The Liturgy of Pipe Smoking

[telescopes]

The Liturgy of Pipe Smoking.

I certainly don’t believe pipes have a soul. They aren’t eternal nor do they have a sense of self awareness. Yes, they have some aspects of personality – but nothing beyond the personification attributed to it by the smoker. It is a tool and when used properly, extends and manifests much of the personality of the smoker, and perhaps, the soul of the one smoking it.

Before smoking my pipes in the morning, I open my pipe cabinet and wait. Do I choose the pipe I will smoke or will it choose me? This existential exercise in free will last about ten seconds. I then choose the tobacco I’ll smoke in a similar manner. I pack the pipe carefully, sometimes rubbing the tobacco out if I don’t feel too rushed. I collect my morning coffee, daily newspaper and proceed to my pipe patio. There I light the pipe, tamp, and relight. After it is truly lit, I either read the paper or put on a liturgy saved on my phone and meditate quietly, thankful for the life God has given to me and thankful for His
blessings. Somewhere along the way, I check in on the WAYS thread.

Peace and joy. Life is best celebrated daily, moment to moment, less we forget this wonderful gift that is this and every moment that creates the remarkable tapestry that will one day reflect the life we were given and lived.

 

[Briar Lee]

That there rumination, calls for a proper song!

I do hate to say it but each and every song I know about a liturgy is one of them there tear jerkers.


Now, one must be careful not to enter heaven like Don Rich did, but he was having a ball just before.

If other souls need liturgies, then wherever makes them realize the sun always shines somewhere is a real good thing.

 

[chrono]

The rituals of pipe smoking are one of the most important aspects of the experience.

 

[SBC]

I share with you, and with many others, this posture towards the pipe. If some others take it as little more than a nicotine delivery system, that is well for them. For my part, the pipe is like a cup of tea with which to relax when the day's work is done -- and like tea, there is some ceremony involved in its preparation. It is not without significance that this particular ceremonious relaxation evokes something of incense (although I do not confuse pipe tobacco with incense proper, properly used).

And I am grateful for your grateful reflection on gratitude. We are all blessed well beyond our deserts, and it's good to say so.

 

[/Adam\]

And a very good day to you as well sir. I must say that posts like this are indeed what I look forward too most nowadays. Thank you Telescopes. This was very pleasant to read and ponder.

 

[InWithBothFeet]

I certainly don’t believe pipes have a soul.

That's comforting. It would be really weird if you did. My boots have a sole, but that's a different spelling.

 

[Jacob74]

If the sword is the soul of the samurai, perhaps the pipe is the soul of the poet.

 

[telescopes]

If the sword is the soul of the samurai, perhaps the pipe is the soul of the poet.

I couldn't agree more.

• May 12, 2021

The True Light

The True Light eludes me;
it escapes me;
it hides from me;
I cannot find it.

Carefully I char
the embers of morning,
slowly and deliberately
in my patiently
packed chamber
of smoky dreams;
harvested and cured
from far away places.

Gently I tamp with pressures
both subtle and sublime
as if opening a door
to a room undiscovered,
unmapped and unknown.

With deliberate resolve
I strike my match
and hold it while it burns
away the impurities
that are part of life’s necessities
until the flame is pure and free.

The ballerina dances, pliés en cloche,
bowing and rising between the flic-flac
of each inhaled breath:
She embraces the pas de deux
between ballerino and ballerina.

And now with resounding thunderous applause,
The full company
makes its entrance,
magnificently taking the stage.
The smoke rises, the embers glow,
ushering in the full banquet
of life’s most elemental flavors;
the necessities that herald peace and happiness:
The True Light.

(Have you found your True Light?)

 

[Sig]

For those who have read the LOTR books, you will surely know a smoking pipe does have a soul, as well as the tobacco. The movies make no mention of this.
So unless you're going to tell me LOTR is inaccurate, pipes DO have a soul.

 

[InWithBothFeet]

What I do know is that Saruman had a LOT of that wacky pipe weed in his cellar. Dang hypocrite.

