Pipe smoking health benefits?

Old News! I’m in a bad way but A big warm briar in my hand puts me right at least for awhile. I’m lucky my wife tolerates my passion for pipes and the hobby.

Exactly Zach! You can overdose on water. The article shows that pipe smoking is not the worst thing in the world.

Plainsman

"Dihydrogen monoxide:

is also known as hydroxyl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.
contributes to the "greenhouse effect".
may cause severe burns.
contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

as an industrial solvent and coolant.
in nuclear power plants.
in the production of styrofoam.
as a fire retardant.
in many forms of cruel animal research.
in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products."

It's a joke. Those are warnings about water.

Not to mention that politically correctness influences science these days. It seems like nothing has changed since Galileo.

Everything we choose to do is a risk. Answering the door, crossing the street, driving cross-country. We choose, we do, we reap the reward or the penalty. Our obsession with data sometimes distorts our judgment— asking for surety where there is none. None of us are getting out of here alive. I’m just enjoying it all while I can and tabac is part of that,

Precisely. As far as a study goes, there is just no way in hell today's zeitgeist would ever allow for a study to show that smoking tobacco can have any benefit.

Very good points, Henry. Pipe and cigar smokers can blow smoke out of the nose to incorporate the olfactory receptors as well without inhaling into the lungs. This is called either retrohaling, or snorking. When you read tobacco reviews of pipe tobacco or cigars and you see someone note the profile on the "retrohale," this is what is meant. The flavor/scent sensation overall from tasting and smelling the smoke on the exhale.

All things in moderation. I think for most pipe smokers in the modern age, pipe smoking is more of a hobby than a habit and that many folks these days do tend to only smoke one pipe in the evening after dinner somewhat in the way that a gentleman may take one glass of whiskey after dinner and this works fine for most people. I'm personally more in the camp of a traditional pipeman where if I can, I smoke many pipes all throughout the day but I don't often exceed a high of 7-8 bowls per day. I often average 3-4 pipes per day. I smoke as I wish and the cut off is based on various things, such as the time of day I've got and how busy I am with family, errands, other obligations. I also chew twist tobacco and have been known on occasions to pick up dipping snuff, snus, and chewing. Nasal snuff is too finicky for me and causes me too many allergies and after years of dabbling with that I gave that up as not worth the hassle. I tend to only smoke pipes and cigars but these days when I want a chew, I slice off some Gawith brown bogie or Rum Twist and chew a coin of that. It's much faster and harder hitting with the nicotine than slowly smoking the same twist so it can give you the nicotine spins and panic really quickly if you've not got a tolerance to chewing.

To your last point, nicotine does have anti bacterial/viral/microbial properties and at various points in the past has been used as treatment for ailments and pipe companies such as BBB of England have put out advertisements to make sure to smoke your pipe during flu seasons.

Thank you for your inputs and I agree with you on all points.

I rarely notice any nicotine effect, so that's certainly not what interests me.  It's the taste and routine and process.  "Ceremony" is too strong a word, but something between "routine" and that.

"Ritual."  There's the word!

For the most part it is a ritual with me. Outside of the pipe club meetings I rarely pack a bowl unless I have a full half hour to spend enjoying the ritual. Not always smoking the whole time, just sitting, reflecting, and enjoying the experience.

Thats why I go from three + bowls a day to one bowl a week at times.. If the weather isnt right, or if my mood isnt right, or if I just dont have time I dont partake

It is interesting to me how many of us seem to be using tobacco, and the pipe, in a way that has much in common with how the Indians used it: for thought, reflection, perhaps for decision-making, relaxation, the ‘centering’ of a ritual, and of course for the pleasure of it. Most of the images we have of Indian pipe usage show a communal setting. (See the wonderful art of Howard Terpning.) And we have our pipe clubs, perhaps not so spiritual, but still a kind of fellowship. Perhaps the ‘Indian herb’ speaks to all who use it in much the same way.