[OWK]

You should take up cheese.

It's done wonders for me. ;^]

[sola gracia]

Sure. Light up. Just remember though, smoking a pipe is like making coffee - the smell is better than the taste.

[Rodney King]

I like pipes, and most pipe tobacco smells good. The only pipe tobacco that I have had that smelled bad is Dunhill Royal Yacht.

In any event, I don't reccomend pipes for ex-smokers or people trying to quit. The problem is that, intentional or not, you will start puprposely inhaling the smoke, rather than tasting and second-hand smoking yourself like most pipe smokers do. Every smoker that I have seen smoke pipes winds up inhaling it directly. This smoke is far worse for you than cigarette smoke.

My adivice to you would be to chew Red Man. It takes a while getting used to, but you can stand around with a pouch of Red Men and a six pack of Coors and tell youreself "Yeah, I'm a tough guy" and at the same time satisfy your nicotine craving.

Of course, chewing tobacco is not that great for you either, but it is far better for you then cigarettes.

[Orblivion]

You need to kick the nicotine habbit. That's why you still crave ciggarettes. Just quit all your nicotine products cold turkey. And after 3 or 4 days you should no longer feel the effects of the nicotine cravings. Nicotine only takes a few days to leave your system. When I quit smoking I did it cold turkey. No gum or patches. And after 3 days it really wasn't all that difficult. You just have to make up your mind to do it. And then do it. :)

[jungleboy]

Go smell the clothes of a pipe-smoker before making up you mind. Stanky

[Ratatoskr]

What are those tobaccos that smell so wonderful?

Borkum Riff vanilla. My dad smoked it.

Pipe smoking has its own set of repulsive rituals having to do with cleaning and spit and so on. It also gave an uncle of mine a mouth cancer so nasty we weren't allowed to see him for the last year of his life.

[chemainus]

No nicotine at all .... I am a biochemist.... nicotine craving goes by a rule of twos and you must defeat them one at a time....each time you use any nicotine , and pipe smoke allows absorption of nicotine through the tissues of the tongue,mouth throat etc even if you do not inhale, the craving clock is reset because the nicotine recertors are replenished and SCREAM for nicotine.....since a small amount of nicotine is also stored in fat and released slowly, you get the extended cravings because the receptors are replenished....Rule of Twos for INTENSE CRAVING and you must defeat each one of them in order and if you have ANY nicotine , the craving clock is re-set.....first severe craving for nicotine is after two minutes....next is after two hours ....then two days....then two weeks...then every two months....then at two years you get the last cravings.... cold turkey is the only way... one puff starts it all over again ( second hand smoke or patches or gum or chewing tobacco or pipe or cigar are all the same)

[B Knotts]

Thank you for posting this. Just seeing this title in the Latest Posts had me ROFL.

[fourdeuce82d]

I dipped copenhagen for 20 years, then smoked for the 1.5 years- quit about a month ago. I'm *still* coughing black crap out of my lungs.

The gum works for me, but I chew 3-4 pices at a time...

[Don]

Yes

[plinker's2sense]

Slowly ease up on your daily dose of nicotine from the patches, gum, etc. They're still better than smoking because you are not getting all the tar and chemicals from tobacco products. Don't give up.

[latrans]

Anybody dumb enough to smoke better get their will in order.

[meandog]

Absolutely...but if you're going to smoke one get a good one. I recommend a Dunhill (expensive) but if that's too much for your budget Petersen pipes are good too. Steer clear of budget brands if you're a new smoker--ALL PIPES BITE A BIT...however, the better the briar the softer the bite. For tobacco, I recommend a burley-lane mixture. Steer clear of cherry, vanilla, etc. until you get adjusted to the pipe. Those sweet-smelling tobaccos have an appealing aroma but can really do a number on your tongue until you become a full-fledged pipe smoker. Welcome to the smoker's lounge!

[MoralSense]

I gave up cigarettes in the middle of a coughing fit on the tennis court in about 1988. Went home, pulled my old collection of pipes out of the closet, together with (luckily) some excellent tobacco, and have smoked only pipes and cigars since. My breathing is excellent, and I've experienced no oral troubles, other than dirty teeth. My own opinion is that mouth cancers and the like come from smoking dirty pipes, and letting nicotine juice dribble into the mouth.

All that being said, if you don't really know how to smoke a pipe, if you don't get good pipes and good tobacco, you're likely not to find it very satisfactory. Tobaccos like Borkhum Riff may smell good to the non-smoker, but they taste terrible; they're treated with sugar. Unless you can deal with a really good tobacconist (and there are very few left), you'll end up unsatisfied, with a stinging tongue, and having spent a bunch of money.

The poster above who said you'd probably end up inhaling the smoke is correct, too. I don't inhale, and feel very comfortable not inhaling. But the pipe was the first thing I ever smoked. I got onto cigarettes out of laziness.

