Tolerance vs Addiction

I enjoy my pipes, but I never get a nicotine craving. I have absolutely no issues skipping a day, or even a week, of pipe smoking. Consequently, when I smoke something like OJK, it hits me pretty hard. I imagine a rope would knock me on my ass.

I find the very mild tobaccos rather unsatisfying, so there must be an element of nicotine desire there somewhere. I also find that I really look forward to a smoke after an a long flight. I used to find that a quick few puffs after a very long meeting would go down very well. So, no doubt, there is some element of nicotine addiction there. BUT it is nothing like it used to be when I smoked cigarettes. Pipe smoking is far different. I guess I just don't inhale very much, if at all. I also find that I'm not that tolerant of the nicotine-heavy backies - I find it difficult to finish the bowl. I actually feel a little nauseaus if I go too far. Some days I'll smoke less, some days more, but I put that down to the fact that I'm not the most stable character around. I'd have to be very sick not to smoke.

personally...I don't feel at all like I am addicted to the nicotine...I mean yeah the buzz is nice, but I might equate that to the way I like ice cream. I often go a day, or sometimes up to a few weeks without smoking due to certain situations that are not conducive to bringing a pipe and tobacco...or just a lack of time to sit down and enjoy a pipe. I find that pipe smoking for me is a time of relaxation, and I don't ever smoke a pipe when there is something else that I have to concentrate on apart from the pipe...that is to say I might draw or read or play on the computer while I smoke, but not because I have to...just because I want to. Pipe smoking is relaxation time, and as such...for me...it just doesn't always happen everyday...

I also do not like the idea of being addicted to a substance. Be it alcohol, food, or whatever...I am not a big fan of the idea of an addiction...I never want to be the person who says "I am gonna quit the cig's" and then two weeks later is smoking again...so it is also a bit of that...I wouldn't let myself become addicted to the nicotine in pipes...it would sort of ruin it for me...

Cheers,

Josh

I have been smoking since 12 and I am still not addicted. I just can't quit.

When I hit 50 my doctor told me I should give them up, I did and gained 30 pounds after a year I went back. When he found out he told me to quit again, so I did. I gained another 30 pounds. That is when I started smoking pipes again. After another year he told me my weight was a bigger risk than the cigs, so I started smoking again. I would have been better off if I ignored him as it is a bitch to take these pounds off.

As far as tolerance a pipe can't deliver what I am used to. It can't compete with the effeciency of delivering nicotine through the lungs. I have some rope that I need to get around to trying and I doubt it is going to have me swaying or dizzy. Nope, I am not addicted.

hehe, realized that my post sounded a bit like some kind of Nicotine'us Anomynous.

Anyway, I have used nicotine since I was 15 y.o. Not always in the form of smoke. Swedish snus, or dip as our american fellows call it, was my main source for almost all the time since I started, picked up the pipe full time only six months ago. One have to have some extraordinary physionomy to be immune to 2 oz of snus each day :)

I do not inhale when I smoke, at least not in a concious way, I do smoke indoors and therefore bound to be a passive smoker to my own pipe..

hum, I really should not get as much nicotine into my body now as before, still I do not feel any less urge for it though. smoking light tobaccos leaves me unsatisfied.

Btw, I do not mind being addicted to it, I am addicted to caffeine as well.

Body chemistry is a strange thing. Sleeping pills does not really affect me at all, so I never use them, same thing goes for morphine derivates that I take for my migraine, I can take the full dose without feeling drugged, the pain slips away though, thankfully...

well, that was the load of random thoughts on the subject för this time.

I keep watch over this constantly. When I hear the pipe (and nicotine) calling out to me louder than my desire to sit back and puff on a pipe for the pleasure of the ritual I walk away from it for a while. How often does this happen? Varies. A few times a year at any rate. And when I walk away its for however long it takes to no longer hear the nicotine calling which may be days or weeks.

