Sunday, February 20, 2011

Pipe smoking education

I can not say that I wish to advocate that others take up the pipe and enjoy.  I will say that it is a source of happiness for me.  True I do have in the back of my mind today the idea that I could succumb to mouth or thorat cancer.   Bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer and esophageal cancer as well.   I believe that my risk is probably 2-3 times the norm.  Being that I need some mental nourishment and this is a source thereof, I am not about to cease this experience.  I will say that if you try to smoke a pipe, dont inhale.  You'll choke alot.  Don't try to sniff the smoke either. You'll smell it enough.  I have been nauseated a few times by inhaling the smoke or getting it in my nasal passages by way of back draft from my oral cavity.   I will report that the first day I smoked a pipe this year. I had 4 bowls over about 8-12 hours.  Upon the fourth bowl, I will report to you that I felt my entire energy sapped.  It was as if my soul which usually feels like wheat was turned into paper.  Not a horrible situation. I quickly recovered in about 60 minutes.   That said there is one other experience I had... I noticed that day that the roof of my mouth was slightly inflammed.  This I am happy to report is not the case at all anymore.  I must have increased the protection of my own oral palate by the duration of smoking which really I will tell you is only about 7 weeks now.  After a week it did not annoy me any further.   That said all forms of tobacco are inherent of their risks.  Don't expect that you may never have a sickness from doing so.  But to smoke a pipe you certainly are not going to endure the COPD like effects that one may have with a cigarette.  Cigarettes are the most diseased form of legalized habits in which one may engage save alcohol. Right?

1 comment:

C.J. Brenner said...

I will say here that when I began smoking a pipe, the saliva drooled out of my mouth and onto my beard. This is quite disgusting, really. But now it is a rarity. One must spit occasionally when smoking a pipe. I saw a photograph of a rabbi online who is aged and smoked a pipe. His white beard was stained with yellow tobacco juice from saliva. I hope that I do not find this possible. But to say the rest, I have seen a photo of another orthodox jew on a pipe forum with a grey/white beard that did not have any noticable staining. He reports spitting frequently.
I had considered looking into a palate guard to be produced by my dentist to save my hard palate from the deleterious effects of smoke. I don't feel that is a big concern right now but I will discuss it with my dentist. I have no present information on the risks associated with pipe smoking. I have indeed looked for some some time ago and did not find an appreciable amount of information online. I did see that it was described as understudied. I can only imagine that an oral cancer is very difficult with which to live. The report I saw said that the 5 years survival of oral cancer is 50%. Thats daunting.