My 11 year old is curious about smoking and blowing smoke rings like Gandalf. He loves Lord of the Rings and just finished watching the movies for the 3rd time. He has been talking about eating salted pork, drinking ale and smoking pipe weed. I made smoked ham at his request and now he wants a pipe to smoke tea. A year ago he experimented with smoking tea and made a bong. I didn't know about you the tea or the bong until my neighbor called and said she found a bag with tea/bong in her 13 year old 's bedroom. I talked with my son about the tea /bong and his curiosity. The end result was he lost a friend and the respect of our neighbors. The 13 year old was grounded for a month. Now his curiousity is back and he wants me to buy a pipe for him. I understand his curiosity but I am not sure about buying a pipe. I usually help him explore his interests. No one in our family smokes. I do not want to encourage him to smoke. But I also encourage him to be open with me about everything so I know what is going on with him and can talk about it. We have discussed the addictive nature of smoking. Any suggestions would be great. My ability to research is limited on my phone (we are in the middle of moving from the mid west to the north west). Links to reading would be great.
Sandra Dodd
You’ve seen the movie too, right? Gandalf isn’t “blowing smoke rings.”
It’s all special effects. Find him youtube videos about how they did the special effects. Find youtube videos (or movies from the 1940s) with people blowing smoke rings. And tell him that it’s illegal for you to help him smoke ANYthing. That’s true where I am, and I’m pretty sure it would be just about anywhere.
He’s 11.
Seriously.
Sometimes the answer is no, sorry, can’t; try it when you’re grown.
My mom knew how to blow smoke rings in smoke rings, and she also died of lung and heart problems caused by nicotine and alcohol. She was 72, so it might not kill you as quickly as advertised; sometimes it take a long time. Keith’s brother died of lung cancer in his early 50’s. Keith’s mom did, too (of more than just lung cancer) but she was over 90 years old, so I don’t know how much that counts as cigarettes having killed her. She had stopped smoking 20 years or so before she died.
But smoking anything at all is probably illegal for kids, meaning there’s no justification that any social workers or judges are going to think is a good idea.
I don’t know what states you’re travelling in, but New Mexico is pretty liberal and wild west, and every form of smoking is illegal here for anyone under 18—tobacco, hookahs, e-cigs.
Sandra
Cecile Meyer
Would he be interested in fun ways to blow bubbles instead? Blowing bubbles inside bubbles, giant bubbles, coloured bubbles? I've seen you can even blow smoke bubbles with smoke that does not come from tobacco but from a special product made from glycerin. It is also possible to do it with dry ice, apparently. Would that be an acceptable substitute for him?
I think people used to blow bubbles with objects that looked like pipes, in the past. Trying to find one could be fun!
My 11 year old is curious about smoking and blowing smoke rings like Gandalf. He loves Lord of the Rings and just finished watching the movies for the 3rd time. He has been talking about eating salted pork, drinking ale and smoking pipe weed. I made smoked ham at his request and now he wants a pipe to smoke tea. A year ago he experimented with smoking tea and made a bong. I didn't know about you the tea or the bong until my neighbor called and said she found a bag with tea/bong in her 13 year old 's bedroom. I talked with my son about the tea /bong and his curiosity. The end result was he lost a friend and the respect of our neighbors. The 13 year old was grounded for a month. Now his curiousity is back and he wants me to buy a pipe for him. I understand his curiosity but I am not sure about buying a pipe. I usually help him explore his interests. No one in our family smokes. I do not want to encourage him to smoke. But I also encourage him to be open with me about everything so I know what is going on with him and can talk about it. We have discussed the addictive nature of smoking. Any suggestions would be great. My ability to research is limited on my phone (we are in the middle of moving from the mid west to the north west). Links to reading would be great.
Jo Isaac
My son also loves LOTR, and wanted a pipe. My husband got him a pipe - it's really nice, and has a display stand, and it sits in his room. There was never any question of actually smoking from it though - it's illegal, deadly and gross. My step-dad died by setting his oxygen on fire - he was smoking while he had his oxygen on - my son definitely doesn't want to smoke, he wanted a cool pipe to look at like Gandalfs.
You can blow rings of smoke other ways - dry ice, for example (there are heaps of youtubes to tell you how).
You can buy a pipe and have it as an ornament.
Other LOTR things we did that were fun were making wax letter seals and doing calligraphy.
My 11 year old is curious about smoking and blowing smoke rings like Gandalf. He loves Lord of the Rings and just finished watching the movies for the 3rd time. He has been talking about eating salted pork, drinking ale and smoking pipe weed. I made smoked ham at his request and now he wants a pipe to smoke tea. A year ago he experimented with smoking tea and made a bong. I didn't know about you the tea or the bong until my neighbor called and said she found a bag with tea/bong in her 13 year old 's bedroom. I talked with my son about the tea /bong and his curiosity. The end result was he lost a friend and the respect of our neighbors. The 13 year old was grounded for a month. Now his curiousity is back and he wants me to buy a pipe for him. I understand his curiosity but I am not sure about buying a pipe. I usually help him explore his interests. No one in our family smokes. I do not want to encourage him to smoke. But I also encourage him to be open with me about everything so I know what is going on with him and can talk about it. We have discussed the addictive nature of smoking. Any suggestions would be great. My ability to research is limited on my phone (we are in the middle of moving from the mid west to the north west). Links to reading would be great.