Your Journey With Nicotine

[PApiper63]

It is interesting to me to find out how most guys came to smoke a pipe. I have always had a desire for nicotine. When my wife married me over 40 years ago, I smoked cigarettes… Marlbor reds. I always had a pack in my front pocket. She knew what she was getting and never said a word about it. I gave up the cigarettes in my 30s and took up cigar smoking. Because of the nature cigar smoke I mostly smoked on the porch or in my shop, but would occasionally smoke a cigar in the house… During a big game, after a big meal… That sort of thing. Again, my wife never said a word about it and when she wanted to sit at the table and talk after we ate, she would often bring me a cigar with my coffee. She is very good to me.

A couple of years ago, I took up pipe smoking mostly for the cost savings. One of the added benefits is that my wife likes the smell of my pipe so more often than not I smoke in the house.

I smoked pipes almost exclusively for a couple of years, but recently started to re-introduce the occasional cigar. I found that I missed them.

I'm interested in your journey with nicotine and how your family tolerates it.

I started smoking in the 70s when nicotine was not the big evil that it is today. I'm sure my journey would be quite different as a young married man today.

 

[BingBong]

Disque Bleu at 13, against all authorities. It went from there. Cigarettes, cigars, pipe. Now almost exclusively pipe; apart from utility RYO - the last factory-made I liked were Senior Service (untipped), until they were stopped by the killjoys in the UK. I am resentful of this.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I took a similar path, but I still smoke a few cigarettes too.

It's rarely mentioned how pipe smoking is a thrifty pursuit. It is though, and that makes it even better.

 

[Sparcdude]

I started at 17 - picked it up in the Army because there were long periods of doing nothing (hurry up and wait). After 40+ years, I just said “I’m tired of cigarettes and the stupid prices” and quit cold turkey. But I had been smoking a pipe off and on during that time, with the occasional cigar.

I’m a pipe smoker and one daily cigar smoker now. Don’t miss the cigs at all and it’s actually cheaper than the cigs, even though I have a hard time convincing the wife about that at times!

I’m at the point now where I seem to have a pipe in my mouth all the time. Whether it’s always lit or not is another story!

 

[Danimal92sport]

…I started smoking in the 70s when nicotine was not the big evil that it is today. I'm sure my journey would be quite different as a young married man today.

I think you’re correct here, at least with respect to my experience. I was born in the early 80s in to a different world wrt/how tobacco was viewed. My parents smoked cigarettes but were in a constant battle to stop by the late 90s. I smoked here and there, but very rarely other than one summer when i was 19 and got close to making a full-time habit of it. I’ve always liked cigarettes, but my wife does not accept them and there are few places I’ve ever been able to smoke. This has changed my smoking trajectory such that I’ve never been a ‘smoker’ but would have been if I’d have been born 10 or more years earlier (and married someone different ). I have had a yearly tradition where I buy a box of cigarettes and it generally takes me (and my sister-in-law) a year to smoke the whole pack.

I picked up the pipe only recently and absolutely love the hobby for so many reasons. My wife does not love my new-found hobby, which will probably keep it at bay for the most part for the rest of my life.

If not for the time and place I grew up and the woman I fell in love with, I’m sure I’d be a full-time nicotine hound. Whether this is a good or bad thing is a matter of personal opinion. My personal feeling; after having a brush with alcohol abuse over the last year - I’m thankful that conditions I find myself in will keep my habitual nature at bay when it comes to smoking.

 

[AroEnglish]

It is interesting to me to find out how most guys came to smoke a pipe. I have always had a desire for nicotine. When my wife married me over 40 years ago, I smoked cigarettes… Marlbor reds. I always had a pack in my front pocket. She knew what she was getting and never said a word about it. I gave up the cigarettes in my 30s and took up cigar smoking. Because of the nature cigar smoke I mostly smoked on the porch or in my shop, but would occasionally smoke a cigar in the house… During a big game, after a big meal… That sort of thing. Again, my wife never said a word about it and when she wanted to sit at the table and talk after we ate, she would often bring me a cigar with my coffee. She is very good to me.

A couple of years ago, I took up pipe smoking mostly for the cost savings. One of the added benefits is that my wife likes the smell of my pipe so more often than not I smoke in the house.

I smoked pipes almost exclusively for a couple of years, but recently started to re-introduce the occasional cigar. I found that I missed them.

I'm interested in your journey with nicotine and how your family tolerates it.

I started smoking in the 70s when nicotine was not the big evil that it is today. I'm sure my journey would be quite different as a young married man today.

What a wife!

