thewingedsloth
Junior Member
working on it
Posts: 243 
First Name: maybelater
Favorite Pipe: Todays pipe......
Favorite Tobacco: Semois mixes.
Location:
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Post by thewingedsloth on Oct 14, 2021 12:31:52 GMT -5
So as I began to comment and write reviews it dawned upon me that a clear distiction between cigarette, vaping, cigar, and pipe usage was needed.
As an ex cigarette smoker I know perfectly well how much different pipes and cigars are from cigarettes and vaping.
To me the distiction revolves around exactly why a person is engaging with tobacco in that particular form.
For me personally, I "smoked" cigarettes for nicotine only. While I did smoke non filter camels and considered them "flavorful" the true purpose was to inhale nicotine and do so quickly.
Today we all know the facts about how destructive cigarettes can be to a smoker, it is for that reason "Smokers" are shunned and have less acceptance in society today.
Frankly, my own experience with cigarettes supports that outcome and makes me agree that cigarettes are a poor method of getting nicotine.
Vaping is silly, huff on a nicotine doped fog machine...one really has a bad nicotine habit to endure such a poor method of obtaining nicotine.
Now comes pipes and cigars which I group together.
The first important topic to me is the actual method of how the nicotine is absorbed. with cigarettes it is a sudden rush of potent smoke in the lungs. fifteen minutes later the "rush" wears off leaving One feeling the need for another "Smoke". I am instructed in this by my own experience.
Pipes and cigars accumulate nicotine in a much slower process resulting in a milder exposure and no sudden drop in effect when done. My own observations show I can go without a pipe or cigar if I wish. No clawing nicotine hunger.
I often pick lower power blends to allow a relaxing flavorful bowl without a jolt of nicotine.
So what does that make me?.
My own answer is that makes me an "Enthusiast".
In life we all learn words matter. What we name something carries more importance than just what word we call it. It is those overtones I sought to change when discussing pipes and cigars.
I only cite my own experience, but within that is both extremes of being a "Smoker" and being an "Enthusiast" so I am faced with creating that distiction for myself and those who are "Enthusiasts" themselves in all commentary on those topics.
We should all endeavor to promote the difference as there is a stark divide between the two.
How many of us came to pipes and cigars looking to escape cigarettes?.
How many of us were successful?
I am such a success story. pipes and cigars helped me kick cigarettes while still allowing me to enjoy tobacco.
Oddly,I am one who likes to taste burned tobacco, it soothes me in some manner allowing time to think and enjoy a moment. Being free of a nicotine habit yet still enjoying the wonderous tastes of good tobacco is the best of both worlds to me.
Tobacco Enthusiasts are exactly that, folks who enjoy good tobacco. Most avoid high level nicotine focusing instead upon the delicate flavors offered by the Leaf.
While nicotine is part of the experience the manner in how we are exposed makes all the difference and separates us from "Smokers"
So please take time to comment on how you think I am right OR wrong!
If you agree with me then let us all go forth to change how we talk about our hobby.
Instead of 'smoke' try "bowl" instead of "puff" try "draw" instead of "Smoker" use "Enthusiast" etc..etc.. these are simplistic examples as many other option can be used.
I find it a fun pastime to figure new ways of talking about our shared interest to help focus on the facts and avoid old tired stereotypes about tobacco use.
By attempting to change just ONE word used to describe our community we can help place pipes and cigars properly within society.
That place is as a Hobby. exactly the same as any other Hobby. Some folks knit or build wooden boats and some burn tobacco leaves and some do both.
It is our duty to promote our Hobby for ourselves and for those who should be 'having a bowl" instead of a cigarette. We need to make sure regulatory agencies recognize the distinction and support those who have influenced those agencies in regard to the factual details of pipes and cigars over cigarettes and vaping.
I hope this thread begins a good conversation as I know our members have many insights to share!
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Post by peteguy on Oct 14, 2021 13:44:29 GMT -5
I chew cope for nicotine. I smoke a pipe for a relaxing and peaceful experience. So much going on in the world that I find a nice getaway is great medicine. I have chosen the pipe for this. I have smoked cigars and they were a close second. All of the other nicotine methods have no interest to me or I lost interest (nasal snuff being the one I have tried the most).
