Pipe Hobby Waxing and Waning

[cosmicfolklore]

For me, I will go a few months here and there taking a break from posting, but that doesn't mean that I'm not smoking. I just get busy with one thing or another, and I cannot follow a conversation very well.

As for the forum waxing and waning, this has always been the case. Everyone wishes that everyone would just like all pipe brands, respect all pipe tobaccos, but really whenever everyone gets all respectful of all ugly pipes and sucky tobaccos, people just post slower, if at all.
But, the reality is that when someone posts a "All _____ Tobaccos Suck" or "________ Pipes Are All Terrible," it stirs things up and creates a more dynamic forum.

 

[telescopes]

Nah. I don't wax.

I live in a desert. Getting hot and sweaty provides fungus an excellent opportunity to take hold. I might try sugaring... Lord, help me - but the idea of living with stubble afterwards isn't a positive either. At least the providers are women, lol. I never thought I would even consider this as a response, but fungal itch in 118 degree heat is no laughing matter either.

 

[Mike N]

That happens with all hobbies. I have collected vintage fishing reels and flies for almost 40 years, and started the Old Reel Collectors Association in 1990 (www.orcaonline.org) which now has over 650 dues-paying members in 8 countries but now find it difficult to find new things that interest me.

But I always enjoy looking at my tackle collection and have met many interesting friends across the country I still text with daily. That last part has become the most important thing to me and I see the same thing developing in my pipe collecting. I’ve smoked a pipe and collected for 30 years but only recently started attended pipe shows. I have met some great people in this hobby, too.

Just this past month, my line collection was featured in a new book and some of my fishing license badges are in this month’s Country Living magazine, so I have not lost the passion. See photos below.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I live in a desert. Getting hot and sweaty provides fungus an excellent opportunity to take hold. I might try sugaring... Lord, help me - but the idea of living with stubble afterwards isn't a positive either. At least the providers are women, lol. I never thought I would even consider this as a response, but fungal itch in 118 degree heat is no laughing matter either.

TMI, we don't need to hear about your landing strip, ha ha ha.

 

[ClinchKnot]

I don’t know if “hobby” is the right word for my activities relating to pipe smoking. It did/does involve research and experimentation trying to learn about the different tobacco blend families and equipment, but at the end of the day it is just me on the patio with a pipe and glass of water while I lurk forums for new interesting things to try.

Did “cellar” a bunch of tobacco (reads: stockpile) years ago as a hedge against inflation and regulation, and have bought and sold many pipes trying to find my favorites, and did spend a few years flipping estates on eBay to pay for it all, but still - it’s just me on the patio enjoying some respite from the workday and world of necessity.

Did back off of buying tobaccos and pipes in favor of other interests, and would pack it all away if I needed to for some reason, but the long term plan is to keep all the irreplaceable stuff I have. Is that a hobby? I don’t know. More like “happiness planning.”

The unexpected part of becoming a pipe smoker was that I made some real life friends along the way because of the mutual interest. Those I am holding onto even if we all quit.