and have put down the pipe for weeks with no withdrawal that I was able to notice.
I also run so beating up my lungs is a no-no. I think uberam3rica's sig says it all. Cigarettes are an addiction, Cigars are a Hobby, Pipes are a Religion!

 

[doctorthoss]

Kevin -- I was fixated on pipes I completely overlooked your comment on cigars being for flavor only. I would add that I think everything I said about pipes applies to cigars, as well. The men I grew up with considered pipes, cigars and cigs to be interchangeable. Plus, I know three exclusive cigar smokers (including my ex-wife, believe it or not) who consider their cigar smoking to be a habit, and one they need to "break" at that. Conversely, I also know several other cigar smokers who are clearly "social" smokers only, while I really don't personally know any pipe smokers who fit into that category. I don't know why that is, but I suspect it's because I know far more cigar smokers than pipe smokers, overall.
I'm beginning to suspect that what we have here is the product of a deep generational (and perhaps socioeconomic) divide. It seems to me that the online community is, on the whole, considerably different than the traditional one. The guys I grew up smoked maybe 3 or 4 blends at the most, never had more than 7 pipes (usually 3 or 4), and smoked several bowls each day. Most of them didn't smoke English blends at all, sticking to burleys, VAs and aromatics. My dad, in fact, used to lecture me for being wasteful because I liked to collect pipes (I had all of a dozen briars when he passed away) and never understood why I liked to smoke latakia mixtures. I've been consistently fascinated by the online community of pipe smokers for this reason -- it's still something of a novel experience for me to talk to guys who smoke a pipe two or three times a week yet feel the need to have a "rotation" at all!

 

[numbersix]

Personally, I think we hurt our credibility by arguing that pipe smoking is non-addictive or harmless. Even if such a thing were true (and I believe it to be false, but will certainly concede that I could be wrong), it's still the kind of argument that will actually hurt us in the court of public opinion, where the majority will simply accuse us of being in "denial" and use it as further proof that we can't be trusted to govern ourselves.

Nails are more of an addictive drug than pipe smoking, so I think, especially in a pipe forum and magazine, it's logical to point out the distinction.
That said, if we as a community pretend that it's not at all harmful, we'll lose that argument and probably hurt our chances to stop draconian laws from destroying every liberty we have—but I don't think Kevin's article made that claim.

 

[ohin3]

I smoke a pipe for flavour and because of my love of pipes. I don’t care for the nicotine buzz and put my pipe down when it starts to make its presence known.

 

[doctorthoss]

Number Six --- I think we agree, mostly. I didn't mean that Kevin claimed it wasn't at all harmful, but I do feel he has downplayed the risks a bit too much (IMO , of course), and i now regret the wording of that post. What Kevin DID do, however, was claim that pipe smokers aren't addicts. It seemed to me that he was making that claim into a categorical statement. I disagree entirely. Pipes are, I agree, LESS addictive than cigarettes and many of us aren't addicts at all. But to claim that all (or even most) pipe smokers don't smoke for the nicotine/addiction is simply false. Many of us do smoke (in part) for those reasons, even though we also smoke for the same reasons that others do (taste, relaxation, we like the hobbyist aspect of it, etc).
Again, speaking as someone with no small amount of PR experience, it seems to me that downplaying the fact that nicotine is addictive to many of us pipe smokers is the wrong tactic.

 

[photoman13]

I don't know if it has been said yet but I see a very distinct difference between habit and addiction. I could have a habit of getting up early for work. Is that a bad thing, I say no. But addiction seems to me that it is a need. Something you have to have or you will feel sick or very irritable. Maybe I have the wrong definition but I haven't smoked in over a month. No need to or do I want to with wisdom teeth problems. It is a choice I can make because I am not addicted.