My recent schedule (over the past two years) has me smoking typically one pipe per day with many weeks that only allow enough time for 1 or 2 pipes total. No chance of addiction with that type of schedule. Like Josh said, I simply have no tolerance for any kind of addiction (well, outside of buying more books than I'll ever have time to read).

As far as you nicotine addiction ... well, that was kind of obvious! But if it works for ya, who cares says I.

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Edit ... my comment about your nicotine addiction being obvious was supposed to be sarcastically funny ... I realized out on the patio that you could sure read it as an insult ... that wasn't my intention ... ok, I'll go back to overthinking things again. Maybe now I can enjoy this book!

no problem, I didn't take it as such :)

I'd totally be lying if I said that wasn't one of the many reasons I smoke a pipe. I like the vitamin N. Overly mild tobaccos irritate the hell out of me because I never feel satisfied. The only possible explanation for this is the low nicotine content. I can smoke any virginia or aromatic out there and two seconds later want to smoke again. A few properly timed breaks with some of my old friends (OJK et al) and I'm good to go for the entire day.

Nicotine withdraw is totally obvious. When I don't have the required vitamin N, I'm sluggish, pissy and general not a very pleasant human. Yup I'm an addict.

the problem is!! Lack of nicotine. Geez, I'm normally "sluggish, pissy & general not a very pleasant human. Yup I'm an addict.".

Suburban shopping mall parking lot. Enter stage left: bedraggled, unkempt, wild-eyed codger. Approaches soccer mom.

"Sorry, for my behaviour, ma'm but I'm withdrawn". "You're what?" "I'm a pipe smoker. But I can't get enough vitamin N" "Pi$$ off, or I'm calling the police". Walks off, puffing fiercely on a battered & gunked-up Peterson 303 filled with foul-smelling rope & humming bars from Jagger's Can't Get No Satisfaction...

Pipes don't really do it for me nicotine wise. The only thing I've ever really felt compelled to smoke was ciggarettes. I mean I enjoy nicotine from a pipe, but I find it enters the body slowly, as you're not inhaling, and is just something plus on top of the enjoyment of simply smoking a pipe.

with fags the nicotine is the primary thing about them, with pipe smoking it's secondary.

Nicotine absorbtion must play a roll in all this. However, I can handle being without a smoking pipe in my mouth some of the time but not most of the time. I smoke only a pipe and have never enhaled. Never had the cigarette habit or smoked cigs. I tell people that I never smoke inbetween pipefulls! I guess you could call it an addiction, a habit, a hobby, a pastime, a part of who I am and who I intend to remain. I smoke a pound of tobacco per month, no question about that! Am I addicted via nicotine? Maybe. Am I happy? Oh, Yea! Will I change? If a State-wide smoking ban hits Wisconsin, I may be spending less time in my office! That whole idea of a smoking ban really pisses me off! Or, maybe hiding my pipe when a car pulls up, or "see me by appointment-only". What has this world come to, anyway? Porn is acceptable on the Internet but smoking my pipe in public places is against the law! As of now, in my city, one cannot smoke in a public park or public building. Next, I imagine this will broaden to include public sidewalks. So much for taking a smoke walk. Ah-Ha... I do have a treadmill in the basement. I'll smoke while I walk on the treadmill. Hey, don't laugh, I already do that!

I only had two bowlfulls, might depend on that I had a hell of a migraine the day before that.

One for breakfast and one as a night cap, and I did not feel the urge to smoke any more than that.

Going to see how long I can go without a smoke today, just for the hell of it, had a bowl of Bad Nun when I woke up.

I have no idea whether or not I'm addicted. You can pretty much tell when I smoke the pipe. Whenever I'm on this site, pouring water out of my ears, that's when. On the side I do smoke cigarettes, cigars, use snuff. It all varies a lot. The snuff I haven't touched in weeks .. cigars would be months ago .. I had a few cigarettes Wednesday I think.