lankfordjl I've smoked cigars, pipes, and used nasal snuff and never felt a nicotine rush. I know that some people are more tolerate of nicotine than others; maybe that's my case. Caffeine is another example of a plant alkaloid that people can have a tolerance too. I was raised on coffee...started drinking it at age 5; now coffee is just a warm drink for me and energy drinks are sodas.
In my educated opinion, pipe smoking (without intentional inhaling) in moderation is no more of a health hazard than any other activity. Overuse of anything leads to health problems: sugar, alcohol, salt, sitting ... ha even overuse of "healthy" activities like exercise, drinking water, eating vegetable, taking vitamins, etc. is dangerous to your health. Sounds simple but the problem is this...what amounts to "overuse" is an unknown for each individual. Health officials try to standardize "healthy" levels of everything, but everyone's genetics are different and each person's body responds different. Our current medical knowledge has not advanced enough to be able to tell you (as an individual) what is "best" for you. In my opinion, all that general "health guidelines" lead to is social engineering which is a whole other topic.
