Friends,
I usually smoke a pipe in the evenings after dinner. I'll read, and unwind, maybe think about the day, or maybe things I need to do, or lately about the idea of a "failed state" such as in Somalia and Afghanistan, and what that notion means. I pack the pipe, light the pipe, puff, read, & think. I don't really think much about my personal aesthetics while smoking, nor how others perceive me. I just want a decent tobacco and a decent smoke.
Following this idea, I find the pipe to be very much a tool. In a more traditional sense, valuing the function over the form. It is through the pipe, that I can slow-down and focus more carefully about various topics.
Using the pipe has two vital steps that, again personally, allow that focus. It is through the ritual of the packing, lighting , & tamping and the sipping and puffing. The ritual of preparing the pipe requires that machine of desire and focus. It is something that pulls me from the day, very much so as a hands-on form of escapism. There is an unconscious stream of thoughts measuring the tobacco in the bowl, packing to the desired consistency, lighting to desired char, and tamping, again to monitor the flow. It is a feeling as though I have done it before, and historically it has been done before. I'm not too fond of a priori knowing, but it's a close feeling.
Once the pipe is prepared, lit, and tamped, the comfort, aroma, heat, and mythos of the smoke removes that escapism, honing in a sense of focus. Intermittently, the occasional relight and tamp allow for a changing of pace and angle for which I am thinking. It is a resetting that pulls me from thought and puts me back in with a possible different insight.
At the finishing of a bowl, I'm usually not dissatisfied by its end. It was time well devoted, and just like all things, even time thinking should be done in moderation.
Okay. With that being said, sometimes the pipe world can be a little overwhelming with grand pipes, and a large sense of aesthetic with it. I suppose at a certain level, I am concerned with the look of my pipe: I wanted something modest; a briar workhorse; a devotee to my life. I do know and appreciate the art form of piping and the supreme level of intricacy and time that goes into making a single hand-made, precisely sand-blasted blow-fish author. They are cool, and beautiful, and collecting them would be amazing. But for me, I just don't really care nor desire to indulge myself with a fine pipe. Just a simple pipe with some good tobacco is enough for me.
(Side note: I do love the variety that the pipe world has to offer for everyone. Someone seeking that hand-made, sand-blasted blow-fish can most likely find it. And that is awesome.)
I suppose with writing this, I just wanted to know if others out there feel the same? If so, what is your workhorse pipe? I do know fine pipes can be workhorses too. What is one that never lets you down?
Cheers,
motomiller
I usually smoke a pipe in the evenings after dinner. I'll read, and unwind, maybe think about the day, or maybe things I need to do, or lately about the idea of a "failed state" such as in Somalia and Afghanistan, and what that notion means. I pack the pipe, light the pipe, puff, read, & think. I don't really think much about my personal aesthetics while smoking, nor how others perceive me. I just want a decent tobacco and a decent smoke.
Following this idea, I find the pipe to be very much a tool. In a more traditional sense, valuing the function over the form. It is through the pipe, that I can slow-down and focus more carefully about various topics.
Using the pipe has two vital steps that, again personally, allow that focus. It is through the ritual of the packing, lighting , & tamping and the sipping and puffing. The ritual of preparing the pipe requires that machine of desire and focus. It is something that pulls me from the day, very much so as a hands-on form of escapism. There is an unconscious stream of thoughts measuring the tobacco in the bowl, packing to the desired consistency, lighting to desired char, and tamping, again to monitor the flow. It is a feeling as though I have done it before, and historically it has been done before. I'm not too fond of a priori knowing, but it's a close feeling.
Once the pipe is prepared, lit, and tamped, the comfort, aroma, heat, and mythos of the smoke removes that escapism, honing in a sense of focus. Intermittently, the occasional relight and tamp allow for a changing of pace and angle for which I am thinking. It is a resetting that pulls me from thought and puts me back in with a possible different insight.
At the finishing of a bowl, I'm usually not dissatisfied by its end. It was time well devoted, and just like all things, even time thinking should be done in moderation.
Okay. With that being said, sometimes the pipe world can be a little overwhelming with grand pipes, and a large sense of aesthetic with it. I suppose at a certain level, I am concerned with the look of my pipe: I wanted something modest; a briar workhorse; a devotee to my life. I do know and appreciate the art form of piping and the supreme level of intricacy and time that goes into making a single hand-made, precisely sand-blasted blow-fish author. They are cool, and beautiful, and collecting them would be amazing. But for me, I just don't really care nor desire to indulge myself with a fine pipe. Just a simple pipe with some good tobacco is enough for me.
(Side note: I do love the variety that the pipe world has to offer for everyone. Someone seeking that hand-made, sand-blasted blow-fish can most likely find it. And that is awesome.)
I suppose with writing this, I just wanted to know if others out there feel the same? If so, what is your workhorse pipe? I do know fine pipes can be workhorses too. What is one that never lets you down?
Cheers,
motomiller