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Post by Plainsman on Oct 14, 2021 16:13:37 GMT -5
Good luck with the regulatory agencies. Meanwhile, I enjoyed your essay. I suppose I, too, am an enthusiast, or at least an appreciator. I have always loved the smell of tobacco— the robust earthiness of it. I started smoking at 18 with unfiltered Camels, Lucky Strikes, Pall Malls, etc, and smoked all through college and grad school. Even now the memory of those days reverberates pleasantly. I smoked until 1985, when I quit cold turkey. I had quit a few times earlier— but in Mark Twain's sense when he said "Quitting smoking is easy. I have done it hundreds of times." In the 60s I had changed over to pipes. But when I found myself in a high-stress job I found the rituals and gear of pipes to be obtrusive and time-consuming and began to add the cigarettes once again. But when I realized I was inhaling both the cigarettes AND the pipes I knew it was time to call an end to it and, in the said '85, I packed it all in. This held until 2020 when I accidentally found a humidor from "back then." The tobacco was old but so richly scented that I decided to try the pipe once more. I'm now pretty much at peace with that decision. I have a nice accumulection of quality pipes and a tobacco I enjoy, while slowly trying alternatives and additions. I enjoy the contemplation it encourages, the "slowness" it demands, the tastefulness and artistry of the implements, and of course the holy tobacco, both lit and unlit— a kind of communion with the Great Spirit.
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thewingedsloth
Junior Member
working on it
Posts: 243
First Name: maybelater
Favorite Pipe: Todays pipe......
Favorite Tobacco: Semois mixes.
Location:
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Post by thewingedsloth on Oct 15, 2021 10:53:30 GMT -5
Regulations seem to follow public opinion generally speaking which creates a need to keep pushing the difference in use cases.
The positive connection with tobacco has been ruined by Big Tobacco.
Who needs folks to have a "smoke" and instantly "need" another?
Who benefits from the person who wakes up, drives five miles to a store for a pack of "Smokes" in pajamas before they had breakfast or even coffee? Big Tobacco.
Who pushed the negative boundries of tobacco use so far as to have terms like "chain smoker" applied to customers?.. etc..etc..
The search for profits led to the need for regulation as the un-natural chemicals and fibers from filters coupled with a frenetic advertising program took a toll on folks health and lives.
Rightly so, regulation became needed.
Regulators even seem to be able to understand some distiction between cigarettes and pipes as they have given some relief in comparision.
Helps to have a lot of high power folks liking pipes and cigars I say.
So faced with the truth that tobacco in general has become vilified by the actions of corporate greed, we are left few options but we do have some.
One powerful option is vernacular. Language rules the waking mind and it is surprizingly easy to instantiate ideas with words.
Our task is quite simple, just tell the truth.
Truth has a way of touching our living minds and souls. Truth rings in a way when spoken that all resonate with it.
In our case an example might be someone knows about an old person who enjoys a pipe. To them grandpa smoked a pipe but he was "grandpa" not a "smoker" and he lived to a ripe old age giving credence to our contention that pipes are not destructive to health and in fact create moments that contribute to well being.
One convert down, just a few million more to go.
My premise is our truth has been forgotten except to those for whom tobacco is sacred.
The rest have been damaged by Big Tobacco either by using those unhealthy products or developing mindsets around tobacco from those negative outcomes.
Language is our "Ace in the Hole" change it and we change perception, change perception and we change Public Opinion, change public opinion and regulations follow.
But yes, we do have quite a task.
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Post by Ronv69 on Oct 15, 2021 12:33:30 GMT -5
I guess I'm just a pipe smoker. If I go for a month without a pipe, it isn't the end of the world. I enjoy smoking a pipe like I enjoy a book or listening to a vinyl record. I enjoy my pipe collection and I enjoy trying different blends. I don't walk around with a pipe in my mouth or smoke in town at this time.
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Post by sperrytops on Oct 15, 2021 14:39:53 GMT -5
I figure, once the smoke comes out of the pipe, you're a smoker.
