Is It a Ritual or a Smoke?

[olkofri]

My 'ritual' used to be choosing a blend, pulling enough toby out of the jar and putting it on a coffee filter to dry, then packing the pipe either with the swirl method or the two-layer method. The remnants would go back to the jar; the coffee filter would be used after the smoke to receive the dottle, ashes, and the dirty pipe cleaners.
Having to dry the tobacco prior to smoking would sometimes prevent me from smoking completely: i.e. no time to dry it out before I had to run out. Thus, now I've dried out enough tobacco for a few bowls and put it in a jar of its own: my ready-to-pack toby. I lost the ritual: yesterday I packed the pipe over the open jar and lit it: all whilst sitting in my car.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

It's a journey and a destination for me. I only smoke my pipes in my home while relaxing with a show, book, or music. Although, I do smoke while out and about on occasion. It's a ritual with purpose for me. Most importantly, it's relaxing and enjoyable, and a conscience and subconscious experience. ::

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When my daughters were younger, they were always running up to me with some urgent thing they're sister did or said... so, I would just tell them to hold on, and I would pull my pipe out and slowly pack my bowl, light, tamp, relight, puff puff, get it going... then nod for them to continue. It gave them time enough to calm down, and by the time I had the pipe going to a slow breath smoke, with only nods or shakes, they would solve their own problem. So... I guess that was sort of a ritual. The less I said, the wiser I seemed, ha ha.

 

[davek]

I guess that makes me Zen agnostic,

I like that. So you refuse to believe there is proof to the existence of that which cannot be explained? Zen agnostic is a bit of a Zen Koan in and of itself. And a koan about a koan is... ne'mind.
What were once vices are now habits on my part. I used to be way more ritualistic. I'm still in a place where my more common taking of a pipe is time which is my time. My ladyfriend knows to not ask me to take out the garbage with me if I am heading to the back porch with pipe in hand and to leave me alone for a little while thereafter.If I get up to smoke she now will request any little honey-do's before I begin which is all good.

 

[npod]

Sometimes I’m ritualesque with the pipe. For example, I polish my own shoes and that process can be time consuming. I always smoke a pipe while doing it. Similar steps each time, setting up the station and rags, loading the bowl, loading a pipe Podcast to play, etc. it’s fun and very calming to me.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Same. I get an inordinate amount of satisfaction over polishing a half dozen pairs of shoes. All my shoes are leather except my tennis shoes.

 

[sparrowhawk]

I'm where you're at, bassbug, almost. After all, this ritual is Holy Scripture.

 

[weezell]

I pack and smoke...

 

[jjmitchem]

I think just like anything its a muscle memory routine
We practice this all the time in the Army - repeat, repeat, repeat....until you can do that one thing without thinking while under high stress.
So far on the deployment I have been enjoying mostly flake tobacco, I brought a mason jar full of Virginia flake. Im at the point now, having done it so many times, I just grab the right amount of flake, fold, stuff and light.
Need to practice some more with ribbon cut. But the one advantage of the flake is that it does not dry out so quickly so I can load my leather pouch before I travel for a few days and be good to go.

 

[mikethompson]

It is more contemplative than a ritual for me. I don't have a set routine for packing or lighting, and I'm still trying to figure out my cadence and learn breath smoking. I just enjoy the quiet time to myself to clear my mind.

 

[cortezattic]

For me, it's all about ritual. The pleasure is just reinforcement. ::

 

[smittyd]

There be no time for rituals when the deck needs scrubbing. Stuff , light and scrub. Lest ye get the whip! :rofl:

 

[ray47]

I've never considered the actual smoking of a pipe as a ritual. For me it's just been a smoke. Now buying lots of pipes and tobacco....that's a ritual.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Heck, brushing teeth might be a ritual for some!
It may be that: All rituals contain some routine, but not all routines are rituals. (Actually, I'd guess that few are)

 

[Chasing Embers]

Shaving would be the only thing I do ritualistically. Hot towel, preshave oil, the brush and soap, stropping the blade, precise and purposeful shaving strokes, the cleanup, and the witch hazel. My me time.

 

[pastorpiper]

For me it's both:
It's the 30 minute break I get a couple times a day to simply sit and think

And, it's the smoke and slight buzz I get for a little wake me up.
I tend to still get excited to fill the pipe and light it, but I don't make a big production out of it. I smoke MM cobs and mostly OTC tobacco, so I'm pretty old school in my joy of smoking. I have about 7-8 briars that I haven't touched in a while. I keep going back again and again to my cobs. I like to clinch, so I like the fact that I can have a big bowel in a cob and it doesn't weigh a lot. And, I just really like the taste of the tobacco in a cob. Still like my main smoking briar, but I LOVE my cobs.
So it's mostly the smoking part.....and still a little bit of the ritual that I savor too.

 

[saltedplug]

I think the underlying question being asked is how well do you concentrate on your pipe smoking, and aiding that, your use of ritual.
I had some incredibly delicious smokes by tasting everything possible in the tobacco, but they were uncommon. What characterized them can only have been how present I was and how present with the pipe, suggesting that it is a mind in so many places that it has lost the present.
Concentration is key.

 

[thehappypiper]

For myself, pipesmoking is special, even 32 years after my first bowl.

I wouldn't slug a single malt on the way to work either.

And high quality Matcha is not bitter. It is a superb drink.

 

[64alex]

For me it's a time of meditation coupled sometime reading a book or watching a movie, walking out or just sitting down on the coach. So it's not a ritual where I put particular care in the smoking itself but a time you take aside from other more or less routine daily activities, in some way I would call it a quality time.

 

[thehappypiper]

"Quality time"; yes.

When I was younger I used to sit in a corner of a particular real ale pub on my own and smoke my pipe, read my book and drink my Pedigree or Thrapple Quencher or whatever. It was a wonderful way of being solitary in public. The combination of the hubbub, the alcohol, soothing tobacco and a good book was an excellent way to relax. Also, it is rare for someone to try to take-over your table when you go to the bar for another pint, when your book and pipe and lighter so obviously show it is occupied.
I find I can settle in to a good documentary with my pipe in a satisfactory way also. Sometimes I become so engrossed in what I'm watching, coupled with the narcotic effect of the smoking (and single malt), that I am surprised my tobacco has run out....then realise I'm watching the credits of the movie.
Smoking and talking are of course, two pursuits which come as naturally as marriage and compromise. I remember the first time I emphasised what I was saying by pointing my pipe at a friend and he stopped in mid-sentence in consternation. He didn't know whether to be insulted or to laugh at me for being an old man.