Three weeks cig free. Went a couple days without the pipe at all, and yesterday without either. That was mostly because I was sick. Sucks that I haven't been sick for years, then I quit cigs and I get sick twice in the same month. My joking around that cigs were keeping me healthy wasn't far off apparently. Bah. Anyways still glad I'm not running outside to smoke every 30 minutes.
Ciggs to Pipe: A Primer by The People, For The People!
- Thread starter Blackbeard's Delight
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- #42
Nice, three weeks is quite a distance for throwing off the shackles of cigarettes. Congrats! You get to the point where you have other hobbies and habits and they replace cigarettes and it's no big deal. I imagine it's similar to quitting all tobacco products... but this is a huge first step. I'd say it's probably like switching from Mach 3's to DE shaving. Then quitting would be like Straight Razors!
Yeah, the rare occasion when I get sick, I have always felt the same way... not smoking and not missing it. I always tell myself that I should take advantage of the cold and quit ciggs altogether... then I go to work or something and get stressed out and I am back to the normal routine. We'll see with the pipe only, it's such a different creature.
It is great not to be running out all the time for another cigarette... especially now that summer is setting in, there is no refuge from the sun in my yard, so if you go out to smoke you are slow roasting too. I got up today at 7am with the kids, smoked my first bowl at 11am, then my second at 4:30pm. I wasn't thinking too much about it until all this writing about smoking... I may be going out for #3 pretty soon! But yeah, it's been nice not being a total slave to the urges. Good work!
Yeah, the rare occasion when I get sick, I have always felt the same way... not smoking and not missing it. I always tell myself that I should take advantage of the cold and quit ciggs altogether... then I go to work or something and get stressed out and I am back to the normal routine. We'll see with the pipe only, it's such a different creature.
It is great not to be running out all the time for another cigarette... especially now that summer is setting in, there is no refuge from the sun in my yard, so if you go out to smoke you are slow roasting too. I got up today at 7am with the kids, smoked my first bowl at 11am, then my second at 4:30pm. I wasn't thinking too much about it until all this writing about smoking... I may be going out for #3 pretty soon! But yeah, it's been nice not being a total slave to the urges. Good work!
Altoids were a good tool for me.
For me it wasn't so much the nicotine addiction as it is an oral habit. That is also a reason that so many people have trouble with weight gain when quitting.
Yes, there was certainly some nicotine dependence going on... ask my co-workers what an a-hole I was for a couple of weeks... but the main issue was always reaching into the pocket, grabbing the pack, and lighting up.
The Altoids tin is about the size of a pack of smokes so it fits nicely into the pocket, and the motion is the same... pocket to mouth, craving gone.
Now I have a good supply of Altoids tins for storing ink converters, cartridges, small hardware, etc....
For me it wasn't so much the nicotine addiction as it is an oral habit. That is also a reason that so many people have trouble with weight gain when quitting.
Yes, there was certainly some nicotine dependence going on... ask my co-workers what an a-hole I was for a couple of weeks... but the main issue was always reaching into the pocket, grabbing the pack, and lighting up.
The Altoids tin is about the size of a pack of smokes so it fits nicely into the pocket, and the motion is the same... pocket to mouth, craving gone.
Now I have a good supply of Altoids tins for storing ink converters, cartridges, small hardware, etc....
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- #44
That is some good advice. A lot of it is habit and oral cravings. Someone I knew quit by taking a white pen, removing the insides so it was just a straight white tube, and going out to smoke break with it and puffing through the tube. It was mostly the act of putting it in the mouth and pulling air through it that was relaxing for her and helped her through the cravings.
The best thing about the altoids is you don't walk away with ash-tray breath. Oh, and it's not $9 per tin... and it's probably close to impossible to eat a whole package of them in a day!
I may have to go with something like altoids during the day at work... I have been loving the pipe, but I know I just want to cut back to smoking a bowl of bacci at night, sometime after dinner and before bed, as a relaxing reward for another day in the bin. I'll have to figure out what tobacco has the absolute lowest nicotine content... don't want that one night time bowl to make me crazy for nicotine for the rest of the day.
I tried that years ago. Some company marketed plastic cigs that had a "filter" that simulated the draw. It just wasn't the same... they didn't work for me or SWMBO.
SWMBO did okay on the patch, but various stresses in life always brought her back to her Virginia Slims.
The thing that got me the most about her "mini smokes" is I could go to Walgreens and get 2 packs of my Camel Wides for $9... the total came to $20 if I bought two packs for her!
We're still at or under $5 for most premium brands, and we just voted down a $1/pack tax.
And I have eaten an entire tin of Altoids in one sitting
Stay away from the heavy Latakia English blends then... I'm really not fully enjoying my Two Friends English Chocolate. It's a nice smoke, but I can definitely feel the effects of the "Vitamin-N" for an hour or so after finishing a bowl.
However, I quite enjoyed Pipes & Cigars "Light English" and "Byzantium" from their "Strictly English" sampler.
Another one that I liked was "Sherlock Holmes", and a MacClelland "Columbian Mocha" was nice.
This Two Friends is the "heaviest" that I've had since I started smoking a pipe and it's just a little much.
I should bring it in from the truck and dedicate it to the small bowl Meer that I smoke at home and stop using it for the 60-90 minute "commute home" bowl.
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Check out the reviews at
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/
They will give you an idea of how much strength a blend has in the variety you are after.
