What aids your pipe enjoyment?
I already know someone is going to say pairing up the pipe with something to drink - coffee, whiskey, etc. But what else? I love reading good books while smoking a pipe. I also like listening to music, good music, music that is instrumental and without words. I want to smoke and find my own words - that's how I relax. Sometimes I'll read a little bit, listen to some good music, find my thoughts and then the words just flow. It is very therapeutic . I think I like these things because my life necessitates extreme contrasts for sanity's sake. What I do for a living, and what I do off hours are vastly different. Off hours I paint, play and listen to music, read, enjoy photography, write, etc. I don't think the folks I work with would recognize me off hours. I think smoking a pipe aids me, helps me find my "place". So what are you fond of that you find really helps you enjoy the pipe or the pipe really helps you enjoy the What???
"It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge the fetters." - Edmund Burke
-
Houtenziel
- Codger in Training
- Posts: 3773
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:58 pm
Nature. I really love to just sit outside, stare off into the trees and watch the birds flying around, squirrels chasing each other, clouds rolling on by.
We have hummingbird feeders right by where I usually sit and smoke, and I can(and do) sit for hours just puffing away watching them dog fight and jockey for position at the feeders. Pairing the blends with the weather and seasons also helps set mood too. Nothing like having some rich Lat blend on a cold clear winter morning, freezing my ass off outside
We have hummingbird feeders right by where I usually sit and smoke, and I can(and do) sit for hours just puffing away watching them dog fight and jockey for position at the feeders. Pairing the blends with the weather and seasons also helps set mood too. Nothing like having some rich Lat blend on a cold clear winter morning, freezing my ass off outside
“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
― Theodore Roosevelt
While it's not something I like to do, a great time to have a smoke is while sitting in traffic.
It helps ease the stress, adds relaxation, and generally promotes an attitude of, "meh - I'll get there."
That is of course, until you finish the bowl and realize you've only gone 10 miles since you lit it...
It helps ease the stress, adds relaxation, and generally promotes an attitude of, "meh - I'll get there."
That is of course, until you finish the bowl and realize you've only gone 10 miles since you lit it...
ever forward
-
Ray Mackessy
- Man About Town
- Posts: 185
- Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2018 8:48 am
- Location: South Carolina
I enjoy smoking a pipe by the pool as the sun is coming up.
-
Whalehead King
I spent most of my adult years living a double life. When I was in the military, I was, of course, a 24-hour sailor, but I was more sailor when in uniform and on duty and more of a beatnik off duty. After an honorable discharge, I was a businessman during the day and an artiste off hours. Now, I find myself in a bit of a conundrum since most of my routine resembles that of a man of leisure. I do work, though I work for myself, and much of what I do to build our business doesn't look like work from the outside looking in.
As I often joke with our guests when I'm talking to them at breakfast, "I'm working right now, can't you tell?" I'm not saying that talking to people about New Orleans is a chore. It is my job. It is what I am paid to do, among other things. It's not the kind of work that gives you calloused hands or feet, though.
I've always taken an Oscar Wildean view of life: make your life a work of art. When I smoke my pipe it is an accoutrement to my thoughts and whatever I am up to at the moment. I spend a lot time thinking and creating---usually typing but sometimes I draw or paint or get into some kind of provocative mischief in public, or I rearrange our furniture. When seen in public, I usually have a cigar or a pipe that I use as a prop. If I get the chance to smoke either, I feel like I'm ahead of everyone else's game. Sometimes whatever I'm up to is more monetarily productive than at other times. On balance, I can pay my bills. My tiny hotel takes care of that.
I know that I probably live a different kind of profession than most people here. I'm an innkeeper and I am on call around the clock all year. I sweep floors and I clean toilets. I make beds. I also do all the marketing and negotiate contracts, keep track of the bookkeeping (Mrs. King does all the data entry, though I would be happy to do that, too). I am the face of our business. I pose for and take photos. I shoot and perform in videos. I manage our Facebook page and other social media accounts. I know. I know. Good work if you can get it. It is a constant drain on my mental reserves, though. No need to cry me a river. I don't collapse exhausted in bed like a bricklayer.
I have had real jobs where I got my hands dirty and I have had to work for The Man. When I was in the Navy, I smoked cigarettes and that was a way to get out of work: Smoke Break. After I got out of the Navy, I continued to smoke cigarettes: 3-5 packs a day, usually after work. I was known as a chain smoker. Mrs. King hates cigarettes, so I switched to a pipe. She isn't in love with a pipe smoker, she is in love with me, but the pipe is more agreeable to her than cigarettes.
I smoke a lot of cigars. I just find it more efficient, if not more cost-effective. Cigars, unless a person smokes machine made cigars, is a rich man's habit, and I am not a (financially) rich man. I still savor a well-packed and well-smoked pipe every day.
What aids my pipe enjoyment?
It is something ineffable. I can smoke a pipe mindlessly while I type and type and type and type, or read a lot, or think and think and think and think until I'm all thunk out. A pipe, however, makes every chore (such as they are) more pleasant. A good pipe is a good friend in the hand. I wouldn't say that anything adds to my enjoyment of a good pipe. Instead, I think that a good pipe aids my enjoyment of everything else. A pipe of tobacco I like is a companion that keeps me tethered to reality. I know this is counterintuitive; a pipe is supposed to take you away from your stress. I have very little stress in my life that isn't self-imposed. Instead, my pipe anchors me to my surroundings.
When I am in the midst of some creative reverie, I have to stop and tamp my pipe, or I pause to take a puff and savor what's in my hand. Stop. Savor. Listen to the muse. A pipe provokes a meditative mindset. No one can rush a pipe. To do so is folly. A pipe makes me take my time, to relish my time spent on a project. A pipe also makes me pay attention to my company. I cradle my pipe as I listen to them. I point my pipe at them when I want to, well----make a point.