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rastewart
Junior Member
Posts: 360
First Name: Rich
Favorite Pipe: Freehands, bent bulldogs, and the incomparable Peterson 303
Favorite Tobacco: Mac Baren's Scottish Blend (Mixture), C&D Mountain Camp, C&D Bayou Morning
Location:
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Post by rastewart on Oct 15, 2021 17:32:22 GMT -5
I agree with you about the differences in the different ways of experiencing tobacco and nicotine. As to terminology, I think Elvis has left the barn, and what we call our doings is not going to change the opinion of other individuals, let alone legislators and regulators. That could be colored by the fact that I'm old, and if I'm going to learn a bunch of new words, I'd just as soon learn a new language and have something to show for it.  I do sometimes still encounter people who like the look of my pipe or the smell of my tobacco, or who are reminded of their father or grandfather. I think such favorable associations are more common for pipes than for cigarettes and probably always will be--it's a richer sensory experience, for people nearby as well as the piper themselves. Granted, such pleasant encounters are more rare than they used to be because there are far fewer public spaces where you can light up; another condition I think is here to stay.
You mention liking the taste of burning tobacco. As it happens, I was talking the other day with a friend of my own age about pipe smoking when he mentioned that he had always loved the taste of tobacco, and I said I did as well. I had a luckier start than my friend, I think: I started (in college, being kind of a late bloomer in many ways) with furtive experiments with little cigars and then with the pipes that became my abiding pleasure, and so never got into the habit of inhaling. (Tobacco, that is.) Even when I smoked the occasional cigarette during my college years, I never inhaled them, so was never drawn into an actual physical need for nicotine.
Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a ramble. For what it's worth, I'm not sure where the future of pipe smoking (and no disrespect intended, of course, by my staying with that term) is headed, but I feel more assured than I once was that there will be a future, I hope one not greatly diminished from what we have at present. And you're right, you have stimulated an interesting conversation here.
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Post by Legend Lover on Oct 15, 2021 18:21:52 GMT -5
Interesting thoughts here. I've always called what I do 'a hobby'. I wouldn't say it's a way of life, just a hobby. It's a hobby I'd love to do more of, but alas, unless I smoke while working (such sounds awesome) I have to wait until opportune weather, which can be difficult.
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Post by urbino on Oct 15, 2021 18:33:38 GMT -5
Interesting thoughts here. I've always called what I do 'a hobby'. I wouldn't say it's a way of life, just a hobby. It's a hobby I'd love to do more of, but alas, unless I smoke while working (such sounds awesome) I have to wait until opportune weather, which can be difficult. I'm in the hobby camp, as well. Smoking a pipe isn't [just] "smoking," like smoking cigarettes or even cigars. You have to make a deliberate choice about it, and go a bit out of your way to take it up, and you have to learn some skills, and then your skills and decisionmaking improve with time and experience. That's a hobby, in my book. That's how I think of it. |
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Post by trailboss on Oct 15, 2021 21:02:10 GMT -5
The legislators and bureaucrats that choose to lump all tobacco usage in one group share the same philosophical mindset. Control others, and never entertain the notion that different uses of tobacco, may have a much less harmful effect. “My body, my choice” is a term to only be applied when it suits that type of person.
I can go for weeks or months without Jonesin’ for a smoke, I enjoy it immensely, but it has no hooks in me like cigarettes do to the smoker.
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thewingedsloth
Junior Member
working on it
Posts: 243
First Name: maybelater
Favorite Pipe: Todays pipe......
Favorite Tobacco: Semois mixes.
Location:
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Post by thewingedsloth on Oct 16, 2021 18:06:49 GMT -5
A nice mix of replies so far!
In all honesty I enjoy nicotine, I simply enjoy it less and more responsibly now.
I find several uses that have stood the test of time
I find it helps digestion.
Many times after a big meal, having a strong pipe a few hours afterwards settles the stomach which if any here have had bad indigestion you know how good it feels to have it pass!
The "heady" effect can help me sleep. I have had bowls, gotten ready for bed while allowing the drowsy effect to take hold.
I would not say it is a strong effect such as a real sleep aid but adds a little something to the evening search for bed.
Calming nerves, I think we all know how nicotine works in this area.
