As I become old, it occurs to me that to relax one doesn’t need to alter one’s mind so much. However, at the end of the day it’s good and helpful to reflect and ruminate awhile. At the same time, I’m finding that I’m appreciating reflection as I go throughout more of my whole day. So I’m building it into more parts of my life in little ways.
Specifically, I find that handcrafting contributes to this attitude. So I recently shellacked the cork handlebar tape on my bike and finished it with twine. Painting and wrapping on a bike seemed like nice, mellow things to do—bringing the glow and texture of art, painting and furniture care into the riding world, why not.
So I’m finding that when the day is done and the kids are in bed that I enjoy going outside and sitting at the picnic table in the waning light and reading a little (by headlamp) maybe with a lit candle nearby. And I’ve taken to puffing a bowl of tobackky!
My favorite uncle used to smoke a corncob occasionally and it looked like he was reflecting when he did so. He would nod and ‘Hmmm.’
I like fires. Fire draws me in.
So I got a corncob pipe and a bag of mellow tobacco and tried it out. Very smooth. No inhaling, no holding it long in the mouth. Just little puffs. Hmmmm. Reading. Embers. Night stars. A couple times a week (who can get a quiet moment before bed more often, with kids?). Not bad.
Now I’m having Martha keep an eye out for handcarved *briar* pipes and such at garage sales. They can be cleaned easily. But doesn’t “briar” sound neat? It seems kinda like burl. And who doesn’t like burl who likes grain and hand-rubbed texture in wood? And did you know that they age tobacco like they do wine? And that they rest pipes between smokes? If something takes time, that seems good to me. Did you know they used to age bicycle tires? And that it took 2 weeks to properly mount a race tire? –By shellac? Yes, it all works together.
We’ll see how it plays.
If you want to know some dandy ways to do it all, check out the website above.
UPDATE 11/05: I ran out of my first bag of tobakky and some friends bought me a pouch of Prince Albert (“Well you better let him out!”). When I opened it, I couldn’t smell a thing. There was no tobakky smell. I tried smoking it. Not a nice experience. I’ve finally bought a fresh package of REAL tobacco from the great ole’ Campbell’s Smoke Shop on MAC Ave in East Lansing that sold me my kit in the first place. Man, their tobacco gives off a rich, lovely, just right smell EVEN IN THE PLASTIC BAG! And it’s so mellow and fragrant and just right to smoke. There’s a world of difference between the Indy Local Spirit and the Corpo Robo Vibe, isn’t there? That was just another example.
https://vegassmokes.com/pipe-smoking-tips.htm
