Any tobacco pipe smokers?

Sorry, mate, I quit tobacco products almost 8 years ago and had only a brief experience with a pipe.  I tried smoking a pipe for a couple of months and did enjoy it.... until some mongrel at work stole it.  They didn't take the tobacco or the lighter - a semi-expensive Ronson gas lighter left to me by my grandfather - just the darned pipe.

I never got around to buying another pipe.  With the long hours I worked back then it wasn't easy getting to a tobacconist that sold decent pipes, so I simply switched back to the ciggies until quitting some years later.

Having said that, I do recall the calming feeling of smoking my pipe while sitting back and relaxing with my feet up in front of the TV after a day's hard graft.  Often it was the best part of the day, watching something of little or no consequence while casually puffing away on my pipe.

I don't think it's something I'd take up again, though.  I have no issues with staying off the smokes, but going back to a pipe could reignite cravings and such, so I'd rather play it safe, save myself the money and leave the pipe at the tobacconists. 

Thanks for the interesting reply starkers. Pipes can be expensive. Most of mine are not expensive but I have a morta (bog-wood pipe) that cost a small fortune. I find the whole bog-wood topic interesting in itself. For those who don't know what morta is here is a brief description.

"trees that have been buried in peat bogs and preserved from decay by the acidic and anaerobic bog conditions, sometimes for hundreds or even thousands of years. The wood is usually stained brown by tannins dissolved in the acidic water. Bog-wood represents the early stages in the fossilisation of wood, with further stages ultimately forming lignite and coal over a period of many millions of years. Bog-wood may come from any tree species naturally growing near or in bogs, including oak (Quercus – "bog oak"), pine (Pinus), yew (Taxus), swamp cypress (Taxodium) and kauri (Agathis). Bog-wood is often removed from fields etc. and placed in clearance cairns. It is a rare form of timber that is "comparable to some of the world's most expensive tropical hardwoods".

The wood in my pipe was estimated to be four thousand years old which is kind of cool holding something so old in your hands.

My pipe was nothing so exotic as that, just an every day pipe with no frills, bells or whistles.  It served its purpose... while I had it, that is.

The bloke who married my mother after dad passed away smokes pipes.  He has several favourites, including one he bought in Switzerland while visiting his daughter last year.  Apparently it cost the equivalent of 160 British pounds, so not cheap by any means.  He also has one his father smoked, and that has a manufacturing date carved into the bottom of the bowl... 1846.  He offered me a smoke of it when he was last here in Oz, but naturally I declined because I didn't want to risk getting hooked again.

My only vices these days are computers [building and upgrading, etc] and a few beers now and then.  I gave up chasing wild women cos I could never catch one... and there was no point to waiting around for wild women to chase me.  As sexy and appealing as I tried to look, There were never any takers. 

Dunno if it was my Zimmer frame that put 'em off, or the fact that my belly hung over it. 

The only thing I smoked in a pipe was weed but that was a long time ago. These days I don't smoke at all.

And I was thinking that was the inspiration behind all those sysmetrix skins. :-J

It is, hehe.   

He smoked that much of it his system is still processing it 40 years later.... hence his permanently being spaced out.

Now ya gone and done it. I had that bugger nicely tucked away. Now its out of the bag and doin' stuff again.