Pipe vs Cigarettes
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I absolutely agree that pipes and cigarettes have very little in common. I was a cigarette smoker for 35 + yrs, a few years ago a friend gave me a good cigar and that was pretty much the end of the cig's, It was not easy and did not happen instantly. It's not feasible for me to smoke a pipe or even a cigar at work so I went with the vaping fad for a while (lasted about a year) It's been over three years since I've had a cigarette and it's not likely that I will go back, by giving them up I am able to experience what good tobacco is all about.
I tried a cigarette today. After months of exclusive pipe use, the luster was gone on the short stick. The tobacco taste was not as clear, the heat oppressive, and the lack of a firm stem to clamp was also disillusioning. I also found the nicotine jolt disappointing, as it appeared without grace and then abruptly left, where I could build up a nice quiet contemplative buzz with a pipe.
Some of you really need to try quality cigarettes if you want to keep smoking them. Mine cost a bit more than what you get at the drug store but, the flavor is there and chemically infused wrapper.
It's a Nat Sherman brand. I smoke the one in the dark brown box. Tasty, all tobacco, sometimes takes a couple of relights as they are not wrapped in the impregnated, white paper and so die out when set down for a minute. MCD is the NYC street number of their location.
I'm not pushing them. I just get mildly upset when people bad mouth all cigarettes, much like some disparage all smokers, pipes, cigars, et alii. Or, drug store pipe blends. There's a lot more to cigarettes than the mass marketed, white paper wrapped, bland brands most us are familiar with.
I'm not pushing them. I just get mildly upset when people bad mouth all cigarettes, much like some disparage all smokers, pipes, cigars, et alii. Or, drug store pipe blends. There's a lot more to cigarettes than the mass marketed, white paper wrapped, bland brands most us are familiar with.
Now that is some trivia I didn't know. I've smoked a number of these, but favor(ed) the English brands.
Hey redpanda,
My experience may not be unique. I started my first pipe use just before turning 16 but it was not a regular thing until I went to college. But at that college time I also started cigarettes and fought that monkey-on-my-back for years consuming far too many of the blasted things, wasting thousands of dollars and getting nothing in return pleasure-wise if I was honest about it. I might have fooled myself that the cigarette was pleasant, but I was lying really.
I used to drive my wife crazy when she would see me with a pipe in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other. One for the flavor, the other for the monkey. The insanity persisted for years until three years ago my doctor said, "Two years, at best or quit NOW". But the monkey ruled and it took almost an entire year to realize I was making my wife a widow, quickly. So, to the pipe exclusively (never did inhale them anyway). It was a battle royale UNTIL I had my first bowl of Old Joe Krantz. Not only did I like the tobacco, but it had enough nicotine to assuage the savage monkey with only a few pulls. I quit cigarettes - dead stop - in one day. I made up a RYO after about three months, lit it, and could not stomach even a single inhalation. I was indeed done with them. I still have some RYO tobacco, tubes, machine around here somewhere just to see if I would be tempted again. Nope, my buddy Old Joe kicked its butt (bad pun, sorry).
Of course for a while my number of pipes daily surged to 10+ but now I am back to 3 to 5 which isn't too bad for a retired guy with ample time to burn leaves in my briars.
I may get some nicotine pleasure along with others enjoyments from my pipe but no DTs or angst during hours long stretches without a pipe. No race to pack a bowl when I arise or sneaking out of church for a quickie burn. I can breathe now, ditching the phalanx of expensive drugs to boot.
Back in the day when most people inhaled their pipe smokes maybe cigarettes were just another consumption method of the tobacco and not materially different. But the way I smoke my pipes now,I do not miss cigarettes at all and regret 40 years of them.
My experience may not be unique. I started my first pipe use just before turning 16 but it was not a regular thing until I went to college. But at that college time I also started cigarettes and fought that monkey-on-my-back for years consuming far too many of the blasted things, wasting thousands of dollars and getting nothing in return pleasure-wise if I was honest about it. I might have fooled myself that the cigarette was pleasant, but I was lying really.
I used to drive my wife crazy when she would see me with a pipe in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other. One for the flavor, the other for the monkey. The insanity persisted for years until three years ago my doctor said, "Two years, at best or quit NOW". But the monkey ruled and it took almost an entire year to realize I was making my wife a widow, quickly. So, to the pipe exclusively (never did inhale them anyway). It was a battle royale UNTIL I had my first bowl of Old Joe Krantz. Not only did I like the tobacco, but it had enough nicotine to assuage the savage monkey with only a few pulls. I quit cigarettes - dead stop - in one day. I made up a RYO after about three months, lit it, and could not stomach even a single inhalation. I was indeed done with them. I still have some RYO tobacco, tubes, machine around here somewhere just to see if I would be tempted again. Nope, my buddy Old Joe kicked its butt (bad pun, sorry).