 

[The Libertine]

I smoked cigarettes when I was a teen. I was into art and it seemed to go together. Took up pipe smoking in my 20's as a way to avoid the high price of a carton of cigarettes. Now I smoke cigars occasionally.

 

[Roach1]

I still vape for the nicotine but am trying to smoke my pipes much more. I smoke alot of OJK and Haunted Bookshop Cake in addition to HU White Horses, Directors Cut and Louisiana Broken that provide a good shot of nicotine. I wish I could smoke anyplace other than the kitchen.

 

[kcghost]

I didn't smoke cigarettes even in the Army. When I got out at 22, I knew I wanted to smoke something. Started with a little cigar called Swisher Sweets and it began my ascent up the tobacco chain.

 

[warren]

Apparently my brain loved the first jolt at age twelve. It was a Pall Mall. Pipes and cigars added over the years.

 

[crowbait]

My great grandfather smoked a pipe and I always loved how pipes looked and the how relaxation it seemed to be for him, kicked back in his living room chair, having a bowl of Prince Albert. I was always interesting in smoking but never really partook save for a few snuck cigarretes or Backwoods in my young teens.

Fast forward to my first year in univeristy, unable to sit around long enough to read any of the textbooks, and desparately needing to. Recalling my great grandfather and his relaxed state, I went to my local hole in the wall tobacconist (Shefflied and Sons back then) grabbed a bent Brigham Voyageur (which is still one my favorites some 18yrs later) and bag of Brigham branded Black Cavendish tobacco (still hooked on qaulity Black Cavendish today).

Tending to a pipe was the ticket to quiet my mind and hands enough to focus on reading and got me through University. If it wasn't for pipes, I wouldn't have my my degrees.

 

[SoupCan]

I smoked my first cigarette around age 12, stolen from the pack of a relative. My cousin and I would swipe cigarillos from my uncle throughout our teen years and I would smoke the occasional cigarette at high school parties as I could get my hands on them. Turning 18, I spent a lot of time in my senior year of high school hanging out at a local cigar lounge with a friend to watch sports and drink beer we took from our father's fridge. The BYOB cigar lounge somehow didn't care if we weren't of drinking age as long as we bought their cigars and behaved reasonably. It was a wonderful don't ask don't tell arrangement.

After graduating I went to Alaska to go backpacking in Denali and a few other spots. To recoup the cost of the trip I had arranged a job on a salmon fishing boat on Bristol Bay. Emailing with some of the crew I was set to work with, they tipped me off that if I used tobacco I would need to carefully plan to bring a fulsome supply because every year nicotine starved fisherman who had not planned sufficiently would lower themselves to offering exorbitant prices for a pack of cigarettes or a can of dip. As an enterprising young man I decided I would bring six cartons of cigarettes in my duffel despite only being a social cigarette smoker at the time so that I might be able to sell them at a mark up. While I did manage to turn quite a profit on two or three of the cartons, I severely overestimated the potential demand for that venture and ended up being a full blown smoker upon my return having consumed most of my own stock during the fishing season.

I continued to smoke into my college years and attending university in a very high cost locale for smokers (NYC) I was introduced to the wonders of RYO cigs by some British students I had befriended. I smoked Peter Stokkebye Amsterdam Shag roll-ups for from age 19 until about a year ago when I smoked my last cigarette. I had a mind for a number of years that I needed to quit regular cigarette smoking but I still was in love with tobacco and the attenuate rituals of preparing a RYO cigarette.

I picked up a pipe for the first time about four years ago to see if I could transition to it from cigarettes while maintaining my love affair with tobacco. Well, it took three years of on again off again comittment to the pipe with relapses into cigarette smoking and some intermediate supplementation with vaping and oral nicotene packs but eventually I was able to set most of that aside and for the last year the only tobacco product I've used is pipe tobacco and cigars. It's been quite a road for me.

 

[samb]

I started smoking cigarettes when I was about 15. Then by 18 I started to be interested in cigars and began smoking those. I got my first cob when I was about 20 and some bulk store mixture but I could never get the hang of pipe smoking; burnt the hell out of my mouth and got so frustrated that it wouldn’t stay lit that I quickly gave it up. I quit cigarettes on and off a few times through the years and then finally kicked that habit when I was 26. Throughout this entire time i continued with cigars. Fast forward about 10 years and i decided to pick up my old pipe and some tobacco that I never opened to give pipe smoking another shot. I struggled quite a bit but enjoyed the flavor and really started trying to learn how to make it work. Eventually I’ve gotten to where I can really enjoy my pipe and i actually like the pipe more than cigars now.

My wife tolerates it, but doesn’t really like that I smoke. But I quit drinking and have enough other healthy habits that I guess it works.

