Is it Legal to Smoke a Pipe while Driving?
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I don't know of a law in PA forbidding smoking a pipe while driving. I've been cited for various violations but never for smoking a pipe while driving.
In general it is not illegal. Where you run into some grey area is when a child is in the vehicle in which certain states have made it illegal. Here's a Wiki link so use with caution and do your own research on where you plan on driving. Smoking bans in private vehicles - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_bans_in_private_vehicles
Here's a recent article regarding WI
I smoke while driving in all manner of traffic, and this in a state that loves new laws protecting the children,
I don't drive without a pipe in my mouth. Why would one assume this kind of stuff?
Only if you're smoking Orlik Racing Green. 
Ive never heard of a law against it. Its not legal to eat or talk on the phone while driving in France. You can be sited for inattentive driving. The same COULD go for a pipe or a cigarette if it kept you from driving properly.
That said, the French are incapable of driving properly in any sense of the word and there is pretty much no one to enforce all the theoretical laws on the books.
That said, the French are incapable of driving properly in any sense of the word and there is pretty much no one to enforce all the theoretical laws on the books.
Not really. It can be a grey area, though: cops might want to argue distracted driving, or they might decide to pull you over to see WHAT you're smoking in that pipe. Nowadays, it seems you can get pulled over anytime for whatever reason. Guess it depends on the jurisdiction and on how behind the coppers are on their quotas.
Laws are established by jurisdiction. Where I live, PA, it's entirely legal.
This doesn't mean you couldn't be cited for charges related to distracted driving, etc., if you're witnessed packing, lighting, and tamping a new bowl while behind the wheel.
This doesn't mean you couldn't be cited for charges related to distracted driving, etc., if you're witnessed packing, lighting, and tamping a new bowl while behind the wheel.
If you are a long haired guy with huge holes in your ears wearing some band t-shirt and dirty jeans, sure... you hippy, expect the cops to shake you down everywhere you go.
I have never had the cops hassle me about my pipe, except one cop that demanded that I extinguish my pipe when he pulled me over, and I was left dumbfounded as to how to put one out.
For the most part 90% of all cops do not want the hassle of pulling someone over... unless you look really suspicious or your skin tone is darker than theirs.
There are no laws against smoking except in places where they hate kids so much that they want to deny them the opportunity of secondhand smoke.
The key to life is to always look like you are supposed to be doing what you are doing. People who quickly pull their pipe down, or shield themself when drawing on the pipe, or slumping... anything that you would do to try to hide something sets of cop sensors. But... if I look like I am perfectly in my right doing whatever it is that I am doing, trying to hide nothing, no one would ever think otherwise.
I have never had the cops hassle me about my pipe, except one cop that demanded that I extinguish my pipe when he pulled me over, and I was left dumbfounded as to how to put one out.
For the most part 90% of all cops do not want the hassle of pulling someone over... unless you look really suspicious or your skin tone is darker than theirs.
There are no laws against smoking except in places where they hate kids so much that they want to deny them the opportunity of secondhand smoke.
The key to life is to always look like you are supposed to be doing what you are doing. People who quickly pull their pipe down, or shield themself when drawing on the pipe, or slumping... anything that you would do to try to hide something sets of cop sensors. But... if I look like I am perfectly in my right doing whatever it is that I am doing, trying to hide nothing, no one would ever think otherwise.
I smoke while driving whenever I can.
There is a member here who said churchwardens are best for driving. I forget who that was.
One time I was driving through a university here in BC and I saw a police car sitting in a left turn lane waiting for the light to turn. The officer was typing on his laptop with one hand and using the other to hold down the button on his radio while talking to dispatch. Someone completed an illegal U-turn right in front of the guy and he didn’t even notice.
I would say smoking a pipe and driving is less distracting than what that guy was doing.
There is a member here who said churchwardens are best for driving. I forget who that was.
One time I was driving through a university here in BC and I saw a police car sitting in a left turn lane waiting for the light to turn. The officer was typing on his laptop with one hand and using the other to hold down the button on his radio while talking to dispatch. Someone completed an illegal U-turn right in front of the guy and he didn’t even notice.
I would say smoking a pipe and driving is less distracting than what that guy was doing.
Yeah, I remember that "smoking apparatus" occasion.
Right on on the not looking suspicious thing. My dad used to advice to "not do good things that may look like bad ones". Regardless, knowing the current milieu, I prefer to err on the side of caution and lower the hand holding my pipe beneath dashboard height if I see a cruiser or a ghost car approaching or nearby: there's no need to test them either. A pullover stop here will include a whole "battery of tests": breathalyser, swabbing for pot, at the minimum, and you no longer have the right to refuse those.
Funny thing: just after posting my above comment I was read on the local news that some guy almost lost his licence because someone reported him as "unfit to drive" to the ruling driving authority. He managed to comply with the requirement of providing doctor's evidence for his medication, but he's spent years fighting the crown corporation merely trying to find out WHO filed the complain against him in the first place. So, nowadays, any vindictive bozo you've somehow irritated, in person, locally, or online, can squeal on you with complete confidence of full impunity and land you in legal trouble: yet one more reason not to be broadcasting my physical location on fora and social media.
Ok, then, why is it even a half decent Idea to smoke a churchwarden while driving!
I'm usually smoking a pipe while driving. Once I was pulled over because a cop assumed I was smoking something else and I had to prove to him that it was tobacco and that pipe smokers still exist. As with many of LA's finest, he was less than pleasant to deal with.
Because the long stem of a churchwarden allows you to do either or both of the following:
- Hold the wheel with both hands and just lean slightly or not at all to sip from the pipe.
- Rest the elbow of the hand holding the pipe on the console and comfortably sip with nary a head motion, thus keeping your sights on the road.
Besides not all of us are clenchers.