Of course for a while my number of pipes daily surged to 10+ but now I am back to 3 to 5 which isn't too bad for a retired guy with ample time to burn leaves in my briars.
I may get some nicotine pleasure along with others enjoyments from my pipe but no DTs or angst during hours long stretches without a pipe. No race to pack a bowl when I arise or sneaking out of church for a quickie burn. I can breathe now, ditching the phalanx of expensive drugs to boot.
Back in the day when most people inhaled their pipe smokes maybe cigarettes were just another consumption method of the tobacco and not materially different. But the way I smoke my pipes now,I do not miss cigarettes at all and regret 40 years of them.
OK, I am going to tell you my experience of smoking cigarettes. I smoked most of the brands, even the best ones. For me the best one was George Karelias and Sons (Greek), I also liked Turkish Night Blue 100s Parliaments with strong tobacco. It doesn't matter how much you take care of your mouth and teeth, you wake up with that muddy feeling in your mouth, you have breakfast and then you smoke a cigarette with a coffee, you are like, crap. Most of the cigarettes are made of the cheapest tobacco you may ever find. I advise everyone to open youtube and search for "how cigarettes are made", and don't watch those fancy videos, watch the hidden footages. I smoked for 4 years, I wasn't a heavy smoker but mostly an enjoyer I may say, I quit a month ago, I was very happy and healthy, smoked few yesterday again, not happy anymore. But I am quitting that thing forever for sure. I also tried RYO (roll your own) with Golden Virginia Tobacco, Gizeh Rolling Papers and Gizeh Active Coal Filters, why I say those? They are the best you can get (at least commercially available) and still they feel like crap. Maybe if I have lived in the mountains of Alaska and bought my tobacco from a local farmer and rolled it and smoked in an open weather with full of oxygen, I would have enjoyed it forever, but not in a city with full of chemicals in the air all the time. Don't Smoke Cigarettes Folks!
ohh, pipe smoking? It is a ritual to do.
ohh, pipe smoking? It is a ritual to do.
Warren said:
I have smoked a couple of the Sherman brands, and they are an example of superior tobacco and manufacturing, IMO. I have always avoided smoking them regularly simply because the price is prohibitive if you are smoking to chase the nicotine. Perfect fit for you though, Warren. With only a few a day, the MCD's are the better choice than the run of the mill coffin nails.
jvnshr: I'm retired now and I do not feel the need to monitor people and their behavior, much less tell them how to behave. You sound like my mother: "Don't Smoke Cigarettes Folks!" In fact you sound a just like the anti-tobacco folks.
If someone asks me if they should take up smoking (cigars, cigarettes, pipes) I ask them if they can afford it and if they have weighed the possible consequences to their health. It's their decision, not mine to make. I neither encourage nor deter. I'm also a bit leery of people who can't or won't think for themselves nor accept the consequences of their decisions.
Personally, I think burning up one's money and watching it waft away in the breeze is not a particularly smart choice. The moneys can usually be better spent. That said, I enjoy smoking, I can afford it, and I hope, should the consequences be detrimental to my health, to quietly accept them and die with a bit of quiet dignity amid minimal regrets. Smoking is not the only bad decision I've made that I choose to live, and/or die, with.
If someone asks me if they should take up smoking (cigars, cigarettes, pipes) I ask them if they can afford it and if they have weighed the possible consequences to their health. It's their decision, not mine to make. I neither encourage nor deter. I'm also a bit leery of people who can't or won't think for themselves nor accept the consequences of their decisions.
Personally, I think burning up one's money and watching it waft away in the breeze is not a particularly smart choice. The moneys can usually be better spent. That said, I enjoy smoking, I can afford it, and I hope, should the consequences be detrimental to my health, to quietly accept them and die with a bit of quiet dignity amid minimal regrets. Smoking is not the only bad decision I've made that I choose to live, and/or die, with.
This discussion has gone way off-topic, however I do not believe smoking cigarettes can be generalised as bad. It was certainly not my intention. It is more about how each person feels about it. I heard of a guy around here where I live, who is a free diving champion mind you, and smokes rollies. The story goes, he actually decided to quit for a change and could not dive as well when he did. He said it "calms him down". I do not remember his record in meters, but it was something rather ridiculous, tens of meters without any equipment. I myself am one of those people who experience a dramatic change when off cigarettes. It was like night and day for me. So, the pipe has been good for me so far, because i can still have a relationship with tobacco in my life, and at the same time feel quite well.
I hear people here saying, "There are better ways to smoke tobacco."
The anti-tobacco folks seem to be saying, "Smoking tobacco is morally wrong and therefore we can take anything we want from you."
I believe in individual liberty, but in every society, this is balanced against values and objectives.
Pipes/cigars seem to me to be simply a better technology for enjoying tobacco.
I quit cigarettes around 20 years ago. I only smoked them for around 7 years, but I've been smoking pipes and cigars for around 40 years. I only smoked roll-your-owns, either Bull Durham, or Drum when I could get it. I really just enjoyed rolling cigarettes, much like I do rolling my own cigars, now.