The only thing that I can think of that aids my pipe enjoyment is my appreciation of my pipe. Have pipe will travel. Everything is better when I have a pipe, lit or unlit, on my person within easy reach. When I have a pipe and a tin of tobacco around, I always know I have the mental space to take a break and get grounded. No one can put a price on that.
I don't think I answered the question and, as usual, I have meandered about to get to no-answer. This is just what came to mind when the question was posed. Maybe my answer is so bare-boned as to be: Life. I am happy to be alive, thanks be to God, and I am happy to have at least one pipe and one tin around me all the time. That's enough. A pipe is enough.
I hope I didn't just kill this thread by being too autobiographical and philosophical. That wasn't my intention.
Smoke in good health, friends.
As I often joke with our guests when I'm talking to them at breakfast, "I'm working right now, can't you tell?" I'm not saying that talking to people about New Orleans is a chore. It is my job. It is what I am paid to do, among other things. It's not the kind of work that gives you calloused hands or feet, though.
I've always taken an Oscar Wildean view of life: make your life a work of art. When I smoke my pipe it is an accoutrement to my thoughts and whatever I am up to at the moment. I spend a lot time thinking and creating---usually typing but sometimes I draw or paint or get into some kind of provocative mischief in public, or I rearrange our furniture. When seen in public, I usually have a cigar or a pipe that I use as a prop. If I get the chance to smoke either, I feel like I'm ahead of everyone else's game. Sometimes whatever I'm up to is more monetarily productive than at other times. On balance, I can pay my bills. My tiny hotel takes care of that.
I know that I probably live a different kind of profession than most people here. I'm an innkeeper and I am on call around the clock all year. I sweep floors and I clean toilets. I make beds. I also do all the marketing and negotiate contracts, keep track of the bookkeeping (Mrs. King does all the data entry, though I would be happy to do that, too). I am the face of our business. I pose for and take photos. I shoot and perform in videos. I manage our Facebook page and other social media accounts. I know. I know. Good work if you can get it. It is a constant drain on my mental reserves, though. No need to cry me a river. I don't collapse exhausted in bed like a bricklayer.
I have had real jobs where I got my hands dirty and I have had to work for The Man. When I was in the Navy, I smoked cigarettes and that was a way to get out of work: Smoke Break. After I got out of the Navy, I continued to smoke cigarettes: 3-5 packs a day, usually after work. I was known as a chain smoker. Mrs. King hates cigarettes, so I switched to a pipe. She isn't in love with a pipe smoker, she is in love with me, but the pipe is more agreeable to her than cigarettes.
I smoke a lot of cigars. I just find it more efficient, if not more cost-effective. Cigars, unless a person smokes machine made cigars, is a rich man's habit, and I am not a (financially) rich man. I still savor a well-packed and well-smoked pipe every day.
What aids my pipe enjoyment?
It is something ineffable. I can smoke a pipe mindlessly while I type and type and type and type, or read a lot, or think and think and think and think until I'm all thunk out. A pipe, however, makes every chore (such as they are) more pleasant. A good pipe is a good friend in the hand. I wouldn't say that anything adds to my enjoyment of a good pipe. Instead, I think that a good pipe aids my enjoyment of everything else. A pipe of tobacco I like is a companion that keeps me tethered to reality. I know this is counterintuitive; a pipe is supposed to take you away from your stress. I have very little stress in my life that isn't self-imposed. Instead, my pipe anchors me to my surroundings.
When I am in the midst of some creative reverie, I have to stop and tamp my pipe, or I pause to take a puff and savor what's in my hand. Stop. Savor. Listen to the muse. A pipe provokes a meditative mindset. No one can rush a pipe. To do so is folly. A pipe makes me take my time, to relish my time spent on a project. A pipe also makes me pay attention to my company. I cradle my pipe as I listen to them. I point my pipe at them when I want to, well----make a point.
The only thing that I can think of that aids my pipe enjoyment is my appreciation of my pipe. Have pipe will travel. Everything is better when I have a pipe, lit or unlit, on my person within easy reach. When I have a pipe and a tin of tobacco around, I always know I have the mental space to take a break and get grounded. No one can put a price on that.
I don't think I answered the question and, as usual, I have meandered about to get to no-answer. This is just what came to mind when the question was posed. Maybe my answer is so bare-boned as to be: Life. I am happy to be alive, thanks be to God, and I am happy to have at least one pipe and one tin around me all the time. That's enough. A pipe is enough.
I hope I didn't just kill this thread by being too autobiographical and philosophical. That wasn't my intention.
Smoke in good health, friends.
-
Ruffinogold
- The Mayor
- Posts: 9051
- Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:48 pm
- Location: Mineral Bluff , Georgia
Sex
" I believe adventure is nothing but a romantic name for trouble " L.L.
-
Houtenziel
- Codger in Training
- Posts: 3773
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:58 pm
You must be a clencher.
“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
― Theodore Roosevelt
-
Whalehead King
That's what I was gonna say but I decided it would be more in character to natter on.
Yeah, you nailed it.
-
Ruffinogold
- The Mayor
- Posts: 9051
- Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:48 pm
- Location: Mineral Bluff , Georgia
Here herearturo7 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:20 pm While it's not something I like to do, a great time to have a smoke is while sitting in traffic.
It helps ease the stress, adds relaxation, and generally promotes an attitude of, "meh - I'll get there."
That is of course, until you finish the bowl and realize you've only gone 10 miles since you lit it...
" I believe adventure is nothing but a romantic name for trouble " L.L.