Saturday, November 05, 2005

Smoke em if ya got em...


I had one of the most enjoyable nights this past Thursday night. Ironically, it cost virtually nothing and involved sitting in one place for a long period of time.

The Sip and myself have our Thursday night jam session as we always do. Sip has taken up the stand-up bass and I must say, must be a natural at this thing. He has played it maybe 3 times and you can hardly tell he is there because he never misses a note or a beat, just blends right in...

Anyway, I had brought my little box of 2 cigars, pipe tobacco, a corncob pipe, and my lighter. After practice we headed to Sips home. We went inside first, grabbed some ice water, and I took two Dove dark chocolate pieces and tossed them into my smoke box.

We headed out to Sips "outdoor living room" which is quite relaxing. A small fish pond with an ever flowing fountain, a comfortable bench, and a sip-made table to prop your feet on. There were some candles in the house so I brought two out and lit them and sat them on the table. It was very cafe-esque.

We lit our popes and just sat and talked about anything and everything. Before the night was over, both of us had urinated outside. We took a small walk around the backyard, which was dog-crap-free and returned to the bench to refill our pipes.

We swapped weed. The general consensus is that my weed was more desirable than Sips. After our smoking, we washed it down by letting some dark chocolate melt in our mouths and them some ice water.
Not much more than that. Sounds pretty romantic don't it? But we didn’t have any "Sex-shu-al re-lay-shuns" but it was a nice time with a good friend.

27 comments:

kermitgrn said...

And I missed it...Rats. Sounds like a great time. I'm going to have to come one thursday night. Can't be this week. But maybe next.

JS said...

well, this wasnt the night our wives were out of town, it was just a spur of the moment suggestion by me that very day. but you are invited for he next time. We cant smoke but once a month

Mat Brewster said...

Message from your friendly neighborhood editor. Be sure to spell check people. This was titled SNOKE em if ya got em.

I write my stuff in word, which automatically spell checks and grammar checks. It still misses stuff so its always a good idea to reread before you post.

Man, I'm terrible at grammar and stuff and make plenty of mistakes, so I'm pointing the finger at me too.

Mat Brewster said...

Good stuff, Jamison. Sounds fun.

I demand that Mullins type up a new blog on smoking. Lottery=evil, drinking=evil, smoking=well not very healthy, but its ok.

Mat Brewster said...

Speaking of the lottery, in church, this very morning, an elder made a point of declaring that buying a single lottery ticket was sinful.

JS said...

Never said smoking wasn't wrong...
But I did it anyway...

bigsip said...

Smoking is very bad for you. I admit it. We can apply the same arguments as we have to other stuff to smoking.

Chuck, my friend, you must make our next smoking adventure! It probably won't happen till the beginning of Dec, but you're definitely invited!

It was a good, relaxing time.

What Jamison said about it being only once a month is true. I asked Rachel if once a month I could go outside by the fountain and sit in the relaxing confines of the garden for a good smoke of the pipe.

She agreed to let me do so as long as Luke was not around. I happily agreed and have instituted a single smoking night each month for relaxation.

It's a good way to moderate and helps me stick to only one night per month.

Anyway, it was much fun!

mullinz8 said...

You swapped weed…

Sounds like you’re a couple of ganja smugglers. I checked out a beautiful pipe the other day that was begging to come home with me. Natural wood finish, shallow bowl, nice dip and fit very naturally into my fingers. Perhaps Santa is listening to this and from one pipe smoker to another is getting the hint.

I do love burning a full bowl of smoke. As I’ve said before I like it a lot better than a cigar once you get a good burn it’s just nice. I know its more work tapping and digging and what ever but it’s almost like a project to get it burning just right. Once it is, it’s great. Hard to explain so you’ll just have to try it your self.

Jamison you need a real pipe. The corn cobs are fun but smoking enjoyment comes when you have a real handcrafted piece of briar wood in your cool palm and a nice bit to keep pursed between your lips.

Once a month, you boys don’t go crazy ya hear. If you could have added a nice red wine and some cheese to your smoke and chocolate you guys would have had quite an opulent setting. I would have been able to forgive both of you for copping a feel on the other.

