How Do You Reconcile With Pipe Smoking's Health Risks?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

rushx9

Lifer
Jul 10, 2019
2,299
17,244
42
Shelby, NC
I feel like you folks who only smoke a few bowls a week don't put yourselves at any higher risk than walking near a campfire or woodstove on occasion. Probably inhale more carbon and pollution on an average crosstown drive. Second hand smoke exposure maybe on the level of having to catch a ride home from school with your Virginia Slim chain smoking auntie every Wednesday.
 

BROBS

Lifer
Nov 13, 2019
11,765
40,026
IA

And we’re worried about pipe tobacco.....

there’s not an item of color on the whole pizza.
 

lasttango

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 29, 2012
875
17
Wilmington, De / Ithaca, NY
Death and ill health has always seemed so far away to me.

I've never been worried about pipe smoking, snus use or nicotine. I have always felt that genetics, diet and fate were more likely to cause me problems. I'm only 48.

I have never been worried until this week.

I spent last week in the hospital.

It started with this weird feeling in my throat. It felt kind of dry. By that evening, my arms were aching terribly from my elbows to my fingers and my throat felt cold and metallic.

Then it started to feel like I was drowning or suffocating, yet my breathing was fine. I felt out of breath but I could breath fine.

A few hours later I was in the emergency room popping nitro glycerine tablets every 30 minutes so that I could stop feeling like I was suffocating to death.

Over the next few days and way too many invasive tests, they discovered two blockages on a major artery to my right ventricle. 99% and 95% blocked.

I ended up with two stents. I was in the hospital 4+ days.

I never knew how much I appreciated living until last week when I was trapped in the hospital wondering if I was going to have to have my chest cracked open.

The Doc said I was lucky I came in when I did, because I might have been a few hours or a cheesesteak away from a big heart attack.

None of this was likely related to smoking my pipe. I smoke it ocassionally. It's genetics, my weight, diet, stressful job, lack of exercise etc...

So, a lot has to change like my diet, my weight, my lifestyle.

I have so much good pipe tobacco and 40 cans of high nicotine Swedish snus.

My Doc seems to think that occasional use won't do me in.

I am weighing the risks and benefits. The risks are winning. While nicotine didn't get me to this place, nicotine (and caffeine) might bring me back to the hospital.

Has anyone else been here before or is it time for me to start finding a new home for my collection?

Also, in response to the OP... I think there might be greater health risk in Moose hunting ;-) Man, those animals can be fierce when they want.
 

BROBS

Lifer
Nov 13, 2019
11,765
40,026
IA
Death and ill health has always seemed so far away to me.

I've never been worried about pipe smoking, snus use or nicotine. I have always felt that genetics, diet and fate were more likely to cause me problems. I'm only 48.

I have never been worried until this week.

I spent last week in the hospital.

It started with this weird feeling in my throat. It felt kind of dry. By that evening, my arms were aching terribly from my elbows to my fingers and my throat felt cold and metallic.

Then it started to feel like I was drowning or suffocating, yet my breathing was fine. I felt out of breath but I could breath fine.

A few hours later I was in the emergency room popping nitro glycerine tablets every 30 minutes so that I could stop feeling like I was suffocating to death.

Over the next few days and way too many invasive tests, they discovered two blockages on a major artery to my right ventricle. 99% and 95% blocked.

I ended up with two stents. I was in the hospital 4+ days.

I never knew how much I appreciated living until last week when I was trapped in the hospital wondering if I was going to have to have my chest cracked open.

The Doc said I was lucky I came in when I did, because I might have been a few hours or a cheesesteak away from a big heart attack.

None of this was likely related to smoking my pipe. I smoke it ocassionally. It's genetics, my weight, diet, stressful job, lack of exercise etc...

So, a lot has to change like my diet, my weight, my lifestyle.

I have so much good pipe tobacco and 40 cans of high nicotine Swedish snus.

My Doc seems to think that occasional use won't do me in.

I am weighing the risks and benefits. The risks are winning. While nicotine didn't get me to this place, nicotine (and caffeine) might bring me back to the hospital.

Has anyone else been here before or is it time for me to start finding a new home for my collection?

Also, in response to the OP... I think there might be greater health risk in Moose hunting ;-) Man, those animals can be fierce when they want.
If this were my case it might be my “last tango”. I like living more than smoking a pipe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bowie
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,195
“To what degree do you feel Pipe Smoking is a risk to your health?”

Moderate. Nicotine is a chemical that has at least some meausureable impact on just about any system in the body. In my case, the most significant is that it is a vasoconstrictor. I tend not to smoke anything until I have been up for a few hours and the various things I take as vasodilators have had a chance to start working. If I don’t , I have angina pain. After that time period has elapsed, I seem to be able to smoke as much as I want of anything. Otherwise, I don’t feel pipe and cigar smoking are major negatives health wise.

