Pipes and Cigarettes

[Yooper]

Hey Yooper!! Good for you Tryin' to kick a forty-year habit is damn tough; I'm proud of ya'!! :cheers: Keep puffin' that pipe ipe: FTRPLT

Thanks for the encouragement, ftrplt! With the new tobacco tax rates, quitting cigarettes will be all the more lucrative. I switched to MYO partially due to price. The new tax raises the price of a pound of MYO shag from 15-25 dollars to somewhere around 40-50 bucks! I can buy some really good pipe tobacco at that rate.

 

[gkhanna74]

I also smoked cigs before I took up pipes. Even though I smoked quality cigs (American Spirit for 4 years), I feel like I "used" cigs b/c once I quit them, my general health and mood improved as I no longer craved nicotine every hour.

 

[ruraldean]

I gave up ciggies about a month ago, and returned to pipes after a hiatus of about a year. Why did I stop smoking pipes and take up ciggies for this long? Hell, I don't know! Laziness?

A good way of giving up ciggies is to smoke a bowl of your favourite baccy, wait until the final embers have all but died, then immediately light up a cigarette. If the taste doesn't kill you it will at least wake you up to the rank inferiority of cigarettes in comparison with the good stuff.

I do know that having gone a month, I won't return to cigs.

 

[Oddball]

When Im working on dill sites I live in a 30x8 trailer with another guy working 12 on 12 off 7 days a week. If he is a smoker than I usualy smoke the pipe inside but if not I stick with RYO with either CH or PA. Most roughnecks either smoke or chew or both so its a good way to meet the hands when your working. SWMBO quit camel lights cold turkey and when Im home I roll maybe one a week. Im trying to get another job and then kock the cigs down to only when Im drinkin....so once every two months?

 

[Stefanos]

The only time I crave or use cigarettes is when gambling. I should just add booze and sex into the mix and cover all the sins at one time. :lol:

 

[vasco]

I've been smoking cigs since I was 15, so it makes about 28 years. For the last 10 years I smoked Marlboro red, before that only local blends, SG Filtro, SG Ventil, SG Gigante (almost the same taste, different sizes). The only time I was a 3 packs a day smoker was when I tried the Light version (SG Lights), so most of the time I smoked between 20 to 30 cigs a day.
I've always liked pipes, but in the same way I like good fountain pens and good watches... From far away, I use a Parker ballpoint pen and a Casio watch. But then, this Christmas my wife (she can't stand the smell of cigs) gave me a beautiful Peterson pipe.

That did it, in the next weekend I went to the mall and got a czeth tool, some pipe cleaners, coal filters and a Vanilla blend (Borkum Riff), I red a few how-to-smoke tutorials on the net. You may not believe it, but I didn't smoke even 1 cig during that weekend.
As most of the new pipe smokers I was not comfortable smoking the pipe in public, so during the next week I smoked cigs during the day and take the pipe at night, actually I was all day wanting to get back home asap. On the next weekend I got 2 more Brokum Riff blends, Highland Whiskey and Orange & Honey.
I smoked my last cig on January 23, that's over 2 months and I have no wish to came back.
Since then I smoked about 15 different drugstore blends, and started to move away from aromatics. I had opportunity to smoke a few bowls of an English type mixture and I think that Latakia is the way my taste points, but for the time being I'm smoking Amphora Red, MacBaren Mixture, Skandinavik Mixture.
Right now I'm smoking Clan but only because I'm low on cash and I still have about 1 oz left.

What did I learn with all this.

1) I didn't smoke because I was a nicotine addict. Most blends I've tried so far are low on nic and I didn't had any privation symptoms. I smoked cigs because I was used to smoke cigs, my addiction was high enough to keep me smoking but I didn't felt bad because I was getting much less nic than what I was used to.

2) Pipe smoking and cigarette smoking are two unrelated activities. You start smoking cigs because it's what your friends are doing, not because you love the smell or because you get high or something. And you keep smoking because after a few sticks Old Nic got you, and you don't feel so well if you don't smoke. On the other hand, you start smoking a pipe because you wanted to try something different, and you keep smoking it because it actually tasted good. And you find out that there is a world of different tastes and smells to be tried and you have your first TAD attack and spend hours trying to decide what blend to bye next. And then you find out that only 1 pipe is not enough because it must be let to dry or the next smoke is not as good, and then you find out that there are a world of different pipes out there and you got your first PAD attack. And then you find out that you need a place to put your pipes, and you have your first PRAD (pipe rack acquisition disorder) attack. And then you find out that you are still smoking a pipe because a) It's fun, and b) It tastes good.

I think that if you are smoking a pipe but still need a few cigs to make up for the lower nic income, then you're not getting so much pleasure from pipe smoking as I do.

 

[ruraldean]

The only time I crave or use cigarettes is when gambling. I should just add booze and sex into the mix and cover all the sins at one time. :lol:

On that basis I would smoke a third of the times that you do. I like a drink.