1 month today. This last week I craved a cig most everyday. Worse cravings than the first week. Been smoking the pipe less so that might be one of the reasons for the cravings. Haven't smoked a full bowl in one sitting all week, been all 15 minute half bowls. Oh well, even with the cravings I still managed not to bum a cig from my cig smoking friends.
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- #48
Nice... well done! It's strange hitting the one month marker... I actually thought I would miss them more than I had when I reached that point. Last Wednesday I went to a tobacconist shop to buy some good bacci, and they had a giant poster of my old cigarettes. I actually felt tempted, not because I wanted the ciggs, but because I missed the flavor! I resisted though, I thought that was a silly reason to break the streak. Also that day I only smoked the pipe 3 time in total! I kept wanting to smoke at night, but not because I was craving, it was because I kept thinking "Oh I have to try that tobacco!" or whatever the thought was in wanting to go smoke. But it was never a physical craving all night!
On father's day I went to an amusement park with the wife and 2 kids... I brought the pipe but was going to leave it in the car. The wife (still a cigarette smoker) insisted I bring it 'just in case' I need it. So I brought it, and sure enough I never took it out. It seemed like she tried out every one of the designated smokers areas in the park... but I didn't bust out the pipe until we were back at the car that night. Had I been still on the ciggs, we would have taken turns watching the kids while the other was smoking. So it was nice to not deal with that as much. I also found myself remembering how I would have been seeking out those smokers huts at the park and thinking "I better have one now" and I don't know how I did it as a slave to the cigg...
Keep up the good fight, stay strong! Get strength from the briar! Strength from the cob!!!
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- #49
I am finding myself slowly rolling towards being a non-smoker thanks to the Pipe!
Yesterday I smoked half a bowl (10 to 15 minute smoke) at about 10:30am. Then again after lunch around 1:30pm. I went home, went to visit my parents, came home late, and was getting everything ready to get up for work in the morning at like 11:30pm when I realized I hadn't smoked all afternoon/evening! Of course I wanted to have a couple pinches of the new ounce of Judges Mix I picked up at the Tobacconist last week as a before-bedtime relaxing zen-smoke. But I totally could have just gone to bed, which would have been fine. But I did go a good 10 hours without a puff... and without any issues or cravings! I never would have imagined making it that long while smoking cigarettes.
I do think I am probably in the best position since I first started smoking to just all-out quit... and it's sorely tempting. But man, I love the pipe smoking... and I can say it's the act of pipe smoking that is pleasurable, and it's not the nicotine cravings or addiction talking. The experience, flavors/tastes, and relaxation keep bringing me back for more!
Yesterday I smoked half a bowl (10 to 15 minute smoke) at about 10:30am. Then again after lunch around 1:30pm. I went home, went to visit my parents, came home late, and was getting everything ready to get up for work in the morning at like 11:30pm when I realized I hadn't smoked all afternoon/evening! Of course I wanted to have a couple pinches of the new ounce of Judges Mix I picked up at the Tobacconist last week as a before-bedtime relaxing zen-smoke. But I totally could have just gone to bed, which would have been fine. But I did go a good 10 hours without a puff... and without any issues or cravings! I never would have imagined making it that long while smoking cigarettes.
I do think I am probably in the best position since I first started smoking to just all-out quit... and it's sorely tempting. But man, I love the pipe smoking... and I can say it's the act of pipe smoking that is pleasurable, and it's not the nicotine cravings or addiction talking. The experience, flavors/tastes, and relaxation keep bringing me back for more!
I do think I am probably in the best position since I first started smoking to just all-out quit... and it's sorely tempting. But man, I love the pipe smoking... and I can say it's the act of pipe smoking that is pleasurable, and it's not the nicotine cravings or addiction talking. The experience, flavors/tastes, and relaxation keep bringing me back for more!
Yeah it isn't so much a nicotine craving as much as it is just wanting to slow down and relax. It's cool having a bit more time to sit and read now. No more running out for a cig and losing my place a couple times an hour.
The varity of tobaccos to try out is also a different experience than with cigarettes. I rarely bought a different type of cig just to try it out. I did with rolling tobacco for a while and discovered which blend I liked then I stuck with that only exclusively. With the pipe I like the "you know I think tonight I'm going to smoke Frog Morton because I smoked a Boswells aro last night".
I still might take a winter long break from smoking when I'm in the mountains and the GF is tired of me smoking inside. But that's many months away and I could be dead tomorrow for all I know.
6 weeks!
Congrats!! Well done!
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- #53
Great work! It's weird to think how much time that really is... and it really goes by quick!
Something I do from time to time is to figure out how much money I have saved. I smoked a pack a day, so I did the math, and then minus the amount I spend on pipe bacci (I am probably smoking a pouch a week). It's a ton of money saved, that's for sure. Then minus the amount of money you would pay to get rid of smokers cough... ok I can't put a price on that!
I made the switch in the last week of april, and I am just now beginning to view myself as a pipe smoker. The wife is just getting used to the different smells, and seeing me with the pipe. She still smokes ciggs and can't seem to imagine smoking as infrequently as I do now. This hot weather is a good time to reduce how often one steps out for some puffing!
JCinPA
The Lather Maestro
This is an AWESOME thread!
Awesome! Got this set as my bckground now. Haha.
JCinPA
The Lather Maestro
Yep! Not much more awesome than a T-Rex flying an F-15! 
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