“How do you reconcile your desire to smoke with the risk you have identified?”

I manage the specific risk I have identified as stated, but even if the general risk was a good bit higher than I think it is, I would smoke about as much as I do now. I am going to be 70 in a few months, and I doubt seriously that smoking a pipe will have more than a minuscule impact on my life expectancy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gatorlope

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,227
Alaska
Death and ill health has always seemed so far away to me.

I've never been worried about pipe smoking, snus use or nicotine. I have always felt that genetics, diet and fate were more likely to cause me problems. I'm only 48.

I have never been worried until this week.

I spent last week in the hospital.

It started with this weird feeling in my throat. It felt kind of dry. By that evening, my arms were aching terribly from my elbows to my fingers and my throat felt cold and metallic.

Then it started to feel like I was drowning or suffocating, yet my breathing was fine. I felt out of breath but I could breath fine.

A few hours later I was in the emergency room popping nitro glycerine tablets every 30 minutes so that I could stop feeling like I was suffocating to death.

Over the next few days and way too many invasive tests, they discovered two blockages on a major artery to my right ventricle. 99% and 95% blocked.

I ended up with two stents. I was in the hospital 4+ days.

I never knew how much I appreciated living until last week when I was trapped in the hospital wondering if I was going to have to have my chest cracked open.

The Doc said I was lucky I came in when I did, because I might have been a few hours or a cheesesteak away from a big heart attack.

None of this was likely related to smoking my pipe. I smoke it ocassionally. It's genetics, my weight, diet, stressful job, lack of exercise etc...

So, a lot has to change like my diet, my weight, my lifestyle.

I have so much good pipe tobacco and 40 cans of high nicotine Swedish snus.

My Doc seems to think that occasional use won't do me in.

I am weighing the risks and benefits. The risks are winning. While nicotine didn't get me to this place, nicotine (and caffeine) might bring me back to the hospital.

Has anyone else been here before or is it time for me to start finding a new home for my collection?

Also, in response to the OP... I think there might be greater health risk in Moose hunting ;-) Man, those animals can be fierce when they want.
Sorry to hear about your health struggles! You are very lucky, that had to be scary as hell! Glad to hear you caught it when you did!

Haha, moose hunting isn’t so bad. It’s the females with calves you gotta worry about but they usually get out before you ever see them. Bears getting into the camp is a bigger problem in the area we hunt. Giant fucking rats. Every once in a while we have to kill a nosy one, but even that is only every 5 or 10 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Casual

hauntedmyst

Lifer
Feb 1, 2010
4,006
20,750
Chicago
I think the risks are minimal to me. I smoke one bowl a day or so. I get a tremendous amount of joy from enjoying a pipe and reading daily. I ride a motorcycle, also inherently risky. Even more so I think. I'd give that up before I'd give up my pipe.
 

whsergent

Can't Leave
Jan 8, 2020
385
1,295
Something to fuel the discussion:

Behind the 'Myths' About Pipe Smoking - https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-18-me-917-story.html

The surgeon general, for instance, states in his current report that pipe and cigar smokers do not appear to experience risk of heart disease that is significantly higher than that experienced by nonsmokers. Other studies have found that pipe smokers seem to even have slightly greater longevity than nonsmokers due to the relaxation factor. And as for cancer, the incidence of oral cancers in pipe and cigar smokers was at one time found to be .0025% above that for nonsmokers, a figure that still stands in the body of research.

The above is from 86. I doubt such a thing would make it to print today.

I do remember a few years ago reading about a study done by an insurance company in the 60's that pipe smoking extended life slightly. Of course they might not have taken into account that increased affluence might be a factor.
 
Last edited:

Seeker81

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 22, 2019
134
206
I quit cigarettes with the help of piping. I know there are risks even though I don't inhale, but I feel like I've lessened them substantially... and I'd rather pipe than vape. Since I smoke for nicotine as well as flavor, I smoke a lot, but I could see myself gradually slowing down to a couple bowls a day and still getting plenty of pleasure from the pastime. As much as I smoke, I feel like it still takes me forever to burn through a tin.
This is what I am currently attempting... I still smoke RYO, though significantly less since I started with pipe smoking. Any tips for dropping the rollies altogether?
 
  • Like
Reactions: BROBS and rushx9

docrameous

Can't Leave
May 6, 2019
368
993
Colorado
Thanks alaskanpiper for this post. My wiring is that I enjoy asking myself these kinds of questions as I think it is healthy to take stock from time to time.

To what degree do you feel Pipe Smoking is a risk to your health? (Not being fat, or drinking, or stress, but pipe smoking)

As near as I can tell from research that I have done, my risk is low to moderate. In addition to the number of times I smoke a week, I try to use all the 'best practices' that you read about in studies about pipe smoking. I am not head faking myself though... there is a risk and once something develops, the level of risk becomes mostly immaterial. Having lung cancer as a low risk patient that never smoked versus one that did, probably does not make a lot of difference.

