Smoking in the dark

motie2

Last night, after dinner, I went out on the rear deck, to fire up the chiminea, and smoke a bowl. I have not used the chiminea all summer; dunno why. Couldn't use it last summer because of my illness. Anyway, after a bowl of Barbados Plantation/Panna Cotta 50/50 in my first Carey, an apple I ordered in 1969, and as the fire burned down, I thought I'd go inside, and pack my cob with my FMC/Eastfarthing mixture. When I went back outside, it was down to a very few glowing coals. I found it difficult to smoke in the darkness. The problem went away when I turned on a small outside light. If the tobacco wasn't biting, and it wasn't, I couldn't tell how the combustion in the bowl was going in the darkness.

This brings up a question I don't know how to answer: Can blind folks smoke a pipe?

riobrusa

I believed yes, blind people have their senses , the others ones, more enhanced them us. So, I believe that that they can feel if the tobacco is burning or not.

RockyMountainBriar

I have found that smoking a bowl in the dark is not bad at all.  I can see the glow in the pipe to gauge how even the ember is after a draw.   My trouble comes when I dump the ash and try to see if the bowl is as clean and dry as I like when I am done.  Then I have to get out a flashlight or stoke the fire.

thebadgerpiper

Yes, the blind can smoke a pipe. Morris Frank, the man who owned Buddy the first seeing eye dog, smoked a pipe. It's a cool story worth reading.

https://americacomesalive.com/2011/07/19/buddy-the-first-seeing-eye-dog/

I also remember reading an account in the pipes digest on pipes.org of a blind pipe smoker writing in to the group.

motie2

@thebadgerpiper
Thank you for your response. Much appreciated referral to article.

KA9FFJ

My SWMBO tells me I can't see half of what needs to be done around the house... Does that count as being a blind smoker... 🤔
.

KA9FFJ

By the way,  like @RockyMountainBriar, I also enjoy smoking in the dark (near-dark).  I can better see the "hotspots" in the bowl and know where to concentrate my relights...
. 

AnantaAndroscoggin

On deck, on a cloudy night just about anywhere on the Western Atlantic Ocean, is pretty dark too. I hadn't taken up the pipe yet when I was off the coast of Oregon and Washington.

With a pipe, you don't have to cup a hand around the glowing coal like with cigarettes and cigars to prevent them from being visible from afar. Anything passing overhead will go past too quickly to notice anything unless they're using infrared sensors, but  the ship's stacks will be putting out much more heat than anybody's pipe.

motie2

By "dark," I meant: I could not see the smoke.

KA9FFJ

@motie2 You have a coal mine on your property we don't know about? 😜

motie2

No, but it was an overcast sky, no visible moon. Rear deck is sheltered from street light by house. Nearest streetlight is three houses away. 

Zouave

My great grandfather was blinded durring the civil war in Ireland in the 1920s.  He was a lifelong pipe smoker. I still have his pipe.

Scampi

Pretty sure Ray Charles smokes a pipe

motie2

I’m sure you meant to type “smoked.”

PappyJoe

@motie2 - You said, " I have not used the chiminea all summer;"

Maybe because it's been too hot to light a fire?

motie2

@PappyJoe
Mostly that, but also the sciatica makes it hard to do certain things......

Londy3