Pipe smoking

From: Edward S. Tonry <c60est1_at_corn.cso.niu.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 23:06:26 -0500 (CDT)

Sandy asks about the relative difficulty of pipe smoking. It is not actually all that difficult, it just seems so. First off, the tobacco used for pipes (and cigars) is untreated. Cigarette tobacco is treated to keep it lit. So, a cigarette left to itself will keep on burning, but a pipe or cigar will go out after a while if it is not puffed on with some regularity.

The other thing that makes pipe smoking seem difficult is what you see in movies, etc. The character seems to be always fiddling with his pipe, tamping the tobacco down, relighting it, just looking at it. This is often just a time-waster, a way to put off answering a nasty question, frex, until a good answer occurs to one. People who don't have pipes have to walk around the room, picking things up and putting them down again, or stage some fake anger. The pipe smoker's delay looks much more innocent and unstudied.

So a morokanth could easily keep a pipe lit - it just takes as much attention and effort as chewing gum. However, considering his hooves, I'm not sure he could _fill_ the pipe with tobacco in the first place. Maybe that's what they keep herdmen around for.

Ed Tonry

      o
     8

  __y (well, on MY terminal it looks like a smoking pipe)

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