Keep Calm and Have A Pipe…
Or is it have a pipe and keep calm? Either way works for me. I have always found pipe smoking to be relaxing and contemplative. There are times I light up my pipe just to relax and decompress. There are times when I light my pipe free my mind to think about… anything it wants to. I should also mention
the times I light my pipe to enjoy the company of other pipe smokers.
Today, I loaded my sandblasted bent billard pipe by RD Powell to be contemplative and put thoughts on paper.
While I haven’t found the time or the urge to write about piping, that doesn’t mean I stopped. It just means inspiration hasn’t been knocking on my door. In other words, I’ve been suffering from writer’s block for the past three years. Today my intention is to disassemble the mental wall that has been in front of me.
Someone recently suggested that pipe smoking is a vice. His definition of vice was a personal habit that is considered unhealthy, undesirable, a personal weakness or imperfection in character. I understood his definition, but I asked if it is truly a vice when it has positive characteristics? I contend that pipe smoking is a gift from the world to humans.
Some Positives
Pipe smoking is calming when you are felling anxious
It can lift your spirit when you’re depressed.
Pipe smoking is relaxing when you are stressed.
It brings joy when saddened.
Lighting a pipe slows you down when hurried.
It focuses your mind when distracted.
It’s contemplative when you need to mull over the meaning of the universe.
It allows you to commune with Mother Nature, the world or whatever supreme being you choose to believe in.
I’m not arguing that smoking of any kind is healthy or risk free. Cigarette smoking is an addictive, deadly vice. Cigar and pipe smoking don’t carry the same level of risks but still may impact your health. (Cigar smoking may be offensively stinky to some but shares some of the positives of pipe smoking.)
No, I just say that when weighing the risks of pipe smoking to the benefits, I derive from it. All the positives I listed above, I have experienced.
Famous Quotes
Smarter, more intellectual men than I have also found the good in pipe smoking. I will share some of my famous quotes with you.
“I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgement in all human affairs.”
-Albert Einstein, 1950
“A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan.”
-Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
“A pipe is to the troubled soul what caresses of a mother are for her suffering child.”
-Indian Proverb
“The pipe draws wisdom from the lips of the philosopher and shuts up the mouth of the foolish; it generates a style of conversation, contemplative, thoughtful, benevolent, and unaffected.”
-William Makepeace Thackeray, from The Social Pipe
“On land, on sea, at home, abroad, I smoke my pip and worship God.” – Johann Sebastian Bach.
© J. Gibson Creative Services. May 9, 2025
