Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, is reviled by elitists in the literature field because things he wrote, such as "the pen is mightier than the sword" and "it was a dark and stormy night", have become cliché but your words don’t become that unless everyone likes it.
I own his collected works because he knew what he was doing and nothing showed it better than his insight into the psychological benefits of puffing on a pipe.
He wrote, “A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan."
If you know your history, you know Samaria was south of Galilee and north of Jerusalem in Israel, before the Roman Empire had enough of Jewish rebellions and renamed it all Palestine-Syria. The Samaritans were not considered Jewish because they only accepted the first five books of the Torah, plus it was believed they were Assyrian colonizers. In the Bible (Gospel of Luke) The Samaritan was the hero when the Levite (descended from one of the 12 historical tribes) and the Jewish priest (one of the other 11) refused to help a traveler attacked and beaten by robbers, and now Good Samaritan is part of the popular lexicon even though there is no Bad Samaritan mentioned.
Lytton was saying that a pipe makes you a better human being.
It may also make you healthier. The 1964 Surgeon General’s report that showed cigarette smoking would kill you also noted that those who enjoyed a pipe or cigar lived longer.
1.0 is normal so puffing on a pipe was more beneficial than an hour of exercise each day.
Obviously, it’s the smoke and various chemicals inhaled into lungs and not the nicotine or flavor that is the problem. Because pipes are more aromatic to others (i.e. women) than cigars, it set off a new pipe-smoking fad in men.
Mr. Fantastic, the smartest guy in the world, puffed on a pipe in comic books for kids, because it was healthy and therefore a sign of intelligence. Only criminals smoked cigarettes. Art by Jack Kirby, prose by Stan Lee, owned by Marvel, a low-res copy in news to stay under fair use. Please don't sue me.
Lytton was correct about its mental health benefits. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld discussed it over coffee, which is another product hysterics like the lawyer running Center for Science in the Public Interest tried to claim causes cancer but is instead healthy in multiple ways.
"That cigar cigarette thing ... I love that. Here is an analysis of something by two idiots that no one else is doing."
Zenith is the oldest, still-running pipe company in the world. Keens Steakhouse in New York City has the largest collection of churchwarden pipes in the world. In old-timey days you bought a Zenith churchwarden (Gouda in Holland is known by most for cheese now but it was so famous for pipes half the city was employed in the industry) and they numbered it and kept it at Keens and they would bring it to you after your meal.
I have been there, the food and service are as legendary as the name but they don't number pipes any more. In talking with them, they said they can't even accurately sort the thousands they have, they sure can't store any more. And you can't smoke anything inside anyway.
So my vintage Zenith clay pipe is not enjoyed after a fine Manhattan meal but confirmation bias and a certain level of truthiness leads me to conclude I get the health benefits anyway. That it takes me back to those bygone days of 1749, when the company started, is a bonus.
