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Streeper541

Lifer
Jun 16, 2021
3,059
19,332
43
Spencer, OH
Like I said... I don't consider it a hobby so much as others might. Do I indulge in a few extras beyond simply smoking my pipe? Yes. Do I enjoy a pipe related podcast? Yes. Do I talk to people in a pipe related forum? Again, yes. Do I go to pipe shows on occasion? Yes. Do I subscribe to a monthly newsletter and belong to a pipe related affinity club? Yes.... Dammit. Maybe I am a hobbyist after all? ?
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,399
109,160
I doubt that you've ever sought your next screwdriver in the same way ;-)
And you'd be wrong. With carpal tunnel I seek tools ergonomically designed and excluding the skull, the meers were purchased for chamber depth and size. Large pipes aren't painful to hold and not ashamed to call myself a tobacco user or smoker.
 
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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,777
29,579
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
That's me as expensive is relative. For me, I wouldn't consider a $200 pipe expensive, just the average price of the ride.
Literally one of the identifying qualities of a hobby. For instance when I talk to none "pipers" and say this pipe was only 100 bucks they're like wow that's expensive. Where I am thinking they're so cheap I can get nine of them.
 

DanWil84

Lifer
Mar 8, 2021
1,691
12,642
39
The Netherlands (Europe)
Yeah, quitting is easy. Just throw everything in the bin and don't do it again, mission accomplished.

I gave up smoking for 15 years for the sake of my yet to be born daughter. No problem, just stopped, simple as that.
15 years later I started again. Why ? I needed the nicotine. I seriously did.

Hobby ? absolute nonsense.
Quiting cigarettes was easy for me, although I was not a "chainsmoker" (whatever that might mean) and did not smoke cigarettes for a long time. That doesn't mean anyone has to have the point of view as I have and I'm not here to change the view of people on that topic. The past few years (gosh, do I sound old...) I have learned that influencing behavior of people is a mission to fail or I'm terrible at it. Having kids is a good exercise at knowing I can't I suppose!

Why would I go through a the hassle of browsing hours for pipes and tobacco, spending money on pipes and tobacco, reading everything I can on pipes and tobacco and spend time on this forum and other media? It is because I enjoy the community around it and like to spend time on it, even with people that think my standpoint is absolute nonsense. The topic "I dont smoke tobacco for the nicotine" is controversial and it would be rubbish to not admit I now and then enjoy a bigger buzz of nicotine than I normally get from smoking, because I do.

And see me now spending a awefull lot of time trying to convince people I really can see this as a hobby.... I yield!
 

SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,525
7,263
NE Wisconsin
And you'd be wrong. With carpal tunnel I seek tools ergonomically designed and excluding the skull, the meers were purchased for chamber depth and size. Large pipes aren't painful to hold and not ashamed to call myself a tobacco user or smoker.

I'm sorry to hear about the carpal tunnel!

I'm interested in the semantics and the psychology of this conversation, but I'm not interested in pegging people in ways they don't want to be pegged (on morally neutral matters). If you don't believe that the term "hobby" applies to any of your pipe related activities, there's nothing in me that needs to insist on that!

I like your pipes and your interactions here. Have a great day!
 
Mar 2, 2021
3,474
14,242
Alabama USA
Anyone who is an active member at this site has no business calling what you do as a hobby. You are obsessed with pipes and tobacco and nothing will change that until you die. You will always look at possible pipes to purchase along with possible new blends to try.

Face it you are pipe and tobacco junkies as am I.

Warren, you have to be an attorney, am I right? Your devils advocate on so many different subjects are just great. Without a doubt you have the driest sense of humor on the site and I don't believe that many people understand your brand of humor. I for one appreciate your posts as they seem to always crack me up. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but growing up with an attorney for a father, one grandfather and one uncle, I just feel you are in the same vein as they were. I can't wait for my daughter to finish aw school, I already have a list of people or companies I am going to sick her on.

I miss having a lawyer in the family. I used to wield my father like Excalibur.
Not true. Addictions can be over come.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,399
109,160
Literally one of the identifying qualities of a hobby
Hardly, it just depends on what you call expensive. My work pencil's are $150 each because I had them fitted to my grip but had to have them to write. I also spend $85 per carton for Camel cigarettes. More than they used to be, but far from unaffordable. And expensive pipe for me would be going above $500, and that's something I would only ever do for one of my late buddy Bruce's pipes while there are some that would just see a $500 pipe as an average purchase.
 

PipeIT

Lifer
Nov 14, 2020
4,433
26,694
Hawaii
The OP makes a compelling argument.
Some people just don’t like the connotation of the word hobby or the idea of being a hobbyist. Perhaps another term would be preferable e.g., enthusiast, aficionado etc.
Don’t forget connoisseur, of whom rightfully belongs to the Taste Master himself! @jiminks :sher:

I say Hobby, Enthusiast, Aficionado, Connoisseur, Geek!

I guess depending on how conversation(s), I just use any of the above. :)

Maybe deep down inside we’re all a bunch of Pipe Smoking Stooges! LOL ?

BD892C69-0F7B-431B-85DB-94B91BBB1D42.jpeg
 

krizzose

Lifer
Feb 13, 2013
3,120
18,156
Michigan
I’m not sure I would say I’m indulging in a hobby every time I smoke a bowl. Sometimes I’m just smoking cause it sounds good and is enjoyable, in much the same way I might have a glass of ice water or eat a piece of toast. But sometimes I make my own bread that I then toast, with a lot of research, care, and the acquisition of particular kinds of flour, etc. put into it. That‘s starting to lean into the realm of a hobby. I do the same thing with smoking, particularly if I’m evaluating a new blend or smoking component tobacco to train my palate and get some idea of what’s going on in other blends. That’s not to mention the time I’ve spent and continue to spend just absorbing information about tobacco, blends, the pipes themselves, etc., going to pipe shows, and being a regular participant in this forum, or taking the time and effort to savor a prized tobacco blend—— because I’m very interested in it. That sort of activity is me engaging in a hobby. If I’m sitting around the campfire with friends crushing beers and smoking a pipe, that‘s not me participating in the pipe hobby. But the other things listed above, or even making this post, yeah, that’s a hobby. At least as I would define it for myself
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,399
109,160
Maybe it would help if I posted the OED definition of "hobby" here:
  • "An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure"
That's the third posting of it in this thread. Leisure time for me means sleep and I identify more with this definition.

habit

noun
  1. 1.
    a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.
 
Cap’n, if this thread had of been about how pipesmoking is a habit, you’d have posted repeatedly that smoking was not a habit for you. Love ya man, ha ha, but your compass is always gonna point in the opposite direction.

Honestly, I use the term hobby. Doesn’t bother me one bit what someone else wants to say it is for them. Endeavor, passion, enthusiasts, aficianado, pasttime, habit, addiction, dabbler, whatever, all means hobby to me. Someone else wants to call it something else, go for it. One damn thing is for sure, is that we will never all agree on anything. And, that’s fine with me.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,399
109,160
you’d have posted repeatedly that smoking was not a habit for you.
I would admit to that one. I've got nicotine addiction and it's most certainly a habit, I won't deny that any more than I would having a caffeine addiction. It has come up before and I was on the side arguing that regular pipe smokers were addicted to nicotine whether they believed it or not.
 
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