Pipe addiction bigger than cigar addiction?

[tfar]

I recently started to smoke pipes. I like it for the challenge it presents and all the stuff that comes with it. I have not yet found a tobacco I really, really enjoyed as much as any of my cigars, though.

However, I find that I could easily smoke a pipe once a day or at least every other day. In contrast, with cigar smoking I smoke on a yearly average perhaps 25-30 cigars, very little really. One of the reasons for this is that when I am done smoking a medium to full bodied cigar I really don't want/need anymore tobacco in my system for several days or weeks. This fortunate circumstance has helped me to keep the health issue a non-issue and keep the consumption low but the quality very high.

Perhaps it is just the fact that pipe smoking is new and thus gets more attention from me -the new girlfriend phenomenon- because I want to try out all those different flavors and break in my pipes. But somehow it seems that even physically I could get addicted easier to pipe than to cigar, which is strange because a pipe's smoke delivery is not as direct as a cigar's and most baccies are probably lower in nicotine content than cigars, especially if you figure in that there is about double the amount of tobacco in a churchill compared to a pipe.

Or is the pipe known to have a higher addiction potential?

Here is a link that presumes at least it is as unhealthy as cigars:
http://www.drug-rehabs.com/pipe-smoking.htm

Thanks for your insights,

Till

[IHT]

sorry, but i call on that report in the link.
where is their data to back this up?
what was the health factors of those involved in the study?

anywho.... i haven't found pipes or cigars "addicting" at all (in the sense of cigarettes with all those chemicals they add to make them addicting). if i was told that i had to stop smoking pipes tomorrow (although i can't imagine a rational reason why at this point), i'd have no problem with it at all.

[Poriggity]

I am not addicted to either. I can say with certainty though, that I smoke more cigars than I do a pipe.
Scott

[ultramag]

I gotta go with both the previous posters on this, especially IHT. I don't find cigars or pipes addictive. I know the difference as someone who chewing tobacco had a stranglehold on for almost 20 years. I frequently don't smoke for a week at a time plus sometimes. If I don't have time to sit down and enjoy it, I don't do it and it doesn't bother me at all. Simple as that.

[duhman]

I've gone months without smoking a cigar. Then I started reading CS. Now I have to smoke three or four a week just to try all the new ones I read about here. Yes, the slope has more pull than the nicotine.

[ChronoB]

Smoke is smoke. It's not good for you either way. One thing that I've found with pipe smoking versus cigars is that I end up involuntarily inhaling more smoke with the pipe. I never really experience much of a nicotine high with cigars, but I definitely feel it every so often with the pipe. Nevertheless, I'm not addicted to either. I'm lucky to smoke anything once a week, and my desire to do so is not a physical one.

Physical addiction is highly unlikely unless you're inhaling. Nicotine absorption is far less efficient through the membranes in your mouth than in the lungs.

Bear in mind that pipe and cigar tobaccos go through a maturation process that relieves the tobacco of some of the nicotine and impurities. Cigarettes are addictive not just because they are inhaled, but because they only contain about 50% actual cheap, shredded tobacco. The rest is made up of a tobacco sludge and chemical additives that are all designed to make nictotine absorption easier and the cigarette more addictive. Cigar and pipe tobacco is a far cry from that.

Long story short, you're not likely to become physically addicted to pipe tobacco or cigars. You want to keep smoking for all the right reasons - its enjoyable, relaxing, cool, manly, tastes good, smells good, etc.

[Darth Smoker]

Originally Posted by tfar

Or is the pipe known to have a higher addiction potential? Here is a link that presumes at least it is as unhealthy as cigars:
http://www.drug-rehabs.com/pipe-smoking.htm
Till

Till, and for everyone's edification, there is much propaganda regarding smoking, here is a hard to find link regarding second hand smoke.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlConte...08/wtob08.html

[tfar]

Darth, thanks for posting that again. I had previously stumbled upon it but failed to bookmark it.

There is another interesting read by an MD who reviews different smoking reports among others from the National Cancer Institute.

My question is only half scientific, though. While I do wonder what the scientific answer would be (from what I read so far, it would be that cigars and pipes are equally addictive and equally dangerous but both less so than cigarette), I am trying to explain myself the why I really want to smoke a pipe but I don't feel that urge with a cigar. It is probably just the novelt excitement about it. If it was nicotine addiction I would most likely smoke no matter what just to keep the level up. FYI, I have smoked two or three cigarettes in my entire life. Until my 30th birthday I never even had a single puff from a cigarette. Oh, and I smoked a Davidoff Anniversario No. 1 big as a chair leg that night.

Till

[paperairplane]

I think the pipe has more potential - not for physical addiction, but psychological. You can get very ritualized with a pipe. You have your kit: pipe, tobacco, poker, tamper, lighter, etc.... and this is really 3 hobbies (if not more) - pipe collecting, tobacco collecting (hoarding), and smoking / sampling. (tamper collecting, pipe carving, tobacco speculation, etc)

I love the pipe smoking, but I could entertain myself buying rare tobaccos in cool tins and collecting nice pipes and pipe racks. I have gotten plenty of good comments about my pipe collection...

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by paperairplane

I think the pipe has more potential - not for physical addiction, but psychological. You can get very ritualized with a pipe. You have your kit: pipe, tobacco, poker, tamper, lighter, etc.... and this is really 3 hobbies (if not more) - pipe collecting, tobacco collecting (hoarding), and smoking / sampling. (tamper collecting, pipe carving, tobacco speculation, etc)

I love the pipe smoking, but I could entertain myself buying rare tobaccos in cool tins and collecting nice pipes and pipe racks. I have gotten plenty of good comments about my pipe collection...

You got that right! Buying pipes is far more addictive than smoking them.

[tfar]

Originally Posted by paperairplane

I think the pipe has more potential - not for physical addiction, but psychological. You can get very ritualized with a pipe. You have your kit: pipe, tobacco, poker, tamper, lighter, etc.... and this is really 3 hobbies (if not more) - pipe collecting, tobacco collecting (hoarding), and smoking / sampling. (tamper collecting, pipe carving, tobacco speculation, etc)

I love the pipe smoking, but I could entertain myself buying rare tobaccos in cool tins and collecting nice pipes and pipe racks. I have gotten plenty of good comments about my pipe collection...

I think you are on to something. The ritualistic character is something I enjoy. And then there is the curiosity to find just the right tobacco or to try new ones looking for the perfect smoke. At least this part is the cheap part. The pipes can get expensive.

Till

[Papichulo]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

You got that right! Buying pipes is far more addictive than smoking them.

I third that. I had to take a break from buying them.

[Bridges]

Originally Posted by duhman

I've gone months without smoking a cigar. Then I started reading CS. Now I have to smoke three or four a week just to try all the new ones I read about here. Yes, the slope has more pull than the nicotine.

Yeah I find CS more addicting than the nicotene.

[Arizona]

I've been smoking pipes off and on for many years now. I've never found it addicting at all, not physically. I can take it or leave it and merely do it for the sheer pleasure of the relaxation that it gives me. I never crave a smoke, I merely look forward to the relaxation of the ritual and the joy of quietly puffing a favorite old pipe in my chair while reading or watching tv, etc.

I can skip a day or two - perhaps because I'm busy or have a head cold, etc and not miss or crave it in the slightest bit. Try that with cigarettes or chewing tobacco.

I think you're doing it so much because you ENJOY it immensely and are finding it a source of pleasure. The peace and tranquility of a quiet smoke are very soothing and of course the psychological aspect of that is addicting - in a good way!

[dogsplayinpoker]

I crave the "atmosphere" of relaxing, sitting back and smoking a bowl of tobacco more than the nic-kick I get from it. Has nothing to do at all with an addiction to the nicotine.