August Smoking Report

I don’t know how many of you here knew that I have been changing my smoking habits.  Over the past few years I have taken up the pipe instead of the cigars.  The differences are many — the cigars I smoked only when I felt like it, which wasn’t that often; the pipe started going up like a chimney, and for the first time in my life I was addicted to tobacco.

In May and June I had 6 non-smoking days (each), and by the end of June I had purchased some good cigars again.  I set my goal for July to have NO days smoking a pipe, at least 8 days not smoking at all, and to have as few days as possible smoking more than once in a single day.  I soon changed that to 12 days not smoking, as I had 6 by the middle of the second week.  I also listed all my pipes and pipe smoking supplies on eBay, and sold most of them.  All pipe tobacco was out of the house by the middle of July.

For August, I set my goals at a maximum of 14 large cigars (I also have some small ones which I don’t prefer to the large ones), and no more than 4 days smoking more than once.  By the end of August, I had 17 days of not smoking at all, and only 2 days where I smoked more than once.  Plus I had only smoked 11 of my large cigars.

My ongoing goal is an average of 10 (large) cigars a month, 16-18 non-smoking days, and a maximum of 2 days smoking more than once (never with two large cigars).  I should be able to make that goal easily this month.

Part of my theory is that, like cigarette tobacco, pipe tobacco has a number of additives, and, like cigarette tobacco, a number of those additives are put in specifically to further addict the smoker.  When I smoke a pipe, I find myself reaching for the tobacco pouch as soon as I finish a bowl.  On the other hand, the cigars I smoke are all natural tobacco with no additives, and when I finish a cigar I don’t have a need for another one (indeed, don’t even think about it for at least a couple days).  I also noticed that I was getting heart palpitations while smoking my pipe (perhaps an imagined response), whereas I felt calmer while smoking a cigar.

I have always believed in moderation in all things.  Perhaps I just do not have an addictive personality, but I’ve been able to imbibe various “vices” without being addicted to them, until I started smoking the pipe 4-5 years ago.  I am not a tee-totaller, but neither have I ever gone a period of time inside a bottle.  I have had a few opportunities to try various drugs, and did not say no every time (although I draw the line at injections and stayed away from all forms of coke and meth), but decided I preferred having money for food.  (To date, I have never purchased “recreational” drugs for myself, with one minor exception of allowing someone to buy me pot after a surgery I was in dire pain from.)

This is not intended to sound like I’m better than anyone else, just patting myself on the back for not falling into a lot of traps that have presented themselves… and climbing out of the one I did fall into.

Hugs,
Me