[balrog666]

It's not really different - you have a few good puffs and the rest is just habit or addiction. You'll lose your sense of smell and start stinking up your house, clothes, car, and friends all over again. Also, you'll have to find and break in a good pipe and good ones cost money! You'll also need to buy a some pipe tobacco, a bowl tamper (packing tool), pipe lighter, bowl reamer (eventually), cork bulbs for your ashtrays (so you don't break your pipe), and another dozen items I've long since forgotten.

However, if you must have something, try a good cigar. It's easy to find a good one, tehy come in many styles and flavors, you don't have to buy but one at a time, and can enjoy it anytime. I also find it easy to wean yourself off of them. Beats a damn patch any day.

[Age of Reason]

Smoking a pipe may not prove that much healthier than smoking cigarettes.

That said, I found that often the worst smelling pipe tobacco is the best tasting.

But--and though I hate to admit it--after having tried all kinds of expensive pipe tobacco, my favorite tobacco smelled good, tasted good, and was among the cheapest--it's been so long, though, that I can't remember the brand's name. But my smoking that stuff was kinda like passing on a glass of a fine wine in favor of a glass of Gallo from a gallon jug.

Also, if you start smoking a pipe, buy a plain briar pipe--one that is not stained or varnished. Plain wood briar will darken rapidly with use, and not being varnished, the pipe will "breathe" and stay drier.

Ideally, you'll want to smoke no more than one bowl of tobacco in a pipe on any given day, giving that pipe a good 24 hours to dry before smoking it again.

Buy a pipe with NO metal parts and NO filters in the pipe stem.

Learn the proper way to break-in a new pipe, and the propert way to light a pipe and tend its fire.

Learn the proper way to clean a pipe.

I once stayed away from cigarettes by smoking cigars and a pipe. It worked for three years, then I went back to cigarettes.

Some years later, I quit tobacco altogether.

(But I will say that I enjoyed a pack of cigarettes or a nice big fat cigar after a huge weekend breakfast just about more than anything--and I wonder if it wouldn't be better to die young and have enjoyed life, than live to be a century old ascetic. Hey, how many people would give up sex in favor of living to one hundred?)

Proper pipe smoking is probably too involved for most people--taking up cigars might be easier for you.

[DonQ]

Although pipe smokers tend to smoke fewer pipefuls than cigarette smokers smoke ciggies, you wouold still be getting a whole lot of evil stuff in your mouth, throat, lungs, etc.

My recollection of the brief period in which I tried to cultivate the image of me as a pipe-smoker (inspired by Hefner, a million years ago), was that I needed to fill my pockets with crap: A pipe (which was occasionally still wet with saliva, and in case was bulky and yet needed to be protected from dirt and damage), a tamping tool, a lighter, a tobacco pouch, and possibly a pipecleaner. This added up to a LOT of junk in my pocket, making my pants baggy, and since most of this stuff leaked grains of loose tobacco or ash inside my pockets, my trousers needed a lot more laundering.

I might add that you can't use just any old pipe; there's quite a bit of spending for just the right pipe that fits just so, whose bowl and mouthpiece and so forth are just right for your particular smoking and breathing patterns, with the wood that tastes right - and good ones aren't cheap and once you have one you treat it like your new car.

It became such a bother I gave up the pipe and smoking altogether.

[Just another Joe]

Smoking is smoking. I smoked cigarettes for 20+ years, I smoked a pipe for 3+ years, then went back to cigarettes, and yes - you will inhale some on a pipe.
I now stuff my own cigarettes.
If it's only the smell that you are woried about, there are some flavored stuff-your-own tobaccos out there that smell just as good as pipe tobacco. If you want to quit then do just that - QUIT.
Otherwise, choose what satisfies YOU and go for it.

[DoctorMichael]

MY 34 year addiction to NICOTENE: I went from cigarettes to pipe to cigarettes to chewing tobacco to pipe..............now I am on the gum ($30 box @ WalMart lasts 2 weeks).

I LOVE NICOTENE. IT IS MY DRUG OF CHOICE. IT CAN ALSO KILL YOU.

[prambo]

I have smoked cigarettes, pipes and cigars since I was 16. I no longer smoke cigarettes or cigars, but still enjoy a pipe every day or so.

There are negatives - high smoke volumes, flying embers burning holes in fabric, a few more accoutrements needed (reamer, lighter, pipe cleaners, larger ashtrays), and the increased possibility of lip and mouth cancer (I don't inhale).

Pipe smoking is generally an outside activity now, although that is where I enjoy it the most.

The tobacco that smells the best usually "bites" the worst - peach or cherry "blends" are filled with chemicals that make them really harsh.

My favorite tobacco is a bulk blend (toasted cavendish) from a chain drug store (CVS). Cheap, tastes great, smells like, well, burning tobacco.

prambo