Just got nasty sick after smoking my pipe. It's not the first time I smoked but this is still my first month of frequent smoking. Anything to help that?
What tobacco where you smoking? And by sick do you mean nausea? If so then it would seem that you got hit pretty hard by the nicotine. What helps me is to never smoke on an empty stomach. Cornell and Diehl blends always hit me harder than most.
It could be high Nicotine, when you checkout a tobacco at an online store or a catalog it usually mentions the strength of it, the higher the strength, the higher the Nic.
It also could be that you're swallowing too much of the tobacco juices. When I'm smoking strong stuff I often rinse my mouth out. Cut back on smoking too often or too close between smokes. Try to cool the pipe completely before smoking again. Tars can built up in the stem, run a dry pipe cleaner through it to dry it.
Basically slow down a little and see if you get dizzy or feel the effects before relighting. It's kind of like drinking, bang down 3 or 4 shots it can catch up to you really fast.
It's happened to all of us at some point I'd imagine. It still happens to me. Try to figure out which blend did that to you and save it for after meals. I find that Burley heavy blends tend to do this to me easily, like Haunted Bookshop and Old Joe Krantz.
I've been smoking a pipe since the 1970s and it still happens to me every now and then. It is a nicotine high and can be caused by a tobacco being too strong for you or by poor technique. Some people feel the nausea. Some people start feeling a little buzz/lightheaded.
Like the others have said, just slow it down some.
Thanks for the tips guys. Yesterday's smoke was a bit different than the rest. I had some gurgle for the first time and I did end up rushing it at the end. I also tried to burn it down to the very last ash. The tobacco was Tsuge Mystery of Autumn.
If it happens again, eat a small piece of chocolate or candy (obviously not if you're diabetic). The sugar will very quickly help calm the nicotine swoons.
I went to tobaccoreviews.com, a great site by the way. It has Tsuge Mystery of Autumn listed at about the half way point of nic strength. Smoking Pipes.com has the description at 3 out of 4 for nic strength. It doesn't seem way high, but when I first started, I persevered through a bowl of Lane BCA to ash in a full Peterson 80s (not a particularly large pipe) and got sick. Other times before that, the same tobacco in my Peterson 268 (a similar size pipe), did not bother me at all. Who knows, time of day, empty/full stomach..nasty flavor at the bottom of the bowl in a new pipe? Lane BCA is a low nic tobacco..it hasn't really made me sick but once. I have some Peterson Irish Oak tobacco, one of the very first tobaccos I tried...it has a nic hit similar or higher than the Tsuge at least on paper. I got sick on it (probably the second or third time I ever smoked a pipe) and have been too chicken to smoke it again. On the other hand I have smoked Sam Gawith Black XX rope and never actually got sick....close, but I quit before I became ill. It is ALOT stronger and does not creep up on you, it just clobbers you. Very interesting tobacco by the way, I like it a lot, but can only take it in very small quantities..like in a WDC Baby Wellington, which seems like a huge pipe when smoking Black XX.
a lot of tobaccos have a high amount of Humectant in them, if you eave the tobacco out to dry and it hasn't shown any sign of drying, that's a sign of it. Some people are very sensitive to it. That stuff can work it's way down to the Dottle making it a double hit.
Oh, by the way, none of us laughed at the Newbie, we've all been there.
I'm the same way about St.Bruno Flake, I got sick on it and haven't smoked it since, waiting for the right time to try it again because I don't want to give up on it, I enjoyed the Ready-Rubbed,no issues.
I haven't had that much of an issue with pipe blends, but I've had some doozies with cigars and dipping snuff. Something I found to watch out for, and my friends that I smoke with have noticed the same thing, is when your nicotine buzz makes your vision really crisp and clear. That is usually the sign that you've peaked and are about to come down or crash. I try to stop when I think I could spot the Uruk-Hai taking the hobbits to Isengard, if I keep smoking past that point it's not going to be pretty.
Just a quick addition to the comment about using a pipe cleaner:
You can run a cleaner into a pipe *while you are smoking* if it is gurgling or you are drawing juices (full of nicotine and you probably swallow it). That may be what the poster above meant, but I figured I would make it clear.
Don't take the stem off while smoking it, but you can put a cleaner through the whole thing while smoking to dry it.
FWIW, this tip shows up on "things I wish someone told me earlier" lists frequently.
Comments
It could be high Nicotine, when you checkout a tobacco at an online store or a catalog it usually mentions the strength of it, the higher the strength, the higher the Nic.
It also could be that you're swallowing too much of the tobacco juices. When I'm smoking strong stuff I often rinse my mouth out. Cut back on smoking too often or too close between smokes. Try to cool the pipe completely before smoking again. Tars can built up in the stem, run a dry pipe cleaner through it to dry it.
Basically slow down a little and see if you get dizzy or feel the effects before relighting. It's kind of like drinking, bang down 3 or 4 shots it can catch up to you really fast.
I want to smoke it again but now I have that mental fear of it like some nasty hard liquor that you can't touch. Maybe I just need to go at it.
a lot of tobaccos have a high amount of Humectant in them, if you eave the tobacco out to dry and it hasn't shown any sign of drying, that's a sign of it. Some people are very sensitive to it. That stuff can work it's way down to the Dottle making it a double hit.
Oh, by the way, none of us laughed at the Newbie, we've all been there.
You can run a cleaner into a pipe *while you are smoking* if it is gurgling or you are drawing juices (full of nicotine and you probably swallow it). That may be what the poster above meant, but I figured I would make it clear.
Don't take the stem off while smoking it, but you can put a cleaner through the whole thing while smoking to dry it.
FWIW, this tip shows up on "things I wish someone told me earlier" lists frequently.