That's like asking "do we breath air?" I smoke, therefore I am. I am, therefore I smoke? Southerner by grace of God! Just don't look like one..
Why Did you Start Smoking a Pipe, and Why Do You Still?
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My parents both chain smoked when I was a kid. I hated it.
Then, when I was 13, my friend and I bought a pack of smokes and dove in. At that point, it seemed almost natural.
In the army, late 80's one could get a CARTON of generics at the commissary for just under $6, so I kept puffing away. Mandated daily physical training allowed me to skirt the more immediate effects for a long time.
After the service, when I had to pay civilian prices, I switched to hand rolled smokes, Drum and American Spirit.
After 30 years, the second half without the intense physical activity, the effects began catching up to me. I began inserting filters when the angina pains began, but I was beginning to see the writing on the wall.
Vaping had gained much ground and I looked into it. I went to an overpriced shop staffed by a knowledgeable owner who helped me to find a vape device suitable for tobacco replacement therapy.
After a false start or two, I made the transition. Within a month or two, the chest pains subsided and my blood pressure dropped a few points. I could climb stairs again without feeling like poo. I could even smell things again (not ALWAYS benefit...)
With cigarettes, I had to have one every hour or so or else I'd be a crank in withdrawal. With the vape, even with high nicotine levels, I found myself sitting it down for longer and longer between uses. I determined that the nicotine was not nearly as addictive as the cumulative cocktail of whatever big tobacco had been selling me.
I did that for 2 1/2 years.
One form of vape juice is made with an extraction from real tobacco, to get the natural tobacco flavors instead of some chemist's interpretation. I began looking into that, which led me to buy a small box of cigars from P&C. Soon after my P&C order was the ordeal where P&C changed their website and caused a run of customer service errors. They sent blanket $50 coupons to everyone who had ordered during a particular window of time, which included me.
With $50 to blow and no real plan, I decided to try a pipe. i bought a tiny Baraccini "pocket pipe" and some John Cotton's tins. I was immediately taken in by the array of flavors and overall experience of the pipe.
Like many, I ended up here in seeking self improvement and the rest of you have suffered the consequences ever since....
View attachment 154007
Then, when I was 13, my friend and I bought a pack of smokes and dove in. At that point, it seemed almost natural.
In the army, late 80's one could get a CARTON of generics at the commissary for just under $6, so I kept puffing away. Mandated daily physical training allowed me to skirt the more immediate effects for a long time.
After the service, when I had to pay civilian prices, I switched to hand rolled smokes, Drum and American Spirit.
After 30 years, the second half without the intense physical activity, the effects began catching up to me. I began inserting filters when the angina pains began, but I was beginning to see the writing on the wall.
Vaping had gained much ground and I looked into it. I went to an overpriced shop staffed by a knowledgeable owner who helped me to find a vape device suitable for tobacco replacement therapy.
After a false start or two, I made the transition. Within a month or two, the chest pains subsided and my blood pressure dropped a few points. I could climb stairs again without feeling like poo. I could even smell things again (not ALWAYS benefit...)
With cigarettes, I had to have one every hour or so or else I'd be a crank in withdrawal. With the vape, even with high nicotine levels, I found myself sitting it down for longer and longer between uses. I determined that the nicotine was not nearly as addictive as the cumulative cocktail of whatever big tobacco had been selling me.
I did that for 2 1/2 years.
One form of vape juice is made with an extraction from real tobacco, to get the natural tobacco flavors instead of some chemist's interpretation. I began looking into that, which led me to buy a small box of cigars from P&C. Soon after my P&C order was the ordeal where P&C changed their website and caused a run of customer service errors. They sent blanket $50 coupons to everyone who had ordered during a particular window of time, which included me.
With $50 to blow and no real plan, I decided to try a pipe. i bought a tiny Baraccini "pocket pipe" and some John Cotton's tins. I was immediately taken in by the array of flavors and overall experience of the pipe.
Like many, I ended up here in seeking self improvement and the rest of you have suffered the consequences ever since....
View attachment 154007
I started with piping as a relaxation technique and also due to childhood memories of the delicious smell of rum and maple tobacco wafting through the hallways of my primary school (shows you how long ago that was haha) and yes... It still provides me with just as much relaxation if not more than I originally hoped it would.
I've been smoking cigars, since the 1990s, more or less. Pipa I think I've been smoking for about three years, I don't remember exactly. The same thing happened to me in the same years, with wine and liquors. In the army when I was seventeen, there were only cigarettes, and other natural and synthetic crap, equally dangerous and very addictive, you know what I mean. Luckily I didn't try that shit, only cigarettes, which I hated after just one puff. Influenced by the fact that my father smoked cigars and pipe tobacco. Having been visiting gyms was no excuse to smoke a good rockets, habanos, from the Canary Islands, from the country, or another cigar from hell itself. And smoke it alone, with family or friends. I still like them, as from the first day. I hope that my health will continue to give me the opportunity to smoke for many years to come. A golden time to store large quantities of tobacco, wine and liquors
I started because I needed a way to spend more money I don't have. 
No but really, I enjoy solitary hobbies, and I enjoy experimenting with flavor (I do it all the time with barbecuing). There's a lot there that's appealing to me, like that it's equal parts art and science. I also like to sit on my back porch in quiet contemplation/meditation.
Pipe smoking just naturally fits like a glove with my other interests and personality.
I think the biggest draws for why I got into it though were definitely the flavor exploration and that it's a very relaxing hobby to have.
No but really, I enjoy solitary hobbies, and I enjoy experimenting with flavor (I do it all the time with barbecuing). There's a lot there that's appealing to me, like that it's equal parts art and science. I also like to sit on my back porch in quiet contemplation/meditation.
Pipe smoking just naturally fits like a glove with my other interests and personality.
I think the biggest draws for why I got into it though were definitely the flavor exploration and that it's a very relaxing hobby to have.
While my folks both smoked cigs, remnants of Dad's jazz band involvement, I never enjoyed them. As a teen working on farms I used chewing tobacco a lot (you'd better not have fire in your mouth while hauling hay).
I took up pipe smoking in 1968, found it tasty and relaxing, and I've never looked back.
For me, the wide range of flavors available to the pipe smoker is fascinating. Occasional cigars-good ones-are the only other tobacco vices I have.
I took up pipe smoking in 1968, found it tasty and relaxing, and I've never looked back.
For me, the wide range of flavors available to the pipe smoker is fascinating. Occasional cigars-good ones-are the only other tobacco vices I have.
I have an intrest in learning about and trying new tobacco. I love all forms of tobacco and use a couple of forms daily. I tend to lean more towards cigarettes naturally, but tobacco is much better enjoyed any other way.
I force myself to slow down and enjoy pipes, cigars, chews, and dips.. It's much easier to get your nicotine fix with a cigarette shot right to the lungs, but it's not as enjoyable. I've dabbled in nasal snuff, its a rush.. Its also a mess.
I also believe that pipes are the lesser of the evils health wise.. call it my retirement plan.
Today there's a constant barrage of signs and commercials that claim "there is not safer tobacco"... But people with good sense would realize that inhaling a condensed and altered form of tobacco (cigarettes) into your lungs is more unhealthy than blowing a little pipe tobacco smoke through your nostrils.
All tobacco is a bad idea kids.. but it ain't what they say it is.
There's no doubt about it though, I'm still in it for a drug.. Nicotine.
I force myself to slow down and enjoy pipes, cigars, chews, and dips.. It's much easier to get your nicotine fix with a cigarette shot right to the lungs, but it's not as enjoyable. I've dabbled in nasal snuff, its a rush.. Its also a mess.
I also believe that pipes are the lesser of the evils health wise.. call it my retirement plan.
Today there's a constant barrage of signs and commercials that claim "there is not safer tobacco"... But people with good sense would realize that inhaling a condensed and altered form of tobacco (cigarettes) into your lungs is more unhealthy than blowing a little pipe tobacco smoke through your nostrils.
All tobacco is a bad idea kids.. but it ain't what they say it is.
There's no doubt about it though, I'm still in it for a drug.. Nicotine.
I love the taste of tobacco and the beautiful grain of pipes.
At first, I just thought it looks cool to smoke pipes.
Now, I enjoy tobacco and whisky with my drinking buddies.
Cheers!
At first, I just thought it looks cool to smoke pipes.
Now, I enjoy tobacco and whisky with my drinking buddies.
Cheers!
My dad use to smoke a pipe when he was in the Air Force and I was in Kindergarten. In my teens I found his old pipes and a leather pouch of tobacco and the aroma was distinct. Then in college I started smoking cigars with my dad and brother. During summers we would sit smoking and watching over the river that ran behind his place. But he never picked up the pipe. I eventually quit cigars because I got into mountain biking. My dad passed 7 years ago and for a few years since I would smoke a "stogie", he use to say, with my brother as a comemeration, but he eventually stopped smoking altogether. So 3 years ago I popped into a tobacco shop a picked up a corn cob pipe and a blend that had the same aroma (that I now know was just probably Captain Black or something primarily Black Cavendish) that I remembered. I would smoke the pipe maybe once or twice a month off and on for a couple of years, out of sight from my wife who is an ex chain smoker (out of respect). However, this spring she suggested I get a new pipe for my birthday and have just fell head first down the rabbit hole since, buying interesting pipes and blends. Now i'm working on getting a couple coworkers into the hobby as well.
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I Started because I was looking for something to help me slow down. To have at least one time in the day that makes me stop and just enjoy the moment.
I had no idea I would like it so much and end up having a bunch of pipes and tobacco and checking out this forum every day!
I had no idea I would like it so much and end up having a bunch of pipes and tobacco and checking out this forum every day!
One day, I just picked up a pipe and thought that smoking it would be awesome. Turns out I was right. True story!
I got my first pipe and pipe tobacco while attending a conference in Washington DC. I taught parenting classes to adults and wanted to teach outside and smoke with my students who all smoked. I then found out how much I loved smoking a pipe full of perique. I started smoking at 62 years of age. I love everything about it.
I feel like you just called us stupid. You sure is lucky we're afraid of dictionaries otherwise we'd look those big words up.... Scent? Growing? Thoughtful? I wish I had some way to use a different word but I guess I'll have to go without a synonym and say you don't know how lucky you are.
I agree with that loving the scent of pipe tobacco. I remember smelling something wonderful and realizing it was the smoke coming out of the man over that way. I honestly felt like he was someone who knew these weird wonderful secret things including the joy of a pipe.
That's awesome. While I love the fact we have these great websites it does feel like a certain magic has been lost somewhere in the march towards an increasingly transactional society.
I strongly feel that one of things that does make pipe smokers unique is that we do have to earn it. You can't just stick it in your face light it up and get it "right". You have to actually be dedicated and stubborn to get where we all are with it.
It still is. I know because "chicks" have told me as much. Often ones that wouldn't even see me in many circumstances. I've said it before the only difference I've noticed is, it's less that reminds me of my grandpa and more I am curious about taking up the hobby myself.
So how well did ludes and pipes go together?
I wanted to stop smoking cigs. Now I smoke both!
One day I'll actually try to quit cigs.
One day I'll actually try to quit cigs.
Never tried them, so I can't tell you. Outside of a bit of boo, I didn't do any drugs. Saw too many people get really messed up by them.
Most people haven't though I've heard very varied stories about them from friends that came of age in the 1970's.
