Your Piping Joys

[hauntedmyst]

In counter to the pet peeves, what are you joys in pipe smoking? We all have things we love about it or we wouldn't be doing it. So what are some of yours?

• I love pipes. Even more so than tobacco. Yes the one is made for the other but to me pipes, specifically briar, can be extraordinarily beautiful. There is a warmth and depth in the wood whether sand blasted or smooth that soothes me and brings a comfort. I love that though I collect the same maker and the same shapes, no two are ever alike.
• I love the quiet time of contemplation the pipe affords. One of my favorite things to do is to sit and read while enjoying a pipe. The pipe enhances the experience with the wafting of the smoke and the warm, rich flavors of the tobacco like nothing else. I can see why so many great writers smoked a pipe.
• I love sharing it with friends, though there are few that get it. I love sharing tobacco with each other and opening each other up to new blends. More so I love that the conversation inevitably turns more thoughtful when we're all smoking a pipe.
• On forums like these, I like seeing others collections even though they have pipes I rarely want to own. We've all seem shanez, embers, brobs, alaskas, forcioris and so many others growing collections and I'm so glad I get to see and appreciate them. What an amazing span of creativity their is in the pipe making community.

I'm sure I'll think of more but I'm getting cold sitting outside now.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

Waking up in the morning, hot coffee and pipe.
Having a pipe in the evening before bed.
Sitting on my porch in the chair having a pipe.
Sitting on a log in the woods watching wildlife having a pipe.
Feeling the pipe bowl warm my hand on a cold day.
Hanging out with a pal playing chess, sipping single malt, smoking a pipe.

 

[gervais]

I love the sight of smoke swirling around me. The taste of tobacco is delicious as is the smell of it in the tin. It forces me to slow down a little in my life, which is hard for me to do most days. I love almost everything about it, except the dirty looks my wife gives me.

 

[Ctbill]

I love the quiet down time that is my pipe smoking time. Weekend afternoons on the patio or deck, weekday evenings down in my “swamp” (basement). Slow down, reflect, contemplate. Music mostly. Driving home from work sometimes (with music). Walking my dog sometimes - a slow meander.
And of course, I love the vast array of complex or simple flavors of pipe tobacco! They seem to be never ending...
And other than an occasional dog, I’m flying solo while smoking my pipes.

 

[olkofri]

I love pipes in themselves—well at least the shapes I like.

 

[JMcQ]

I love the ceremony of choosing a pipe and a tobacco that's calling to me at that moment.
I love the quiet time with my dog and my own thoughts.

 

[odobenus]

I love breaking up a flake. I could do that all day. Maybe I would love the fold-and-stuff method but I'll never try because I love rubbing out flakes too much.
And really, this applies to any part of the choosing-smelling-preparing-packing process. I may possibly like it even more than the smoking.

 

[Bowie]

I love the feeling of that first puff after lighting a pipe. If I'm going to be doing something else while smoking and not sitting down to just relax, that is still the briefest moment of relaxation.

 

[mso489]

I love the dawning of the thought that the 40-year-old back bench pipe I packed and am puffing is, at the moment, the best damned pipe in the entire history of the world.

 

[bullet08]

this is my pipe! there are many like it, but this is mine!..

just enjoy sitting on front porch and letting the sun warm me up. nothing like smoking and drifting off into a world of my own

 

[olkofri]

Forgot: I also love sniffing my blends out the tin and from the jars, buying new blends, and smoking in public on World No Tobacco Day.

 

[trouttimes]

I love smoking while I'm driving across the open country.

 

[elessar]

I love that 12 people have posted, so far, and I agree with each and every post. So much to love about pipes and tobacco.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

My joy comes from the meditation, how the flavors and aromas take your mind to a different place. I smoke cigarettes and cigars, but the pipe is more peaceful. It really forces you to be patient.

 

[hauntedmyst]

I love breaking up a flake. I could do that all day.

And crumble cakes! I love breaking up crumble cakes.

 

[Marindas]

Mine is my weekend mornings pipe with a tumbler of Irish breakfast tea sitting on the patio which faces south listening to the birds and enjoying the quiet. The rest of the family is still asleep so I don't feel like I need to rush. Very relaxing and I'm always a little sad when it comes to the end.

 

[warren]

Being a wee bit asocial I enjoy the space which opens up when I light up.

 

[Idahojoe]

I can agree with the OP's first 3 Joy's. However as for the last, I must dissent. While I certainly enjoy viewing the magnificent pipe collections of my pipe smoking brothers; when I do, I almost immediately find myself on Ebay searching for a new pipe.

 

[docrameous]

I have two pipe smoking joys that are a bit of a paradox...

First the joy of alone time. To smoke a pipe, I need to carve out at least an hour with no interruptions and so the ritual of sitting alone with the pipe, tobacco and smoke is something that feels fiercely private and very relaxing at the same time. Even if I extend this to a day on the river with my fly rod, the river, the chase with the fish and the headspace are a potent combination to freeze time in face of the frantic pace of life.

Second the joy of sharing a smoke. I love to share a pipe smoking session with my son in law who took up the pipe. When we smoke, we have some of our best conversations we have ever had - tobacco, pipes, work, life, stupidity, etc. Also sometimes we have our best non-conversations we have ever had - we don't say a word, but we sit in silence as we smoke and enjoy our libation of choice. As a pipe smoker, he gets it. Priceless.

Unfortunately, my son in law is currently the only pipe smoker I can do this with and we only see each other one or two times a year. I suppose that is why I keep coming back to this forum as I enjoy the interaction with others that get it.