Lou Holtz to Wife -- Choose My Vice ... Booze, Chicks, Or My Pipe? (VIDEO)

Lou Holtz has one simple pleasure in life, and he just can't do without it -- which is why he had to have a heart-to-heart with his wife when she tried to get him to quit cold turkey.

We ran into the NCAA football legend at LAX ... where he was brandishing his beloved smoking pipe. Holtz told us he's been packing and lighting his baby for 53 years, but for some reason his wife of 54 years recently asked him to kick the habit.

Let's just say that didn't go ever well, but just like his coaching days -- Holtz devised a brilliant game plan to get his way.