Is pipe smoking a sin?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MCH2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MCH2

Guest
Is smoking tobacco from a pipe a couple times a week sinful. I do it to help me calm down. I can see arguments both ways. Any thoughts?
 
I don’t see what you are describing as being sinful, nor did the OP say that it was a habit.
 
It is not a sin but it is bad for your health. Pipe smoking is as bad as cigarette smoking.
 
Last edited:
Dan_Defender said:
It is not a sin but it is bad for your health. Pipe smoking is as bad as cigarette smoking.
Click to expand...
Deliberately doing anything that has substantial health risk is sinful. Much research suggests that pipe smoking is indeed very unhealthy. So yes, I would say it is sinful. Mortal or venial would depend on the circumstances.
 
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
I won’t presume to speak for others, but I for one would not want to face God in the Particular Judgment and have him run a video of what I could have accomplished, had I not shortened my life for the sake of a pleasurable habit.

D
 
No. You’re not inhaling or doing it excessively. It’s not cigarette smoking.
 
Smoking tobacco is one of those rare things in life where nothing good can come from it. The only thing it can do is harm you. Is it sinful? That’s between you and your confessor but I think it comes very close to being so.
 
Per the CCC anything done in excess would be sinful, just like eating, drinking alcohol, etc. so smoking per say is not sinful unless it starts getting habitual. But why take a chance when smoking has no value whatsoever.
 
AZ42 said:
He lived before the health risks of smoking were widely known. Given the knowledge we have now, smoking is sinful.
Click to expand...
Nope, it’s not. At least not according to the Catholic Church. (I did grow up in a Protestant denomination that did see smoking as sinful).

Just because something is not particularly healthy doesn’t automatically make it sinful. I’m not necessarily going to promote smoking on this forum, but I know many Catholics, priests and laity, who occasionally enjoy a good cigarette/cigar/pipe, etc. with friends, along with good conversation. And I will confess to have partaken in this as well! A healthy sense of moderation is key in all these things. Again, not saying that smoking is healthy, but it’s not some forbidden evil either.
 
Last edited:
Cruciferi said:
No. You’re not inhaling or doing it excessively. It’s not cigarette smoking.
Click to expand...
I mean, there are lots of other risks from cigar and pipe smoking, even if not inhaling. But I agree that it is not sinful, as long as it isn’t in excess.
 
What about passive smoking though ? I would say that’s very much not ok if you are aware of its risks, because you are taking away someone’s free will not to smoke unless you are on your own when you do it
 
If it’s just an occasional indulgence, and you can afford the pipe and tobacco and are not getting yourself addicted to it, I’m not seeing it as a sin. I’m presuming you are putting tobacco in the pipe and not marijuana or anything similar.
The “Catholic Gentleman” blog, which is pretty traditional, has featured two pipes in its logo.

Obviously don’t smoke anywhere it’s forbidden or where you might bother others with your smoke.

My father smoked a pipe for about the last 25 years of his life after giving up cigarettes. His doctor told him the pipe was not as harmful and he was a Catholic that entire time and as far as I know, was never called out on his pipe smoking during that time. I would note that in that era, the majority of people still smoked cigarettes, so you didn’t have people making a big objection to smoking in general like you do today.
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
Here is a rather interesting article on Catholicism and tobacco use:
Click to expand...
So Padre Pio was a Skoal brother? Who knew? Fascinating article.

I was a cigarette, and later pipe smoker, for many years. Finally in 2014 I switched to a vapor pipe and never looked back. No leaf tobacco in five years. I find that either smoking or vaping is relaxing, it helps with digestion, and even makes it easier to go to sleep at night if taken right before bedtime. Sometimes I even find that it helps me to take an afternoon nap — retired guys do that sort of thing.

There are things in life that, while not sinful in themselves, are less than perfect, but if we gave up everything like that, life would barely be worth living. All things in moderation.

And along those lines, I have heard that in the past, people in Quebec would smoke in church. I heard this in a crude parody that cannot be repeated here, and I also heard two people talking about this subject in, of all places, a truck stop on Interstate 95. Is this true? Let me be clear that I LOVE French Canadian culture and have counted many French Canadians as close friends.
 
“…one of those rare things in life where nothing good can come from it”

Same can be said for soda. Never heard anyone question whether that is a sin. We’ve just decided as a society that smokers (unless its pot of course - which has dubious health benefits) need to be ostracized.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top