 

[rakovsky]

I share with you, and with many others, this posture towards the pipe. If some others take it as little more than a nicotine delivery system, that is well for them. For my part, the pipe is like a cup of tea with which to relax when the day's work is done -- and like tea, there is some ceremony involved in its preparation. It is not without significance that this particular ceremonious relaxation evokes something of incense (although I do not confuse pipe tobacco with incense proper, properly used).

And I am grateful for your grateful reflection on gratitude. We are all blessed well beyond our deserts, and it's good to say so.

For what it's worth, the Native Americans at times used tobacco ceremonially. They counted it as 1 of 4 sacred herbs- cedar for a fire, sweetgrass to light a pipe, sage for a smudge or for mixing with tobacco.

 

[JOHN72]

You could say, at this point in life, that it is as if you were going back in time, a living museum of the world of tobacco, which we still handle today. Something like that happens to me with literature, books, the history and elaboration of whiskey, wine, handmade shoes. A past that is still alive. Craftsmanship, perhaps this is the essence of the taste for liturgy. More and more I immerse myself in books, I abandon the screen, the social networks, the apocalyptic news of the day to day. It will be the age, and mental fatigue, to see so much garbage, or political misery, sinking us in fear and survival.

 

[Corncobpipeandacanepole]

This is so beautifully written and well said.

I agree.
The pipe is such a beautiful and yet simple item. The treasured item of both the gentleman and scholar. The farmer and the lawyer.
The working class and the rich. The pipe cares not your profession or wealth; it is a trademark of the soul using it.

"The pipe nurses the suffering and aching soul, like the warm caresses of a mother comforting her child."

 

[tirefire]

If the sword is the soul of the samurai, perhaps the pipe is the soul of the poet.

. . . or the soul of a guy who just got done mowing his lawn . . .

 

[Sam Whiskey]

A pipe may not have a soul, but it can be a totem, or a familiar.

I form strong attachments to inanimate objects that are part of my life over the years.

 

[Nevaditude]

Mark Irwin wrote a book about this very thing, it is called The X Pipe.
He released it last spring at the Chicago Pipe Show. It is an EXCELLENT read and I heartily recommend it to anyone seeking a great source of pipe contemplation material or just a a fun read that covers much of the history of pipes in various cultures.
The X Pipe by Mark Irwin @ SPC <-------<-------<----click there.

 

[Nevaditude]

For those who have read the LOTR books, you will surely know a smoking pipe does have a soul, as well as the tobacco. The movies make no mention of this.
So unless you're going to tell me LOTR is inaccurate, pipes DO have a soul.

Great Comment! Yessiree, I agree that LOTR & Tolkien are hard to argue against.
THAT makes me think of another book about THAT subject! LOL-

EVERY mention of Pipe Smoking in the LOTR novels AND the movies <-------click here
It is a fun resource for these sort of conversations that come up with pipe smokers AND a nice way to discuss it with new pipers who were 'sparked" into hobby by LOTR.

 

[Waning Embers]

For what it's worth, the Native Americans at times used tobacco ceremonially.

They also smoked and chewed it habitually.

 

[Waning Embers]

For those who have read the LOTR books, you will surely know a smoking pipe does have a soul, as well as the tobacco.

Great Comment! Yessiree, I agree that LOTR & Tolkien are hard to argue against.

So the defense depends on a work of fiction and the writer of such?

 

[Nevaditude]

So the defense depends on a work of fiction and the writer of such?

Ha! Nope, not at all.
I just endorse the writing of the novels. I enjoyed them.
I like learning about traditions regarding tobaccos & pipes.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me to swing by his place with some tobacco. Apparently he partakes in an old Paiute custom regarding tobacco & the soul of departed animals. According to him when he in his local travels upon our roads comes across what some might refer to as 'road kill', he & his compatriots 'help or assist" the animals spirit along after a violent demise by placing tobacco upon the body, by sprinkling or setting it right beside. I had never heard of such a thing, but that means nothing as there is much I know not...
Anways,
I was happy to grant his request AND I don't understand but am happy to help him help them. He did make one request and that was for NO Aromatic. Just Tobacco with no topping or casing. I chuckled & told him, No surprise there and that most pipers on the forums seem to agree with the Paiutes.