Getting Bored

[bullet08]

I've thought about this threads topic a bit this morning and am wondering if the problem is burnout rather than boredom. I say this because I have gone through enough cycles of hobbies or activities and gotten burned out.

For example I got burned out from distance running after several years of training and running many miles per year. I then setteled into just running if I wanted. The same occured when learning a musical instrument or how to hone a straight razor. After a while the interests just wane a bit. You know you know how, and that's enough.

I do think in life we must push back on allowing ourselves to be bored because I think its a slipperly slope for depression and even self harm. There is a place for going for a walk even when we don't want to because we know exercise is good for the body.

I do think there is a start up and skill development necessary to have a good smoke and each of us is different. There are those of us addicted to nicotine and others that are not. I say this as a former chewing tobacco addict. It's never something I want to go through again and when I smoke it's always a concern.

I also think that most of us want to not obcess on smoking but fishing, camping, bicycling, motoring, talking to friends, enjoying a sunset, etc. and not having smoking be the dominant concern.

Pipe smoke is not a hobby. It's a life style. It's an adventure!

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Pipe smoke is not a hobby. It's a life style. It's an adventure!

Says you…?

 

[ncshawn]

Nothing wrong with that. All our tastes and preferences change over time. If it didn't interest me anymore, or not like it used to, I would walk away and see if I'm drawn back to it or not.

 

[Reggie]

For me, Pipe Smoking enhances so many of my other activities and just goes hand in hand with them. It also helps me to destress and put things in perspective. I also can put it down for a few days. When I return to my P&T, I have a renewed sense of interest. I also use smokeless tobacco for my nicotine delivery. That monkey is on my back also and has been since the early 80s. I would take a break from the pipe if possible. You will come back to it. We are a special breed!

 

[burleybreath]

Umm...people smoke for the excitement? Maybe, out behind the barn when you're 12 or something. Kind of a weird concept. Guess I'm safe from pipe smoking ennui--you can't lose what you never had. I like to smoke just as I like Chicken Marsala or some other favorite. I enjoy it but don't ejaculate in ecstasy with every session. If you want excitement I would suggest race cars, or becoming an inner city cop, or similar pursuits.

 

[anotherbob]

I've thought about this threads topic a bit this morning and am wondering if the problem is burnout rather than boredom. I say this because I have gone through enough cycles of hobbies or activities and gotten burned out.

For example I got burned out from distance running after several years of training and running many miles per year. I then setteled into just running if I wanted. The same occured when learning a musical instrument or how to hone a straight razor. After a while the interests just wane a bit. You know you know how, and that's enough.

I do think in life we must push back on allowing ourselves to be bored because I think its a slipperly slope for depression and even self harm. There is a place for going for a walk even when we don't want to because we know exercise is good for the body.

I do think there is a start up and skill development necessary to have a good smoke and each of us is different. There are those of us addicted to nicotine and others that are not. I say this as a former chewing tobacco addict. It's never something I want to go through again and when I smoke it's always a concern.

I also think that most of us want to not obcess on smoking but fishing, camping, bicycling, motoring, talking to friends, enjoying a sunset, etc. and not having smoking be the dominant concern.

I agree. It does sound like burnout or fatigue. I'd say don't quite quit but lay back a bit. I find that for me I don't get this with smoking but with types of tobacco or specific blends. If I leave them alone suddenly when I get back to them oh gosh the excitement comes back. I also have the occasional time where I leave the pipe alone for a little while and it's amazing how much joy comes back after even a few days. I am addicted to nicotine but pipes for me are about more then nicotine (got snus and nasal snuff for that). Which when I get bored with pipes I'll take a few days off and replace the pipe with snuff for those times. It's weird almost how quickly the spark starts again. And another thing on weekends I don't smoke my pipe that helps too. For me a variety is also important. Doing things like focusing on aros for a while or a single blend for a while helps. Just like with music I can't listen to just jazz but if I don't listen to it for a while it sounds better when I start up again. Either way I think shaking things up can help. Making it too routine or common takes the joy out. But what's weird is how quickly it can come back after a short absence.

