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sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,858
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
So, if I detest driving, unless I drive a hack or semi or some such, it's a hobby? That's a pretty loose def of hobby. Don't get me wrong, what a person refers to their activities is something I care not a whit about. I define myself as a smoker, it's not a past time, an "activity" per se, it's not even enjoyable at all times. I smoke for the nicotine. It's an addiction, nothing more or less. The pipe is simply one of the available methods for delivering the drug. It's handy, costs almost nothing and my brand of cigarette is no longer manufactured so I'm down to a chaw or the pipe. The nic patch is a viable alternative as is the gum. I'd much prefer an IV setup around the house as their would be less damage to carpets, paint and the reek from smoking.
No, it's the opposite, unless suffering gives you pleasure. The definition is a leisure activity that provides enjoyment, pure and simple. But if doing what you detest for leisure is enjoyable then it falls under the definition of a hobby, or some form of masochism.

Human beings can be strange critters. I attended a wedding a few years ago where one of the guests, a young man in his 20's, wore a gown. He didn't consider himself a cross dresser, nor gay. He considered himself a straight woman in a man's body. It took me a while to wrap my head around that.
 
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Ragin Cajun

Might Stick Around
Nov 11, 2021
54
178
71
New iberia, LA
I smoke because I am addicted to Nicotine through cigarettes. i choose to smoke a pipe over other alternatives (cigars, gum, e cigs) because I fnd pipes more enjoyable in other ways than just smoking. The ritual of lighting a pipe, admiring my pipes, and looking for more cool pipes to admire. A hobby is something that is supposed to bring you relaxation and enjoyment IMO, and therefore to me it is a hobby. I won't deny it.
 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,570
27,078
Carmel Valley, CA
If you have more than a handful of pipes (go ahead and see if you can fit all of them in ONE of your hands) then you are a collector. Hobby.
If you have more than five different tobacco blends, you're collecting (yes, we call it cellaring in the hobby). Hobby.

Also, what the heck is so wrong with having a hobby? Every well-rounded man should have a hobby to focus on and enjoy. It's good for mental health and to keep us out of trouble. I don't understand the vitriol towards hobbies at all.
No vitriol towards hobbies whatsoever! Just tired of folks saying smoking a pipe is a hobby for all of us.

It is for some, not for others, and I don't care how you or anyone else views it. To each his own.
 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
No vitriol towards hobbies whatsoever! Just tired of folks saying smoking a pipe is a hobby for all of us.

It is for some, not for others, and I don't care how you or anyone else views it. To each his own.
To piggyback a bit on this, despite what I wrote earlier in the thread, it comes down to semantics. One of the problems with language is that two people can say the exact same thing but put a different label on it. Sometimes they will vigorously defend against another label regardless of linguistic accuracy. That's how it goes. It's pointless to try and "enlighten" someone else when they are obviously set in their position. It can be fun though as long as it stays amicable.
 

SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,519
7,243
NE Wisconsin
i'm going to say my pipe smoking is not a hobby, because that all sounds a bit namby-pamby to me, and no part of a manly pursuit of a noble and gentle yet rugged tradition

and,

hobbies are for people with too much free time

These two statements -- in addition to @lawdawg's similar but admirably objective insights -- go a long way towards explaining what's going on here.

Rightly or wrongly, I have inherited a different notion of "hobby." The only hobby that my dad ever had was wood working. It did not pull him away from the family -- we were either with him, or he did it after we kids were in bed. It was productive and it was usually for others. Sure, he made book shelves for his office -- he was clergy -- but otherwise, he made useful things for my mom and others.

So my notion of hobby is the furthest possible thing from fastidious, dandy, affected, kitschy, mamby-pamby, or wasteful.

Granted, pipe smoking (by which I refer to everything we're talking about here -- pipe collecting, tobacco sampling, etc.) is certainly the most potentially dandy and wasteful of my "hobbies."

I am also into traditional archery, which (1) is a family activity which helps me stay connected with my kids, and (2) potentially provides food, via hunting.

I am also into making fly rods, which (1) I am teaching my kids to do, and (2) I make for others... currently I'm making one for each of my kids and then my wife.

But I'll grant that the pipe thing has the potential to be a selfish eccentricity, and effeminate in its fastidiousness and in its more consumptive than productive nature.

I hope to avoid that way of being into pipes, but I think that many here restrict the use of the word "hobby" to that.

One more thing. Warren says:

Of course a hobby is just an excuse to spend time away from the wife and kids. So, a hobby is a selfish choice also. But, most hobbies are not a vice so, nobody needs a hobby. Only married guys with kids need a hobby.

Unfortunately, this is too often true for too many men. Warren makes a good point about the way things often are.
But I'd like to point out that this is not of the essence of "hobby."

I myself, having a horde of delightful and rambunctious offspring, made a decision a couple years ago that, henceforth, I would limit my "hobbies" to things we could do as a family, and intentionally engage my kids in these things.

Even as regards pipes -- I normally have one bowl an evening, while reading a story to the kids (we're currently working through Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy). It's not apart from them. And in fact, if I don't pack a bowl, they howl for me to do so (esp. since I received a generous sample of Ennerdale from @hauntedmyst ... they beg to smell that room note again and again!).

P.S. Although some of us don't have much in the way of "leisure" time (depending on how you define it), we should not look down our noses at leisure as intrinsically effeminate, since it can be, as Joseph Pieper says, "The Basis of Culture." It can be used productively. Throughout history, temporal margin has made room for great art, great invention, great exploit. Without that margin, status quo can't move. Sure, many squander leisure (I think of the dandies in a Jane Austen novel who waste their privilege as landed gentry on gossip and party planning, or of modern "men" who play video games for hours a day); but, some of us are sensitive to our intrinsic need for purpose, and tend to employ leisure for real good.
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Oh, let me split hairs if I want to. The word hobby can denote all kinds of positive activities that people do for enjoyment and often to good purpose. Knitting, ham radio, collecting things, and a thousand other examples. However, in context, hobby can have a trivializing or minimizing tone. For example, if I said my friend had an oil painting hobby, you'd visualize a art store easel and a little kit of paints, and some paintings around his or her home, and maybe in a few family members' homes. Nice hobby. If I continued, yes, he really enjoys his hobby. He's having a retrospective of his work at the Chicago Art Institute, and some have them have sold for over a million dollars. You'd say, that doesn't sound like a hobby to me.
 
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