“Wrong” there in lies the ruse. Conscience, obscure yet deliberate indulgence. All those toxins infiltrating your body altering your blood stream just enough to catch the chill before the full buzz. Though there is not a mention of it I in the text is it too far out of reach to consider JC smoked while he was around. I will not suggest he smoke what is ridiculously called illegal today but water pipes and hookahs have been around for a very, very long time. Apple tobacco is very popular among Middle Eastern people for many years, it’s basically a slightly altered of modern pipe tobacco. JC hung out with a lot of less than reputable folks who undoubtedly smoked. Just as we have gathered to smoke during a visit could we also imagine him sharing a similar type of fellowship? I mean it also says that there was nothing he wasn’t tempted with, maybe he passed on the pipe hose maybe he inhaled.

JS said...

Im not going to touch the "did Jesus smoke" topic... getting a little too close to Trey H and his Bible lessons at ACA...

but yes, I do want a real pipe... but heck, the cheapest one I could find was like 40 bucks!

bigsip said...

Actually, $40 ain't too bad!

With all of those wood-working tools I have, we ought to just make a couple of good pipes. We could get some good briar and go to it!

We just need some plans, I think.

Speculation on what JC did/didn't do is pretty tricky, man. He may have been tempted, but that doesn't mean he partook.

You'll notice that when Satan tempted him in the wilderness, he rebuked him and didn't have any part in it. If JC was around smokers, drinkers, prostitutes, he was perfect and didn't sin.

Is smoking a sin if done in moderation? Is drinking? Is weed?

Dunno...but, I know I don't want any of them to be a habit.

JS said...

Yeah, just cuz JC was around smokers doesnt mean he smoked... he was around tax collectors, but was never given any money. And of course he was around prostitutes and never partook.... unless you ask T.H., then youll learn that he did...

Mat Brewster said...

You must tell about the whole TH thing!

mullinz8 said...

Like I said the other day when anything you do gets in front of your love for Christ then you’re walking a thin line. I’ve said many times what’s going to keep me out of Heaven is my wife, kids and family.

Jamison like I said, smoking then as it was today is a social thing. I’m not implying JC was torching a fatty but I’m saying that in a social setting where other people were smoking an apple tobacco or something like it could we not consider the idea that he partook? He drank wine at wedding feasts so…

I don’t like thinking of what JC did in his life but the guy was 30 when he started his documented ministry. His life could fill innumerable volumes did he ever chill out with the apostles with a smoke on a cool desert night? “Yo, son of Mary brother of James I picked up this stogie from south farthing, vintage leaf, cool aromatic burn.

BTW $40 is a good place to start for your first pipe. The beauty I was checking out was just over $80. If I get it I think I might invest in a longer bit and go for the Shire look.

Mat Brewster said...

I won't come out and say that smoking is sin. But if our bodies are a temple to the HS I'm not so sure inhaling smoke and tar into your lungs is such a good idea.

The thing that gets me is that if Mullins and I decided to have drinking parties once a month we'd get some major frowning around here.

I've heard sermons against drinking, read tracts on how all the times the Bible says "wine" it really means "grape juice" etc, ad infinity.

Yet never have I heard one word from a pulpit, or read eve a word in a bulletin about the evils of smoking.

Mention you had some fine wine on a saturday night and you'll be meeting with the elders on Sunday. Yet how many deacons are sitting in their cars lighting up a marlboro?

Heck, here we are discussing the kind of pipe you should buy.

JS said...

I dont know if I can give you the low down on T.H. accurately. I would pass it to chuck, but seeing as how he enjoys rumors spreading rather than just tell us whats going on, I'll go ahead, as short as I can make it:

T.H. taught Bible at a CofC school here in town (guess which one).

Many students, particularly ones I went to church with, would engage him in class about some of the insane things he taught. Even so much as report him to the powers-that-be because of some of the things he taught in class.

Long story short, these kids were told to butt out and to stop making acusations that they have no proof for (other than 5 to 10 witnesses).

TH denied that he claimed that Jesus had sexual intercourse with Mary Magdalene. And that Jesus did several other things that typically are said, then followed by thunder and the Heavens darkening.

Many churches in town wrote to the school demanding he be evaluated or fired.

The school refused and henceforth stopped inviting to do devos many of those against such teachings.

Dunno much more than happened, but TH doesnt work there anymore...

If anyone is reading this that knows TH, I am only saying what I heard. If you know the facts, share them.

Mat Brewster said...

We just don't have any indication that Christ smoked. There is nothing to indicate that he did or didn't. Pure speculation.

Mat Brewster said...

The TH thing makes me very sad.

Too much speculation from all sides.

