Sidebar

Smoking a Pipe: Hobby or Life Choice

Log in

Forgot your password?

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Site Sponsors

Al Pascia
Blue Room Briars
Cigar World
Danish Pipe Shop
LePipe.it
Missouri Meerschaum
Pipes2Smoke.com
PipeStud.com
Seattle Pipe Club Tobaccos
SmokingPipes.com
Tabaccheria Corti
TinBids.com

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.
olderthandirt

olderthandirt

Lifer
Jun 26, 2011
2,011
2
Pacific Northwest USA
Quite often I see the word hobby used in connection with pipe smoking. Has me curious.

Collecting and refurbishing pipes or collecting and analyzing older tobacco blends are pursuits that I can easily understand as hobbies.

But the day to day smoking of a pipe referred to as a hobby causes me to stumble.

While I can appreciate where this may more than likely be a fault in my own perceptions of what I'm reading, still...
I thoroughly enjoy acquiring older or distinctive to me pipes and cleaning them and then of course using them. This could be seen as a hobby aspect for sure.

But.
I smoke them as a choice over cigarettes for the delivery of nicotine.
A Life Style Choice then, certainly not a hobby.
Curious as to the rest of you here, hobby or life style choice?

 
matchstickman

matchstickman

Lifer
Jul 15, 2011
2,363
31
There are days when I certainly feel that the ritual and nicotine delivery improves my quality of life, be it as a painkiller, a stress reliever, or just something to occupy my mind to forget about my daily stresses. I have also found that I can go days or even weeks without a smoke and feel no ill side effects. I certainly love collecting different pipe shapes and styles and refurbishing those old junkers, and I also get a thrill out of increasing my tobacco stash, and I have amassed a number of blends that I intend to both smoke immediately and let sit in the cellar to fully appreciate them. Hobby or life choice? I guess I am a bit torn between both some days.

 
frtimmyd

frtimmyd

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 13, 2011
165
0
I suppose I see it as a hobby even though I smoke every day. I love the research, care, deliberation, ritual (hey, I'm a priest what did you expect?)as much as or more than the nic fix. If it was mostly a matter of getting the nicotine, I'd probably stick with cigarettes.

 
baronsamedi

baronsamedi

Lifer
May 4, 2011
5,688
5
Dallas
I don't go for high nic blends. True, all tobacco has nicotine, but I smoke for flavor, aroma and a relaxing atmosphere more than anything. I enjoy it, but it doesn't define who I am. I ride a motorcyle too and though some may refer to me as a "biker" I conider myself a rocker who rides a bike. I'm not involved in a so-called "motorcycle lifestyle". I might have been closer to that when I didn't have a car, but I consider riding and smoking both hobby activites.

 
nsfisher

nsfisher

Lifer
Nov 26, 2011
3,566
20
Nova Scotia, Canada
i too, enjoy finding and buying and refurbishing pipes that i find at fleamarkets and antique stores, or even buying off e-bay, so in this respect only, its a hobby. but the act of smoking day to day is a tobacco and nicotine addiction. The pipe is just my preferable means of delivering that addiction. As far as collecting tobaccos, that is just a "try this new taste or flavor experience"

 
tokerpipes

tokerpipes

Lifer
Jan 16, 2012
2,042
690
46
Eatonville, WA
I am an ex nail smoker so i started out for the high nic fix. I found that I am now searching for the best tasting blend i can find or create. Yet I go through about 3/4 of an ounce a day, with work breaks and trying to get away from the wife and kids for just that small moment of peace and relaxation, to try and get the work day out of my head. So I guess I would say its both a hobby collecting the tools and the smoke and it a life style of release.

 
schmitzbitz

schmitzbitz

Lifer
Jan 13, 2011
1,165
2
Port Coquitlam, B.C.
As I have been (very happily) enslaved to Nicotine for the past seventeen-years, I would have to say that pipe-smoking - nay, all forms of tobacco use - are a lifestyle rather than a hobby for me.
That said, I do consider collecting pipes, different blends, and accoutrements to be more of a hobby than the actual smoking. After all, I don't know many people who collect cigarettes (although I do have to admit to having more than a couple of decks of foreign butts in my man-cave) or cigar stubs.

 
hnryclay

hnryclay

Can't Leave
Jan 9, 2012
365
0
I collect pipes, but smoking is just a habit. A worthwhile habit, but still just a habit.

 
dhizzy

dhizzy

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 29, 2011
649
1
I'm new at it so, I guess I'm not really sure. I'm still finding my way. I don't require nicotine though. I think I enjoy the taste and the relaxation that I can (sometimes) get from a smoke. And I sure do enjoy the heck out of all the discussion/complexity/debate/hunt for baccy and pipes/history aspect of pipe smoking. The pursuit of the perfect smoke is half the fun for me.

 
lifeon2

lifeon2

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 19, 2012
625
12
denver co
yeah I'm gonna hafta go with both myself I smoke, cigs, cigars and pipes, although lately the cigs have been giving way to pipes and cigars both of which I consider hobbies. I mean I keep neat looking cigar rings and I am really starting to enjoy my collecting/refurbishing of pipes so yeah both for sure.

 
baronsamedi

baronsamedi

Lifer
May 4, 2011
5,688
5
Dallas
The pursuit of the perfect smoke is half the fun for me.
Click to expand...
I can relate to that. I'm the kind of person that I don't even bother to smoke unless I'm going to have some time to sit and enjoy it. I've started to settle into a couple favorite baccys, but each new flavor is still an adventure. I hope we will always have that luxury!

 
thesmokindragon

thesmokindragon

Lifer
Jul 12, 2011
4,135
4,214
Crossing over from cigars for over 20 years (still enjoy a good one from

Time to time) I finally after a year of being a dedicated pipe smoker,

have found my smoke'in mojo ;-) it is a journey that never ends...

 
ejames

ejames

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
3,916
22
I smoke them as a choice over cigarettes for the delivery of nicotine.
Click to expand...
That's true for me also OTD. The pipe is my preferred nicotine delivery system!
My hobby is collecting,restoring,refinishing and making pipes and tampers.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom