Hi All! Here is a quick introduction and some of the reasons I'm now smoking a pipe...
I'm a 70 yo semi-retired physician (Still see patients about 3 days/ week). My dad smoked a pipe when we were kids, which was my first introduction to pipes. When I was about eleven and my kid brother about 9, we saved all our allowance money and bought him a meerschaum pipe (which he always talked about but never had). He really loved it, not only for the pipe, but because we thought enough of him to gift him with it, I think.
Flash ahead to the last year or so. It was very difficult one for my wife and I. In the same week, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her mom with pancreatic cancer. The last twelve months has been really tough, as my wife went through chemotherapy and radiation and we had her mom placed in hospice care. I had to assume all the duties at home--cooking cleaning, shopping, etc. My mother-in-law finally passed in January of this year. In the midst of this, my father died in October at the ripe old age of 98--sharp to the end, but he could not beat pneumonia. My wife will be fine with low stage disease and we don't anticipate any recurrence.
During this time my refuge has been to quietly sit on our upstairs balcony and smoke a bowl. Understand that I have never smoked in my whole life before this, but this gave me a moment to reflect on the day and relax. We live in northern Michigan in a beautiful home overlooking lovely Lake Charlevoix and I believe this really helped keep me sane and emotionally recharged during a most difficult time.
My dad lived with my brother in Boca Raton, FL, and my brother finally overcame his grief enough to go through my father's things--and the old meerschaum was still there. He sent it to me and I had it reconditioned and have smoked it--kind of a way to reconnect with him, I guess. I know people smoke for a number of reasons, but smoking a bowl does wonders for my spirits and it sure beats meds or alcohol! Also, smoking the pipe triggers fond memories of him which I would never have been able to recall otherwise--perhaps the smell of the tobacco makes those memories come alive again?
Surprisingly, I have not had too much trouble with packing or relighting my pipes as I remember much of what he told me and what I observed as a child while watching him prepare his pipe. I’ve been trying a variety of tobaccos, finding some of the aromatics a bit cloying for my taste but enjoying Captain Black Gold the most, I think. Fun experimenting! And I’m proud to be a member of this most elite group!
I'm a 70 yo semi-retired physician (Still see patients about 3 days/ week). My dad smoked a pipe when we were kids, which was my first introduction to pipes. When I was about eleven and my kid brother about 9, we saved all our allowance money and bought him a meerschaum pipe (which he always talked about but never had). He really loved it, not only for the pipe, but because we thought enough of him to gift him with it, I think.
Flash ahead to the last year or so. It was very difficult one for my wife and I. In the same week, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her mom with pancreatic cancer. The last twelve months has been really tough, as my wife went through chemotherapy and radiation and we had her mom placed in hospice care. I had to assume all the duties at home--cooking cleaning, shopping, etc. My mother-in-law finally passed in January of this year. In the midst of this, my father died in October at the ripe old age of 98--sharp to the end, but he could not beat pneumonia. My wife will be fine with low stage disease and we don't anticipate any recurrence.
During this time my refuge has been to quietly sit on our upstairs balcony and smoke a bowl. Understand that I have never smoked in my whole life before this, but this gave me a moment to reflect on the day and relax. We live in northern Michigan in a beautiful home overlooking lovely Lake Charlevoix and I believe this really helped keep me sane and emotionally recharged during a most difficult time.
My dad lived with my brother in Boca Raton, FL, and my brother finally overcame his grief enough to go through my father's things--and the old meerschaum was still there. He sent it to me and I had it reconditioned and have smoked it--kind of a way to reconnect with him, I guess. I know people smoke for a number of reasons, but smoking a bowl does wonders for my spirits and it sure beats meds or alcohol! Also, smoking the pipe triggers fond memories of him which I would never have been able to recall otherwise--perhaps the smell of the tobacco makes those memories come alive again?
Surprisingly, I have not had too much trouble with packing or relighting my pipes as I remember much of what he told me and what I observed as a child while watching him prepare his pipe. I’ve been trying a variety of tobaccos, finding some of the aromatics a bit cloying for my taste but enjoying Captain Black Gold the most, I think. Fun experimenting! And I’m proud to be a member of this most elite group!