 

[winton]

At the highest point of my pipe smoking, it was twice a month. That hardly registers for many pipe smokers. But there is a longing for the taste and relaxation of a pipe. Maybe I have an addictive personality. I also enjoy eating hot / spice food. But there is no longing for it if I don't break out the hot sauce for a long period of time. There is no question that tobacco in any form is addictive.
There is also the enjoyment of the pipes. We all have a style that we really like, bulldog, rustified, churchwarden, cob etc. That is part of the attraction to pipesmoking. I have never heard any cigarette smoker discuss which style like we do.
Winton

 

[doctorthoss]

Photoman -- I'm not sure there's much of a difference between a habit and an addiction, although it's certainly true that some addictions have a component of physical tolerance/withdrawal which actions like getting up in the morning don't have. Getting up at the same time is simply training your body to act in a certain way. Addictions tend to be to chemicals that don't naturally occur and which interfere with your behavior and your body's chemistry in such a way that you can't function normally without it.
Basically, it sounds to me as though you have neither a "habit" nor an addiction. That's great! Many pipe smokers, especially nowadays, seem to be like you. I can say, however, that I most certainly have trouble not smoking, as did the men I grew up around (not one of them ever quit, in fact, or even managed to go without for more than a few months before falling off the 'baccy wagon). I do think I would find weaning off the pipe to be easier than cigarettes, if I ever choose to do so, but since I haven't tried I really don't know.

 

[photoman13]

I guess I just see addiction as having negative consequences and a habit doesn't necessarily but what do I know I am just a 24 year old dude that is terrible with english. :D
Oh and I live in Knoxville.

 

[lazydog]

I smoke a pipe for nicotine, tobacco taste, the ritual, and a love for pipes as beautiful sculptures. If my grandkids had to come live in my house I think I could quit. Well.....on second thought..........

 

[kris]

Crap. Have just realized that despite being only 39 I am defined as a "Codger"!!!
I definately need the nic when I have a smoke, but hey, I've only been puffing a pipe for 6 and a bit months. It killed my 80-a-day habit stone dead though, for which I am eternally grateful...

 

[ohin3]

I just don't have an addictive personality. My brain thinks too fast to rest on any one thing for too long. I love my time with my pipes and tobacco, but if, tomorrow, you took them all away, I would move on with my life. I will say that with certain tobaccos that are strong in both flavour and nicotine content, I do feel myself get hooked a little now and then. I feel for anyone hooked on cigarettes. Everything in moderation is the key to life my friends.

 

[numbersix]

@doctorthoss:

Number Six --- I think we agree, mostly

I agree. ::

 

[lordofthepiperings]

Interestingly enough I was talking about this with fiance lastnight. I've been smoking a pipe regularly, by regularly I mean two to three pipes a day, for three years now and I don't feel any addiction to the tobacco at all...other than from my palat lol. I don't get the jitters throughout the day or if I have skipped a day of smoking. Nothing like that that would lead me to say "Yes I am addicted to the tobacco." Infact, I'm beginning to think that the nicotine isn't really what makes one addicted. My guess would be it's probably a few of those three thousand other additives cigarette companies put into the tobacco that make people so addicted to them. Now, I will admitt it's probably not the healthiest of hobbies to par take in, but I would have to say it's a lot less harmful than cigarettes.

 

[ejames]

I love my pipes! Too much I think since I have so damn many of them. Partly,they are a hobby for me. I enjoy collecting,restoring and making pipes and tampers. As I tell folks-they keep me off the streets and out of the bars!
They are also a nicotine delivery device for me as I am a nicotine junkie.

Mostly I just puff on my pipe-but I also inhale now and then.

I smoked cigarettes from about 1963 up to 2006. Switching to the pipe was the only way I could get away from them. If I chose to quit the pipe,it would be a hell of a lot easier than giving up the cigarettes. I have no problems going without a smoke for several hours.Couldn't do that with the cigarettes.

Is PA and CH considered a "Luxury Tobacco" ?

 

[sixmp]

I agree it isn't the healthiest of hobbies but lets face it being alive is a terrible hobby that will kill us all one day

 

[sixmp]

All this control by people and the government is all just fear of death anyway. People running about worrying because they heard/read/found out that X can make your natural life shorter.

This fear then gets pushed onto anyone who will listen then ends up in the ears of people who have power, who then takes it and forces everyone to live within that persons own ideas of living safely.