 

[Jaylotw]

Umm...people smoke for the excitement? Maybe, out behind the barn when you're 12 or something. Kind of a weird concept. Guess I'm safe from pipe smoking ennui--you can't lose what you never had. I like to smoke just as I like Chicken Marsala or some other favorite. I enjoy it but don't ejaculate in ecstasy with every session. If you want excitement I would suggest race cars, or becoming an inner city cop, or similar pursuits.

So do you join the chicken Marsala forum and discuss various Marsala wines and cooking methods? Maybe trade a bottle of Marsala with some guy in Arkansas because he wants your aged bottle and you prefer the flavor profile of freshly bottled Marsala? I mean, we’re all on this forum because pipe smoking is something we pursue with some type of passion, regardless of how we perceive our daily smoking or how much “excitement” it brings us.

I guess the whole point in my original post was that, up until recently, it was much more fascinating for me and more of a passion to study, seek out, and try new blends.

 

[Chasing Embers]

You will come back to it.

Sort of like an addiction.

Umm...people smoke for the excitement?

I don't get it either.?‍

So do you join the chicken Marsala forum and discuss various Marsala wines and cooking methods?

There is one of those.

I mean, we’re all on this forum because pipe smoking is something we pursue with some type of passion

I just do it for nicotine.

 

[workman]

If this loss of excitement really is as painful to you as it seems, maybe you should consider becoming more serious about it. I remember a forum member from maybe 4-6 years ago who somehow became a tasting guineapig for Sutliff.
Jiminks can't do all the tasting anyway and who knows, maybe there's free samples to be had...

 

[Jaylotw]

If this loss of excitement really is as painful to you as it seems, maybe you should consider becoming more serious about it. I remember a forum member from maybe 4-6 years ago who somehow became a tasting guineapig for Sutliff.
Jiminks can't do all the tasting anyway and who knows, maybe there's free samples to be had...

Yes! If I can figure a way to make this boredom work for me.

Maybe Greg Pease needs a new taster for prototype blends. I bet I’d not get bored then.

 

[Jaylotw]

I just do it for nicotine.

Not saying you’re not being truthful…but…if it was just the nicotine, why bother cellaring all the McClelland? Why not just smoke Five Brothers? Why collect all those giant Savinelis when one cob will do? There’s got to be more to it than just a nicotine fix…

 

[Chasing Embers]

why bother cellaring all the McClelland?

I smoke several different brands of cigarettes too. I got the McClellands during the IPSD sales and one not to pass up a deal, I got the most expensive retail tins at the time. The ten tins of Balkan Blue I picked up for $50 from a fellow on here clearing out his cellar a few years back.

Why collect all those giant Savinelis

I threw those away earlier this year. Never even got around to smoking the Giubileo d'Oros.

There’s got to be more to it than just a nicotine fix…

Not really otherwise I wouldn't carry my pipes in my pants pocket or use them as seed starters.

 

[OzPiper]

Before I begin this post, an apology 1st up for this long-winded post and comparing tobaccos/smoking to wine, but I do believe there are similarities between the 2. I was bitten by the wine bug when I was at university, so I've been fascinated by wine far longer than pipes and tobacco. I don't see myself as a wine connoiseur (my palate is NOT that fine), merely a student of wine.

When I first became interested in wine, I read and bought wine books and magazines ( the Internet wasn't around then) and have bookcases full of wine literature. I have built up, and disposed of cellars of wine, as my tastes, and financial situation changed. I belong to a few wine groups, some very casual, and one rather formal one. I also am lucky to count many in the wine trade as personal friends.

Do I / have I ever become bored with wine ? Like pipes and smoking, I do not drink on a daily basis - only in company or a glass or two on the weekend, with a smoke. As such, it's something to be anticipated with a degree of pleasure.

