Schmokin'

I bought a pipe.  No, not a “bowl.”  I threw out those things a few years ago.  A tobacco pipe.  My pastor made me do it.  Not really.  But he DID facilitate the purchase, accompanying me to the pipe shop and pointing out the different styles, materials, features, and considerations.  Very helpful.  It’s a rather handsome piece of work – I speak now of the pipe, not my pastor (but he’s not so bad, I guess) – and I’ve packed it a couple times now, for evening smokes on the patio.   

Pipes are rather conspicuous.  You can’t light one up without being noticed.  I mean aside from the process of filling the bowl, which is way more involved than taking a cigarette out of a pack, when you whip out a pipe, people notice.  These days, pipe smoking is a habit peculiar to a minority of people, at least around these parts.  So not only will you be noticed, you’ll get looks that say, “huh!”.  Heck, I’ve even looked upon pipe smokers and thought to myself, “well, who does he think HE is?” while secretly wishing I was cool and refined enough to smoke one myself.  Being neither cool nor refined, I feel rather conspicuous smoking a pipe even around other pipe smokers.

I’m still trying to figure out why I’m drawn to pipe smoking.  I used to smoke cigarettes, but having given them up years ago, I am always thankful that they are not a habit for me anymore.  I look at cigarette smokers and think, “man, they need to give that up.”  Years ago, I also smoked cigars once in awhile.  I have no attraction to that habit anymore, and find them rather obnoxious.  But pipes…well, they’re different, somehow.  Smoking a pipe isn’t about getting that fix.  I don’t think you’ll find any pipe smokers that are all jittery and crabby cuz they’re jonesin’ for a bowlful of aromatic tobacco.  And you can’t really take a 4 minute pipe break anyway.  Pipes tend to be more about taking time for reflection, enjoyment of the long pause, less about consumption and more about experience.  Almost like enjoying incense, but doing so more directly than just having a stick burning on the other side of the room.

What I DO know is my wife is not a fan of my pipe smoking.  And I know that if I’m smoking at home, it will be on the patio.  But that’s ok because that’s a great place to enjoy the evening. Well, unless it’s raining.

Oh, what kind of pipe?  It's a Design Berlin (db). 

Comments

[Joe Thorn]

Ahhhh, the pipe. The small cultural artifact that does indeed distinguish a man from a beast. I will celebrate with you over at my blog later today.

[Crissy]

Which one of those beauts on the db page do you have?

[a11en]

Aha! I found another pipe-smoker- a Christian, musician, and liker of Ray LaMontagne. Excellent!! :) What types of tobacco are you enjoying right now? English/balkans? VA's? VA/Per's?

Sorry this was posted on such an old post- hopefully you'll see it in your comments section.

If you want to go in for a bit of a treat- check out Hearth and Home tobaccos sold in NY by Pipes and Cigars dot com. If you don't know what to get, call up the shop and ask if you can chat with Russ. He's the blender. It appears he has a God-given talent for blending tobaccos- as he can seem to do no wrong.

Very big cheers!!

[Also, checkout the newsgroup alt.smokers.pipes- they're a fantastic group of individuals that can help with all nuances of smoking a pipe.]

BTW, a tobacco pipe is an excellent addition to someone already prone to long bouts of contemplation. :) (I've never experienced being addicted, BTW- I suspect addiction comes from those nasty cigarettes- something else they're doing with them... it doesn't appear to be only nicotine- as nicotine replacement therapies are known to be quite useless to those trying to stop smoking.)