How do you reconcile your desire to smoke with the risk you have identified?

My general philosophy is moderation and self restraint. This looks different for every person. For me in the life choice categories of diet, exercise, rest, weight, stress, etc. I am regularly making adjustments to create a whole package that fits with me. Within this, I have made allowances to enjoy certain types of food, alcohol and yes, pipe smoking.

As best as I am trying, all this might be undermined by things out of my control such as genetics, environmental factors I am not even aware of, a tragic accident, etc. Even if this happens, balancing all my life choices was probably a good idea anyhow, not only for myself, but those that I love all around me.

Am I a fatalist? No. I only know to do my best. To be paranoid, is destructive. To abandon all hope is as well.
 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,227
Alaska
Thanks alaskanpiper for this post. My wiring is that I enjoy asking myself these kinds of questions as I think it is healthy to take stock from time to time.

To what degree do you feel Pipe Smoking is a risk to your health? (Not being fat, or drinking, or stress, but pipe smoking)

As near as I can tell from research that I have done, my risk is low to moderate. In addition to the number of times I smoke a week, I try to use all the 'best practices' that you read about in studies about pipe smoking. I am not head faking myself though... there is a risk and once something develops, the level of risk becomes mostly immaterial. Having lung cancer as a low risk patient that never smoked versus one that did, probably does not make a lot of difference.

How do you reconcile your desire to smoke with the risk you have identified?

My general philosophy is moderation and self restraint. This looks different for every person. For me in the life choice categories of diet, exercise, rest, weight, stress, etc. I am regularly making adjustments to create a whole package that fits with me. Within this, I have made allowances to enjoy certain types of food, alcohol and yes, pipe smoking.

As best as I am trying, all this might be undermined by things out of my control such as genetics, environmental factors I am not even aware of, a tragic accident, etc. Even if this happens, balancing all my life choices was probably a good idea anyhow, not only for myself, but those that I love all around me.

Am I a fatalist? No. I only know to do my best. To be paranoid, is destructive. To abandon all hope is as well.
A very well reasoned response! Thank you!
 

rushx9

Lifer
Jul 10, 2019
2,299
17,244
42
Shelby, NC
This is what I am currently attempting... I still smoke RYO, though significantly less since I started with pipe smoking. Any tips for dropping the rollies altogether?
You just gotta do it. I got some high nic blends from g&h and some snus that I used a few times when I couldn't smoke the pipe but the main thing is to make the decision that it's not part of your life anymore.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BROBS and Seeker81
Jul 28, 2016
7,564
36,058
Finland-Scandinavia-EU
This is what I am currently attempting... I still smoke RYO, though significantly less since I started with pipe smoking. Any tips for dropping the rollies altogether?
I have been doing this road myself,the key is self restraint,I don't think you don'tr have to quite them cigartettes right now but instead I'd suggest gradually reducing quantities of smoked cigarrettes to minimum,and then keep it there,occasional cigarette /cigarillo doesn't do any harm if you are watchful with this,you can do it as I did,I'm smoking from the age of 13 with no day off,all stuff but never I was heavy user of any form of tobacco,moderation in all things,,
 
  • Like
Reactions: BROBS and Seeker81
Jul 28, 2016
7,564
36,058
Finland-Scandinavia-EU
It's interesting the number of smokers who have no idea that the dangerous chemicals being ingested or absorbed are the result of incineration not added chemicals. Burning a product, be it an old rubber tire or tobacco, then sucking it into one's mouth is simply reckless behavior. We smokers need to accept that no matter how much we rationalize our smoking we are not doing ourselves any favors. It's simply a selfish choice we've made as a bit of a reward for coping I guess.

Everyone one deserves a wee vice, something a bit selfish. But, we shouldn't minimize the risks. When measuring the risks we cannot do so as we have no idea of how our individual immune system will react to long or short term exposure to the various carcinogens. You just gotta decide to ... take a chance, trust your genes as it were. We got nothing else going for ourselves. Adding more carcinogens intentionally to your/our system doesn't say much our decision making processes.

I say we should be proud of our shortsighted, selfish choice and enjoy the slings and arrows of society.
100% this^¨ I love your attitude, all this overthinking of smoking risks is rather ridiculous,of course smoking causes a lesser or greater to our health ,my late father,a seaman of profession smoked heavily all his life,and obviously died at lung cancer at the age of 72,but he did not overthink it as didn't the great majority of men in past,today we seem to be overthinkin every aspect in our lives,my late father used to say,'Paul You can still quite them cigarettes or if you can't then consider a pipe,its a gentleman way of smoking tobacco' 15265
 
Status
Not open for further replies.