There have been periods when I haven't bought a single bottle for months. Or deleted every emailed wine offer without reading it first. After more than 50 years of wine drinking, I have my list of favourites. But even then, there is a new vintage every year. Yes, the same wine, but different nuances, because of a variety of factors - weather, maybe the winemaker is trying a new fermentation or ageing method, or maybe there has been a change in winemaker.

Through my friends and contacts, I am constantly kept in the loop with new releases and trends (much as I hate that word). A wine style (eg Bordeaux) that I thought of as passé or "ho hum" suddenly gets looked at with fresh interest because a friend has opened a stonkingly great bottle.

Pipes and tobacco, like wine, is an interest as well as an enjoyable pastime, rather than a habit or addiction. And hopefully, for me, will always remain thus.

 

[mso489]

For what it's worth, an old Dutch saying is, a change is as good as a rest.

 

[Ahi Ka]

a stonkingly great bottle.

finally some English I can understand!

OP, I too smoke for enjoyment, find the research relating to placing estate pipes in their respective periods fascinating, and go through times when all of it just loses a bit of its shine.

I should also add that I sometimes have sinus problems so even the slightest bit of irritation can rob the enjoyment from the bowl. While I would probably smoke a bowl most days, I’ve noticed that I’m more inclined to get more pumped about smoking in certain seasons - especially the shoulder seasons, which corresponds nicely with either planting out my tobacco beds or getting the harvested leaf out of the kiln.

That said, to date the only tobacco related activity more exciting than smoking is ordering tobacco from overseas. Get yourself some European stuff and play Russian roulette with usps and customs!

also, if you never have, try growing a plant or two. Even the worst tasting stuff I’ve picked still made me laugh maniacally, and promptly got me back into enjoying my cellar.

 

[elnoblecigarro]

Perhaps take a break?

I don't smoke at all during winters. Gives me something to look forward to when spring comes.

 

[Sgetz]

It’s not that exiting anymore.

Not that it ever was that exciting, but lately I’ve found myself just kind of, I dunno, underwhelmed? with the whole experience. I smoked some 20 year old McClellend Anniversary to see if it would perk me up and get me back into it, but the whole thing just kind of became a bore. It tastes good, I’m relaxing…yay…

I play music, and the inspiration to pick up an instrument comes and goes, my interest in listening to music ebbs and flows, too, but for the first time since I started smoking a pipe, I’ve become bored with the whole thing. It used to be endlessly interesting, fascinating and fun for me to read about, acquire and smoke tobacco. Now it’s just something I do cause it’s something I do.

Any of you ever felt that way?

I now smoke one or two bowls a week. It's the sweet spot for me. Just try smoking a lot less. As to music ,well I have to practice as I have gigs. Jazz Bari sax. But it can be a real chore sometimes. I found the cure is Bach's cello suites or well mannered clavier. Try it and good luck

 

[--dante--]

Sometimes I smoke because it's just what I do. I also play music and experience similar ebbs and flows in playing and listening. But I don't remember ever being bored with tobacco or music. I smoked cigarettes to get nicotine though.

I switched to pipes to get off cigarettes and I stuck with pipe tobacco because I enjoy it. I actually find that, after years of smoking, now I am more happy to smoke the same blend day in and day out.

I enjoy aged tobacco occasionally but fresh Wessex Gold Brick keeps me interested day after day. Same as Carolina Red Flake kept me interested day after day a few years ago. If I was bored with tobacco I'd probably take a break for a few days and then either enjoy one of my favorites or try something new. It's easy to get stuck in a rut and sometimes it just takes a mental reset to get out of it.

I'm finding that I too over the years have been reducing my blends to very few, easy to smoke all-dayers, and not so much always checking out the new blends. I'm actually enjoying pipe smoking more by removing the hobby aspect, and just being a pipe smoker, if that makes sense.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'm actually enjoying pipe smoking more by removing the hobby aspect, and just being a pipe smoker, if that makes sense.

Completely makes sense.?

 

[MARC52]

I'm actually enjoying pipe smoking more by removing the hobby aspect, and just being a pipe smoker, if that makes sense.

dante hit the nail on the head, just be a pipe smoker.