No Pretending

-

 When I smoke my pipe, I'm not pretending to be a Mark Twain, a Tolkien, or a C. S. Lewis.  In fact I'm not pretending to be anyone but myself.  There are costume pipes for those who want to pretend they are Sherlock Holmes or from the Shire.  The tobacco I smoke is not pretend tobacco.  Yesterday I smoked my Peterson Sherlock Holmes pipe. But not once did I pretend I was Sherlock Holmes 

I don't smoke a pipe to pretend.  My pipes, while not being Dunhill's costing over a grand each, are too good for pretending.  There is too much to smoking a pipe that does not allow for pretending.  There are too many tobacco blends that do not allow for pretending.  The blending of various tobaccos is a serious business and no retailer sells tobacco so pipe smokers can pretend.  

I won't get into health issues, but there are none for those who pretend.  I discount health issues though, because I've never inhaled pipe smoke into my lungs, but health risks are real.  I think of cigars as being more risky, which is why I limit myself to just a few every year.  My famiky might be surprised to know I've tried cigarettes, but thank God I never got the hang of smoking those.  I still have a hard time inhaling vapors into my lungs.  

My thinking is that if it isn't fresh air, I'll try not not to inhale anything foreign into my lungs.  Sure, there are risks, but I make an exception for myself as I explained yesterday.  And I don't want to be an evangelist for pipes and tobacco.  And maybe that is why I don't write about them for publication.  It's not because pipes aren't as popular as they once were, but I'm not so sure I want the world to know how I meditate with a pipe in my mouth.

But not once have I thought about a pipe being a pretend prop.  A pipe is serious business for any pipe smoker who takes the pipe and tobacco seriously.  It costs real money to smoke a pipe.  But as a hobby it is relatively cheap.  I might buy a new pipe every now and then, but I budget about $50 a month for tobacco.  I used to cellar tobacco, but now I buy what need for about a month at a time.  

No, I don't smoke a pipe in order to pretend.  I don't write to pretend I am a Hemingway or a Stephen King.  I am myself here and I smoke a pipe while I write and meditate.  This is serious for me as it is for most anyone who smokes a pipe.  Today it is my Boswell pipe with Lane 1-Q and my coffee is Stumptown Holler Mountain.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's About Balance

-
 I seem to struggle week after week as to how much football I am going to watch.  There for awhile I was watching all the analysis of the collegiate games and decided I was simply paying too much attention to football.  I cut way back last week and as the season begins to unfold I have to ask myself how much is too much?  I didn't watch one pro game last weekend and hadn't followed the analysis of collegiate games all week.   Then I found myself having a kind of withdrawal and decided I can watch whatever football I want to watch as long as it doesn't interfere with my Spirituality.  But at what point is too much too much?  My wife and I talked about this last week as I cut back on watching and we both decided that I like football and I shouldn't have to be thinking about how much or how little I watch.  I enjoy the games.  College more than the pro's.   I don't have to watch the analysis, but I like College Game Day and I like...
Read more

Strange

-
 I can never predict how any of my posts are going to be received but I do get a reaction from my wife quite often, but I'll post about my Spirituality thinking I've said enough and apart from a few other subjects my Spirituality posts do quite well.  I had yesterday's tobacco review done a few days ago and saved it for yesterday and again, it seems my tobacco reviews do quite well.  Then I wrote about my age and it seemed no one cared that much   My wife says that it's my titles for my subjects So, while I have so many subjects to choose from, today it is about how my tobacco choices influence my Spirituality or do they?  Not really.  It's just that I can't smoke my pipes without tobacco.  I could be smoking a lot of things.  Like the question asked when someone thinks you are crazy, " What have I been smoking?"  Well, at least you know.  It's never any "funny" stuff.  You could be asking what I've been drinking.  I have ...
Read more

Old Ads

-
 My wife liked my post about old things we remember.  And a lot of what I remembered was good.  But there was some bad things back then that are different today.  Back in the 50's and 60's and even into the 70's advertising in both magazines and TV were incredibly sexist.  I don't have the space in one post to list all the ads, but really they can be summed by saying that a lot of advertising was incredibly sexist. I 've mentioned my wife lit my pipe for me just a few times, but these days she can barely tolerate the aroma of my most flavorful Aromatic tobacco.  She liked everything I said in that post except my mentioning Old Professor pipe tobacco.  Ironically, I like Old Professor the most and she hates it the most.  So, when I mentioned it, she did too.  But back in the day a man smoking a pipe was his lifestyle.  Today, it's a hobby, and not just for men. But too back in the day, no woman could walk down the street without some perv...
Read more