Smoking and the Spiritual Life

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Okay, so to be clear this is NOT another post that the morality of smoking.

But, I do want to ask the question of what the proper place of smoking is in one’s life. I suppose that tobacco should only be used virtuously for the glory of God. In this case, should it only be a communal thing, such as a cigar while having a good conversation with a friend? Or myself, I like to relax, smoke a cigar, and do my spiritual reading once a week. I do not feel as if its right to smoke, for the sake of smoking. I feel as if it has to help facilitate or lead to some good. Agree? Disagree?

But then, what about cigarettes? Is it not virtuous (sinful is another question!) to smoke a cigarette just for its own sake? I really don’t believe that there’s any good that a minute of tobacco can help facilitate. Then again, maybe even this could be used in the praise of God somehow.

With all of this in mind, to not use tobacco can be offered up as a penance, right? Perhaps not partake in it on Fridays, or the soon to be here seasons of Advent and Lent. I mean, it is a legitimate good that we can use, so I’m also assuming that it can be “given up” as well for reasons of asceticism.

But even speaking more generally, where does smoking fit in with the spiritual life? Can it be different for each person? G.K Chesterton and Pier Frassati are two figures that might be useful to look to? Thoughts?
 
Assuming you’re asking this question on behalf of yourself, and not because you’re trying to convince your mom, brother, or child not to smoke, then all you have to be concerned about is your own smoking. I would suggest not worrying about where your neighbor’s smoking fits into their spiritual life and just concentrate on your own.

You said you smoke a cigar once a week. This would seem to be in moderation.
Assuming you can afford the cigar, and your doctor has not given you a strong warning against a cigar once a week, and you are not dependent on the cigar in order to be able to go about your business, then it doesn’t sound like a big concern.

If you want to go without your cigar and “offer it up”, fine, but it seems like it’s just a once a week thing, so not much of a “give up” since you barely smoke.

Regarding habitual smokers trying to give it up for penance, many priests have told stories suggesting that this is probably not the best penance because the people tend to get so cranky they make everybody else do penance putting up with them. Also, because heavy smokers are usually addicted, most of them would be better off getting some kind of addiction treatment, which might be a nicotine patch or some other behavioral modification program. There are folks who can quit cold turkey, but a lot of people can’t. It’s usually not a good idea to try to give up an addiction for penance because it’s confusing a medical issue with a penitential issue and it can lead to a lot of mixed up and bad feelings if you “fail”. Better to choose something that you can more easily choose to give up.

And yes, obviously it’s different for each person. The fact that we have many saints who smoked or used tobacco, and many other saints who never did, attests to that.
 
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It was about forty years ago, maybe even less, that the health campaign against smoking began in earnest. Until that time, nobody had ever suggested there was anything sinful about smoking. In a public place, whether indoors or outdoors, wherever there were people smoking, you would see priests smoking like everyone else, without ever attracting criticism of any kind. It’s only because of the perceived health risk that smoking is now seen as not a good thing to do. There’s certainly nothing “unspiritual” about it in any way.
 
Pipe tobacco is much sweeter. And, smoking a pipe adds 10-15 points to your percevied IQ. The difficulty is keeping quiet so that you do not erase that perception.
 
I’m not sure how one can smoke virtuously for God when tobacco damages your body which i a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Sinful or not sinful is one thing but I don’t know how smoking could ever be virtuous
 
An exception might be the peace pipe. And indeed, we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, so the purpose enters in, certainly.
 
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The poison is in the dose.

I don’t know how much it takes to harm one’s health. Presumably, one cigar every few years won’t really hurt you, for instance. An addiction or reliance on smoking would clearly be bad. But how quickly does it harm the body? This is an issue with the harm to health question.

I’ve never smoked and just smelling cigarette smoke has me feel a pain in my chest, it’s pretty gross in my opinion. I don’t wanna encourage bad habits, but it is always important to remember that the poison is in the dose.
 
BartholomewB said:
Until that time, nobody had ever suggested there was anything sinful about smoking.
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Actually, smoking has gone in and out of moral favor over the centuries. And even when it was accepted that a man might have a smoke after dinner, it was considered morally bad as well as poor etiquette for a woman to smoke during the 19th century in USA and well into the 20th century. Smoking was one of the things that “independent” women did to rebel back in the 1920s, 30s etc. Unfortunately it helped kill quite a few of them off, such as my aunts, who both died significantly younger than my mother, who had decided to be the maverick in her social circle by never smoking though everyone else did. She thought it was dirty and smelly and then when a high school girls’ club blackballed her for not smoking, she got mad and never did it, and lived to be 89.
 
BartholomewB said:
It’s only because of the perceived health risk that smoking is now seen as not a good thing to do.
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I think it is a good deal more than merely perceived.
And yet here I am thinking about going back to a pipe after 40 years.
 
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I smoke my pipe because it tastes good. It smells good too!
 
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Well, someone knows what He’s doing.
What tobacco do you like?
 
I think I would like something mild, kind of amaretto, cherry sort of feel but not flavored.
I would love to find a nice tobacco store and just sample aromas.

Local store had something called Bugler Original Turkish blend. I have not even opened it yet.
 
I miss my daddy’s pipe tobacco smoke. Always smelled soooo good.
He switched to pipes from cigarettes in the mid-60s after some guy who had lost his larynx gave a talk at the hospital on the dangers of smoking, using one of those electronic thingies to talk. Dad said the men in the audience were freaking out and throwing their cigarettes on the floor and stomping on them.
 
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Apparently cigar smoking is a real health risk as well as cigarettes: CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.gov

CDC is one of the major operating components of the Department of Health and Human Services. View CDC’s Official Mission Statements/Organizational Charts to learn more about CDC′s organizational structure.CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.gov

And see Australian Department of Health

I am not a non smoker. I allow myself one packet cigarettes a fortnight. I do not smoke in public (other than if there is a smoking area) and at home, always outside.
 
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