During winter I use high nicotine blends which allow short intense bowls yet still do not inhale and have few per day. I like to stand in the sun on a crisp day with a half bowl of fine powerful burley. But filling a bowl like that in the evening? no way!. That is the power of Pipes (and cigars), they give control back to the person.
Instead of an addiction there is comfort. I do not have to load a pipe to get through a day.
Loading a bowl makes the day nicer, a bit more pleasant.
I supposed that is the source of my evangelic-esque fervor to have pipes put back into the proper place in our culture. I see too many folks proving our hobby is wholesome and beneficial to us and we need to gather together to bring the tradition forward.
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chasingembers
Senior Member
Posts: 1,909
First Name: Duane
Favorite Pipe: My Growing J. Everett Collection, Fifteen Day Bruce Weaver Set, Meerschaums, Oguz Simsek Skulls
Favorite Tobacco: Black Frigate,Solani Silver Flake, Yenidje Highlander, Angler's Dream, Watch City Slices, Salty Dogs, Mephisto, Ennerdale Flake, Rich Dark Honeydew, 1792 Flake
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Post by chasingembers on Oct 18, 2021 8:59:08 GMT -5
Smoker
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JimK
Junior Member
"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light".
Posts: 181
First Name: Jim
Favorite Pipe: Canadian
Favorite Tobacco: almost any Virginia/Perique blend
Location:
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Post by JimK on Oct 18, 2021 12:18:43 GMT -5
I enjoyed the OP's essay. I've never been a cigarette smoker. I tried them twice. First time was when I found an unopened pack of menthols. I hated them, and threw the rest of the pack away into the trash. The second time I thought of rolling my own. That was a sloppy mess. And I hated the aroma, and the flat, nothing taste. I quickly went back to my pipe.
I was 23 years old when I took up the pipe. I quit cold turkey once in my early 30s for maybe a year or so. I met an acquaintance who had just lit up his pipe with this glorious English blend. The aroma of the latakia was unmistakable. I went back to my pipes and tobacco.
While I enjoy cigars, I find them too expensive to keep on hand. So I don't purchase them very often. That makes me an enthusiast, I guess. I enjoy a bowl as a break from computers, practicing guitar, working on shop projects, and especially around the camp fire. It's a way of relaxing, and just letting my imagination drift where it will. There's nothing like the aroma of pipe tobacco, in the tin, humidor, or alight.
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Post by daveinlax on Oct 18, 2021 15:03:29 GMT -5
I’m an Enthusiastic Pipe and Cigar Smoker. I’m happiest when I have a pipe or cigar in hand. I also love the hobby part, collecting pipes, interacting with my fellow collectors and the guys sitting in the cigar lounge. We also enjoy pipe and cigar related travel, seeking smoke filled fun at locations across the country!  |
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Post by instymp on Oct 18, 2021 16:54:22 GMT -5
Smoker
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rocket
New Member
Posts: 54
Location:
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Post by rocket on Oct 20, 2021 18:19:52 GMT -5
I'm a smoker, smoked those coffin nails from about 1965 to about 2014. Also off and on a pipe from about 1970 until 2014. Since 2014 just my pipe. But to get a nic fix while working have to have som Longhorn longcut between the cheek and gum.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2021 10:00:26 GMT -5
I am an enthusiast. A nicotine enthusiast.
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Post by Plainsman on Oct 24, 2021 13:24:49 GMT -5
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Post by Plainsman on Oct 24, 2021 13:54:38 GMT -5
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Post by trailboss on Oct 24, 2021 16:29:24 GMT -5
The quote that starts with: "I don't want any of your statistics; I took your whole batch and lit my pipe with it” Pure gold. It needs to be sent to every bureaucrat and politician that thinks that it is their job to protect us from ourselves… their aim is to rule over others, there certainly is no noble action on their part. |
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Post by pepesdad1 on Oct 24, 2021 18:57:28 GMT -5
I smoke...therefor I am.
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I do sometimes still encounter people who like the look of my pipe or the smell of my tobacco, or who are reminded of their father or grandfather. I think such favorable associations are more common for pipes than for cigarettes and probably always will be--it's a richer sensory experience, for people nearby as well as the piper themselves. Granted, such pleasant encounters are more rare than they used to be because there are far fewer public spaces where you can light up; another condition I think is here to stay.