Anyone ever seen the Last Temptation of Christ. That film deals with some of those issues and was routinely blasted by all kinds of christian circles even though most had never seen the film.

I wonder if TH wasn't talkign about the film, or some other speculative book wondering what would have happened if Christ had decided to give it all up and live as a human being, sins and all.

Then some kid got mad at the idea, or misunderstood and it got blown out of proportion.

We just don't know.

But either way all the speculation and hurt that comes from gossip just makes me sad.

bigsip said...

As far as smoking goes...

If you smoke a little too much tobacco, you run the risk of vomiting or dying of cancer.

Drink too much alcohol and your judgement is severely impaired and you run the risk of driving and killing yourself/someone else.

But, in close moderation, both seem fine to me.

I have seen TH several times since moving back to Montgomery.

I asked him how things were at ACA when I first saw him and he gave me an odd answer.

"I got tired of all the 'stuff' going on there. I'm through with that."

I'm not sure if he left or was fired, but either way it was apparently an unhappy parting.

All that I've heard about it leads me to feel that speculation is a poor standpoint from which to approach Biblical study.

If we get outside the Spirit-filled Word, we're speaking in terms of heresay and fiction.

Let's keep it real.

tnmommieof2 said...

i am trying sooo hard to quit smoking. i have cut back a whole bunch...and i never smoke around the kids, in the house or in the car with the kids...people ask me "if you can cut back, why can't you just quit?" and all i know is to shamefully hang my head and say "i don't know."

sip, you did it....how????? i mean, it's not like i don't KNOW what it's doing to my body...and i do want to be around to see my grandkids....but i am truly addicted. any words of encouragement or ideas on quitting would be appreciated greatly...

bigsip said...

I'll tell you what made me quit. It was love. The hurt in my parents' eyes when they found out I smoked made me quit.

I still do smoke on occasion, but not regularly. I keep myself in check with a very good memory. The pained expression in their eyes makes me not do it.

I also don't want Luke to get involved in the habit. I transpose the hurt expression from my parents' eyes to my own when I consider that possibility.

I know you have issues with anxiety, Julianna. Have you tried Welbutrin? I worked with a man who'd been smoking for close to 35 years who was able to quit by taking Welbutrin.

Nicotine is extremely addictive, but anxiety plays a significant role. You probably just have to use our own motivation (family, husband, health, kids, etc.) combined with some meds to help.

Most of all, it'll take mounds of self-control. I'll pray for you. It's a hard burden to bear and an even harder burden to drop.

I Love (Phelos) you. That's old-skool Jules...

JS said...

My dad quit smoking when he lost his hearing in one ear.

Doctors couldnt figure out why he had gone deaf in one ear.
He stopped smoking for like 3 months and he could hear again!

but he went back to smoking.

tnmommieof2 said...

the bad thing is, is i have been taking wellbutrin for about a month now...it has helped...i've cut down to only 4 or 5 a day. i used to take smoke breaks at work..
at least 2xs a day. i've stopped doing that...it's just that habit of whenever i get in the car...or after i eat...

just pray for me guys...i need all the help i can get...

bigsip said...

Praying for you as I type.

You can do it, Julianna!

It just takes time and patience and willpower. Lots of willpower.

Mat Brewster said...

I don't know what to tell ya Jules. I think everyone is different. My dad, after years and years of smoking and trying to quit, one day just stopped.

Others have to take the patch or the gum, and others can wean themselves.

I think I would do some serious praying and meditating on it. Think about the harm it causes to your body and your loved ones. Think about why you do it and why you should quit. Then make a plan.

I think with a lot of things like this we think that we should quit, and we tell ourselves that someday we will, but we don't really committ to it.

I'm sure its hard. I don't have any idea how hard it is because I've never been addicted. But I believe in you, and that you CAN quit.

JS said...

They say that after 48 hours, the nicotine is out of your body... after that, your desire is just out of habit of putting something in your mouth or holding on your hands

bigsip said...

That's where the anxiety/comfort thing takes hold I think.

We humans are creatures of habit. Taking away a comfort like the act of smoking is a tough loss.

You just have to get used to something else, like drinking lots of water or something. It's still an act, just much better for you.

You'll have to pee a lot more, but hey, you won't get cancer!

JS said...

Drinking lots of water also helps flush out more nicotine, making the craving for nicotine less... but again, it may do nothing for the habit of having something small in your hand...