 

[jackattack]

I started with Newports when I was around 15 and smoked (and dipped Copenhagen) like a chimney until I was in my 30's. I moved to Seattle and quit cigarettes, replacing them with Marijuana. After about 8 years of daily weed smoke I had been living in Texas for a few years and realized that it didn't get me high anymore and just kind of caused me anxiety. It's also really expensive (about 2oz per month at $180 per) and illegal.

I realized I didn't want to smoke weed anymore, I definitely wasn't going back to cigarettes, but I really like smoking. My girlfriend doesn't like the smell of cigars so I picked up a pipe. Now I'm getting in deep.

 

[PaulRVA]

Cigarettes since a teenager and pipes & cigars as well.
My late teens and twenty’s daily cigars and cigarettes.
Now pipes and occasionally a cigar.

 

[didimauw]

When I was in 8th grade, my grandpa took the men in the family on a fishing trip in Canada. We had a local guide take us to all the great spots. A heavy set native American man. For the entire 4 days, he smoked and smoked. I still remember, Players ultra lights. He made those look so amazing to my untrained mind. I knew that's what I wanted to do too.

Fast forward 3 years i was 16, my mom went to rehab, and I found her pack of smokes in the garbage. That was my time to shine. Loved every minute of it. I was able to buy them from a friend's dad for a while. And had my license, so I'd drive while we all smoked.

Then I told my parents that same year that I smoked cigarettes. My dad gave me the " well it's not healthy and you should quit, but I smoked and am not a hippocrite". My mom found out, and every day asked me if I needed cigarettes whenever she'd go to the gas station. She took it as A form of bonding between me and her I believe.

Then that year my friend started dipping and I wanted to try it. It got to a point where we were smoking and dipping at the same time.

It wasnt untill I was 23 when I saw my first ad for pipesandcigars. Com and KNEW I needed to start smoking a pipe immediately.

 

[tobakenist]

My journey started in 1965, cigs cigars and shoved them in a pipe and smoked it.

 

[dottlejockey]

I grew up in the 70's and early 80's with a family of blue-collar workers who used various forms of tobacco. I had my first chew around 14 or 15 on a jobsite and my first cheapy cigar around 16 or so. Never smoked regularly until a little later in life. I was 28 when i finally had the income to explore cigars and it was a slippery slope once i found the handmade stuff. I was shocked at the amazing flavors and went head over heels ever since. Got into pipes a couple years later (around 30) and then smoked both for the last 19 years. Lately smoking mostly pipes with the occasional cigar. Not needing to buy cigars due to a well-stocked custom humidor, not to mention plenty of accumulated pipe tobacco blends in the cellar over the years i'm now at the sweet spot. I can smoke for the next couple/few years without a single purchase, if i so choose. However, it's still fun to try new things from time to time, whether that's a boutique cigar at a family shop in Tampa or some new pipe blend of interest. One of the most constantly rewarding pursuits of a lifetime.

 

[Sig]

I dipped a bit in high school to be cool. Then quit at about 20 years old. When I joined the Army in 2001 when I was 30, a lot of guys smoked cigarettes. Yes, I joined the Army at 30 years old. I picked up long cut Copenhagen again and never put it down. Except now I exclusively use Stokers Wintergreen and Straight.
In the early 2000s I smoked cigars like a fiend. Then switched to pipes, then pipes and cigars, now mostly pipes with occasional cigars....and dip.
I never smoked cigarettes, they just didn't do it for me.

 

[bullet08]

It is interesting to me to find out how most guys came to smoke a pipe. I have always had a desire for nicotine. When my wife married me over 40 years ago, I smoked cigarettes… Marlbor reds. I always had a pack in my front pocket. She knew what she was getting and never said a word about it. I gave up the cigarettes in my 30s and took up cigar smoking. Because of the nature cigar smoke I mostly smoked on the porch or in my shop, but would occasionally smoke a cigar in the house… During a big game, after a big meal… That sort of thing. Again, my wife never said a word about it and when she wanted to sit at the table and talk after we ate, she would often bring me a cigar with my coffee. She is very good to me.

A couple of years ago, I took up pipe smoking mostly for the cost savings. One of the added benefits is that my wife likes the smell of my pipe so more often than not I smoke in the house.

I smoked pipes almost exclusively for a couple of years, but recently started to re-introduce the occasional cigar. I found that I missed them.

I'm interested in your journey with nicotine and how your family tolerates it.

I started smoking in the 70s when nicotine was not the big evil that it is today. I'm sure my journey would be quite different as a young married man today.

Have you checked to see if your wife has a life insurance with your name on it, and her as the beneficiary?