Cigarette smoking is simply a mindless, nicotine-delivery system. It doesn't involve any of the nuances or reasons that we smoke pipes and cigars. Smoking a pipe, and to a lesser extent, cigars is a deliberate act requiring knowledge, discipline, and a certain mind-set. A pipe closes the mouth of a fool, and provides reflection-time to the sage. Cigarettes do neither.
As far as health risks, decades of research on cigarettes has shown that if you smoke long enough, you will suffer serious health issues, most of which will eventually be fatal. This is not in question by anyone. Pipes, on the other hand, only have a slightly elevated risk of some health conditions, most of which are treatable. The risks from smoking a pipe (not inhaling, of course) are really not any worse than some other common activities. Your health is much more at risk from being obese, or consuming lots of sugar or salt. Excessive alcohol use also has much greater health risks than pipe smoking.
But when all is said and done, there is one fact that is indisputable. Humans can do one thing no other living thing on the planet can do....For the most part, we can choose the way we die.... and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day......
Cigarette smoking is simply a mindless, nicotine-delivery system. It doesn't involve any of the nuances or reasons that we smoke pipes and cigars. Smoking a pipe, and to a lesser extent, cigars is a deliberate act requiring knowledge, discipline, and a certain mind-set. A pipe closes the mouth of a fool, and provides reflection-time to the sage. Cigarettes do neither.
As far as health risks, decades of research on cigarettes has shown that if you smoke long enough, you will suffer serious health issues, most of which will eventually be fatal. This is not in question by anyone. Pipes, on the other hand, only have a slightly elevated risk of some health conditions, most of which are treatable. The risks from smoking a pipe (not inhaling, of course) are really not any worse than some other common activities. Your health is much more at risk from being obese, or consuming lots of sugar or salt. Excessive alcohol use also has much greater health risks than pipe smoking.
But when all is said and done, there is one fact that is indisputable. Humans can do one thing no other living thing on the planet can do....For the most part, we can choose the way we die.... and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day......
@warren I am really sorry if I offended someone here, but I am not telling anyone how to behave. I just shared my own experience, told results and advised not to smoke cigarettes. I didn't act like " hey you, don't smoke cigarettes ok?? it is bad for you, you will get cancer", I didn't say that. I was trying to explain the consequences of cigarette smoking, how bad it is. If I have been an anti-tobacco folk, I wouldn't have been a member here. I enjoy pipes and cigars, I wish cigarettes were not harmful at all so I can smoke them whenever I wanted.
I totally agree with you with the "take up smoking" part. The only difference is I also tell them the health risks. Lets say I underline that issue. I never start the conversation like "yeah try this bud, you will like it" or like "no, don't start smoking, it is bad".
As a result, what I wanted to say is; I don't actually like comparing pipe/cigar smoking vs cigarette smoking. I even may discuss cigar smoking vs cigarillo smoking. There are things in this life that you have to enjoy, finding a corner, lighting up a cigarette there and smoking for 4-5 minutes is not enjoying for me but some kind of rush for nicotine intake. Instead finding a nice smoking spot, filling your pipe and smoking it for half an hour seems to be a relaxing ritual for me. Again for me. I don't want to be like those anti-tobacco folks (for me jerks). Warren please enjoy smoking and nice to know you mate. By the way, mothers are always right :D Cheers my friend.
I realize you are speaking only for yourself. For me however, nicotine and pleasure go together. Further,, history has shown that life always terminates with death. Some deaths are just messier than others.
Denigrating one vice to justify another is ludicrous. Just enjoy your pipe and try not to judge the vices of others. It makes it sound as though you were determined to have a vice, selected one that appeared as the least risky and so to support your choice you must denigrate all others.
You made your choice and you certainly do not need to justify it anyone other than yourself. It just sounds a little too smug and self-righteous. A bit of "I'm superior to you because my vice is less risky."
And, please . . . that bit about pipe smokers requiring knowledge, discipline and a certain mindset is just mindless pap. I smoke a pipe and certainly do not possess any of the three requisites you point out. Such a generalization is to disregard the varied membership of this forum. Knowledge, discipline and a certain mindset . . . what a load of . . . . .
Denigrating one vice to justify another is ludicrous. Just enjoy your pipe and try not to judge the vices of others. It makes it sound as though you were determined to have a vice, selected one that appeared as the least risky and so to support your choice you must denigrate all others.
You made your choice and you certainly do not need to justify it anyone other than yourself. It just sounds a little too smug and self-righteous. A bit of "I'm superior to you because my vice is less risky."
And, please . . . that bit about pipe smokers requiring knowledge, discipline and a certain mindset is just mindless pap. I smoke a pipe and certainly do not possess any of the three requisites you point out. Such a generalization is to disregard the varied membership of this forum. Knowledge, discipline and a certain mindset . . . what a load of . . . . .
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