Sympathy?

[sparrowhawk]

This one will either die of neglect or explode with starry musings, but do you ever feel sorry for those enslaved to coffin nails? I smoked the damn things for thirty years before turning to the joys of the pipe. They have become my favorite inseparable companions during my walks (now lunts) through the city at night, my source of inspiration when sitting before a keyboard as I compose my book. How I regret those years of cigarettes!

 

[aldecaker]

Tough, tough habit to break. The absolute worst way to indulge in tobacco, and, IMO, single-handedly responsible for the bad rap smoking gets. I do have sympathy for those who want to break that vice but haven't been able to.

 

[mikethompson]

Aldecaker, yes cigarettes are 100% responsible for the bad rap. Smoking = cigarettes in most people's minds. My wife was very dubious when I said I had bought a pipe and gotten into piping.
Cigarettes are filled with noxious garbage.
That said, it is a very tough habit to break. I was never a cig smoker, but my friend is. I recently sent him two estate pipes and some Nightcap and he may be coming around.

 

[sparrowhawk]

Cigarette companies are not totally blameless. They deliberately increased the nic content to make kicking the cigs a harder habit to break, along with saltwater and other ingredients. I'm one of the few (it seems) individuals who was able to kick the habit by taking Chantix, which apparently has nasty side effects on most people. I was lucky--no side effects. A couple of months later, I took up the pipe, which I always wanted. What self-respecting intellectual doesn't smoke a pipe?

 

[Chasing Embers]

What self-respecting intellectual doesn't smoke a pipe?

The rest of the world thinks an intellectual would not use tobacco.

 

[brian64]

Cigarettes are filled with noxious garbage.

The cheap ones are...which are most of them.
Drives some people cuckoo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faeEnoYcT7w

 

[warren]

You boys know my feelings, I love my MCDs. No one needs feel sorry for me or anyone else who made a considered choice to burn their moneys sucking on the weed, pipe, cigar or cigarette. 'tis a selfish choice we make so, enjoy!

 

[auburnfan]

I'm 39 years old, smoked cigarettes for 19 of those years until I quit 3 years ago. I've been smoking a pipe for 5 years now and the pipe is what helped me transition from a "cigarette smoker" to a smoker". I'm still a "smoker" but a smoker that does not inhale. To me , that is the biggest difference (obviously not the only or anywhere close to it) between my pipe and my former cigs. Both satisfy a need. So, I am not one that will ever judge a cigarette smoker because of that. I just think they are not as wise in their choice of smoking. With that said,...as a "smoker" I will always be categorized, as a smoker and looked at in that light. But, I don't give a shit....

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

+1 for Auburnfan,I smoked unfiltered cigarettes+Kentucky Ryo tobacco during the 30 year being on and off with pipe all those years,finally switched to pipes some 2 year ago, and must confess this was pretty painful process,yet occasionally I still do smoke some few cigarettes and cigarillos when time is too short for bowl or nic cravings reaching top level,though as Mr Sparriwhawk I better have done this much earlier,todays EU made factory cigarettes have become unbeliavbly crappy tasting,nothing to compare with U.S made ones.

 

[newbroom]

As a former cigarette smoker, I only wish someone had taken the time to share with me the benefits and hidden pleasures of pipe smoking, a long time ago.

When I was a kid, TV was showing cigarette commercials and had people smoking while they delivered the nightly news.

Sure, I smoked cigarettes. From the first, a Pall Mall (by the RR tracks at age 8 -? ), to years of brand experimentation, mostly relying on the non filtered types, to finally discovering a decent alternative in Drum RYO's.

The idea of the pipe never clicked, until one day I got sick of smoking paper. I went to the drug store, bought a Legend, and found this forum, just over 3 yrs ago.

It's never TOO late.

Cuckoo's Nest is a favorite book AND movie.

 

[brightleaf]

I feel sorry that cigarette smokers have to deal with government restrictions and the vast campaign against their use. There are millions of dollars spent on anti-smoking advertising and other anti-tobacco research (if you add in the cost in paid hours of government employees who participate in this war, billions) trying to convince people that cigarettes are bad. This demonizing propaganda translates into people thinking that smokers are bad, or that they are dysfunctional, so they feel sorry for them. Having a habit is not much of a problem when one considers how many hundreds of vastly more significant problems we all have to deal with. I would even rate an addiction to watching the news to be a far worse influence on anyone's life.

 

[warren]

My cigarettes smoking is no more restricted than my pipe smoking when it comes to public places and government restrictions. I was 12 or 13 when I started smoking. I was well aware of the significant evidence showing smoking to be harmful. My mother served on the American Cancer Society local board and my grandfather died from lung cancer. That said, I made a conscious and selfish decision to try it. I did not think at the time of the tremendous economic cost. Wished I had. Money didn't become part of my decision making process until I was in my twenties.
Red Man was my go to in the barn and on the flight-line. Pipes began in college. I enjoy tobacco in most all forms. Never dipped though. I relish a good cigar periodically.
I am now in a position that watching my moneys waft to the sky or ceiling is something I can do even as I acknowledge the waste that it is. As I said I smoke from a purely selfish reason, I enjoy it. I do like my nicotine. It's a stupid waste of moneys, time and nothing good can come from taking the smoke of incinerated plant material into my body. I guess I'm just a bit hedonistic when it comes to smoking. But, I certainly do not merit anyone's sympathy.
Still, I do enjoy reading the smugness of the "I only smoke pipes" people. It's so akin to I "don't smoke" crowd" only more directed I suppose.
Perhaps I protest too much. Everyone should have one wee vice.

 

[didimauw]

I tried to quit cigarettes last year. I went 9 months without one, and just the pipe. Then I fell back into it. I'm kind of like Warren in the aspect. Cigarettes, pipe, cigar, and chew. I love it all.

 

[nukesimi]

I try to stay away from D&R blends with a shag cut. I tend to break out the injector and cigarette tubes when they come in. I think it's a dirty trick but I could be wrong.

 

[tuold]

Many years ago I worked as a steam train conductor at Disneyland. The round trip was only something like 16 minutes, but even that was too long for some hard core nic addicts to go without. It was quite a sight to see a hundred or so guests disembarking at Main Street with cigarettes already in their mouths before they even stepped on the platform. They'd all light up at once and create a great cloud of smoke. That made am impression on me.