NEW IN THE LOUNGE: Smoking on the High Sea

NicoleSTGLaneLtd

Larger than life pirates, noble sea captains, lighthouse guardians, and all who make their living from the seas are pipe smokers in our collective mind. All fiction is inspired by reality. Read more about the association between tobacco and the sailor.

https://thispipelife.com/tpl-article/11/

PappyJoe

Nice article. And very brief. After basic training in the spring of 1972, I arrived at my first duty station - a Coast Guard Icebreaker homeported in Seattle. I quickly noticed that there were 7 or 8 guys who were pipe smokers. The surprise was finding that we had about 30 pipe smokers aboard when we got underway for a summer in the ice off of Alaska. 

NathanMasteller

An enjoyable quick read!

hloakes

I am looking forward to a pipe on the high seas next week as we go on a cruise.

PappyJoe

@hloakes - good luck on your cruise. Check their smoking regulations as some cruise ships are "smoke-free" or have restrictions on where you can smoke. A friend went on one cruise last summer and you could only smoke in the cigar lounge and he said you had to buy over priced cigars in the lounge.

hloakes

Fortunately they have a cigar lounge and an outside area to smoke. I have never been required to buy the ship's cigars to use the lounge but this is a new ship for us so we will see.

hloakes

Got back from our cruise Sunday and I was able to smoke in the lounge with no problem. The biggest problem for me was all the cigarette smokers. There was also an outside area for smokers, but no cigars or pipes are allowed out there.  

Tigertron5000

I would loved to of enjoyed smoking my pipe out in the high seas, but at which the speed of the carrier I was on or the combination of the winds, lighting a pipe was a bit of an annoyance. Not to mention loads of people always at the smoke pit, would sometimes take the enjoyment out of smoking a pipe.

NCAnGus

I took my first cruise a few weeks ago aboard the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas and found the area on the top deck where smoking was permitted was full of cigarette smokers and loud partiers (nothing wrong with that, just not where I want to relax with a pipe).  I visited the cigar lounge, and that was fine if it was ridiculously windy outside, but I really didn't want to stay cooped up indoors.  They did not require me to purchase their cigars, by the way.  But my favorite experience of the whole cruise were the hours and hours spent on the starboard side of deck 4.  Nothing there but lounge chairs, shuffleboard, the ocean, a book and my pipe (OK, and a few cigars).  Not much foot traffic, and the people who did pass were very friendly, I really enjoyed the experience.

NicoleSTGLaneLtd

@NCAnGus That sounds so relaxing. I could use a little sunshine and sea air.

pwkarch

My first cruise was in the Navy......I have very fond memories of standing on the signal bridge smoking cigarettes, cigars, and a pipe (I suppose depending on my mood). Many times in rough seas I would be asked to move away from those whose stomachs did not get along with the ocean. Nothing like sailing along with the ocean breeze in your face TRYING to smoke a pipe. Sometimes it is just an exercise in futility and you would have to switch to a cigar, where a decent sized cigar (length and ring gauge) would last maybe 20 minutes. Our lead 1st Class Lead Boatswains Mate would not allow anything other than cigarettes in the ships interior.