Pipe Hobby Waxing and Waning

[cosmicfolklore]

do we have to be pipers?

Yes, the dictionary will be changing to meet the needs of the hobby, ha ha.

I don’t care.
Well, there is one term for tobacco that does grates on my nerves, Bakky. Always makes me think of a dirt covered, toothless prospector from the turn of the century coming down from the mountains with his donkey/girlfriend.

 

[brian64]

I used to think it was silly to call it a hobby, but it probably is a hobby for me. All the nerdy knowledge and variety proves it.

You might hoard one type of tobacco, but once you have over 10 blends hoarded you are a collector.

It's amusing how over the years this hobby debate continually comes up. Personally I couldn't care less whether someone thinks of it as a hobby or not.

But I essentially agree with RBF...the actual smoking is not a hobby...but the collecting of pipes and tobacco, and all of the endless minutiae of studying and discussing all aspects of them could certainly be considered a hobby.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

My wife referred to me as a "piper" the other day. I did not like it one bit. She was talking about how my "piping" had stunk up the living room.

She has never seen a pipe forum... Who knows, maybe it's the most natural term for a pipe smoker.

 

[telescopes]

I've smoked a pipe for over 40 years. I've collected pipes and I've attended pipe shows and participated and won many slow smoke contests. I've read up on pipes and I blend and press tobacco. I suppose the word lifestyle, habit, or some other word could describe this activity other than the word hobby.

When I go walking with my pipe - something I do each day for several miles, I refer to it as lunting. The word is easier than the full sentence otherwise needed to describe what I am doing.

Piper - I think that is best reserved for Scots playing their bagpipes.

On another forum I got lectured to no end for referring to mixing single variety tobaccos in specific proportions and then pressing them as blending tobaccos and creating my now blends. I won't budge on that one. The packages most of the tobaccos come in definitely have the words "blending tobacco" written on them.

Words used to describe pipesmoking- who knew they could cause so much conflict.

 

[ziv]

I think there are hobby pipe smokers and then there are professional pipe smokers.
People who get offended when they are called hobbyists must be pros.

 

[Epip Oc'Cabot]

I think there are hobby pipe smokers and then there are professional pipe smokers.
People who get offended when they are called hobbyists must be pros.

Perhaps we should excise the term “hobbyist pipe smoker” and change it to “intramural pipe smoker” instead? It works for athletics in college. You have the school’s “pro” athletes and a lot of groups of “intramural athletes”.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I don't think of the hobby part of all of this as having to do anything with smoking. Hobby doesn't encompass the entirety of pipes to me. I have friends who do not want to talk pipes or smoking at all, nor would they even go into a pipe shop ever. They buy their drug store blends and smoke their one pipe all day. They are NOT hobbyist. But,. we've had a ton of members here that do not even smoke, but yet they collect pipes, participate in the forums, and go to pipe shows. They would be included in the hobby category.

For me, the hobby part, waxes and wanes. I may go to a pipe show if it were close to me, and I still buy pipes and love to try the new tobaccos, read pipe and tobacco books, but I can't keep up that level of participation 100% all the time. That is the hobby part. But, the smoking... I will keep a pipe lit all day, all year, but I don't think of that as the hobby... until, I am helping someone better their smoking skills, then that may/or not be a part of the hobby.

But, if someone would rather call it something else, as long as we all understand what you are talking about, I don't see a problem. But, if you're going to create a new term, like, "This conflaborationonx is starting to drain my bank accounts..." then WTF is wrong with you, ha ha.

 

[popeofpiping]

you can't appreciate something fully without it's absence.

Agree.

 

[popeofpiping]

I agree with this, but do we have to be pipers?

Some people be like:

"SMOKING AIN'T A HOBBY, ITS A WAY OF LIFE!"

I used to think it was silly to call it a hobby, but it probably is a hobby for me. All the nerdy knowledge and variety proves it.

You might hoard one type of tobacco, but once you have over 10 blends hoarded you are a collector.

People on this forum have fixated on smoking, enough to join a fourm... and that's pretty weird, if you ask me

Which is why I stated some “codgers” won’t like this post. The new generation of pipe smokers do indeed find it a hobby. Some think smoking isn’t a hobby, and because we can’t smoke in classrooms with our professors and run through 10-15 bowls a day of the same burley blend, we aren’t pipe smokers. If you spend more time looking and researching pipes you’re somewhat of a “pretender” but that’s okay. Even though we are the ones that keep pipe smoking relevant. People like Pete Prevost, Shane Ireland etc. The codgers don’t keep 90% of pipe makers in business. We do.

 

[popeofpiping]

I think there are hobby pipe smokers and then there are professional pipe smokers.
People who get offended when they are called hobbyists must be pros.

The two are the same. All pipe smokers. Some take joy in researching, scouring, learning. If you call them hobbyists, great. I find the people who are calling others “just hobbyist” are the ones who couldn’t care less of the pipe culture. The pipe culture is what keeps this industry alive.

 

[anotherbob]

I agree with this, but do we have to be pipers?

Some people be like:

"SMOKING AIN'T A HOBBY, ITS A WAY OF LIFE!"

I used to think it was silly to call it a hobby, but it probably is a hobby for me. All the nerdy knowledge and variety proves it.

You might hoard one type of tobacco, but once you have over 10 blends hoarded you are a collector.

People on this forum have fixated on smoking, enough to join a fourm... and that's pretty weird, if you ask me

seriously.

 

[anotherbob]

Yes, the dictionary will be changing to meet the needs of the hobby, ha ha.

I don’t care.
Well, there is one term for tobacco that does grates on my nerves, Bakky. Always makes me think of a dirt covered, toothless prospector from the turn of the century coming down from the mountains with his donkey/girlfriend.

cha bakky. That's what they call it in that one small town where the accent basically just sounds like a person talking with a pouch of chaw in their mouth. It's probably the worst accent I've heard.

 

[Epip Oc'Cabot]

Which is why I stated some “codgers” won’t like this post. The new generation of pipe smokers do indeed find it a hobby. Some think smoking isn’t a hobby, and because we can’t smoke in classrooms with our professors and run through 10-15 bowls a day of the same burley blend, we aren’t pipe smokers. If you spend more time looking and researching pipes you’re somewhat of a “pretender” but that’s okay. Even though we are the ones that keep pipe smoking relevant. People like Pete Prevost, Shane Ireland etc. The codgers don’t keep 90% of pipe makers in business. We do.

I do not recall any posts that “codgers” have made disparaging folks who smoke less frequently nor infrequently. I do sometimes see “codgers” discussed in a tongue-in-cheek, humorous fashion which is also fine, but I do not think it is a positive thing to portray “codgers” in a negative light, which this reply feels a bit like to me.

I likely am more a “codger” type than the “relevant” folks you describe. I am not really sure what benefit there is in bifurcating the groups, to be honest. I enjoy smoking a pipe, so I am a part of this group. I do not buy a lot of different blends of leaf, and have stuck with four predominately for decades. But I do not find anything disagreeable about folks who enjoy trying hundreds of blends.

So, I ask with sincerity… who is this “we”? Wouldn’t all of us be a part of the “we”?

 

[WirelessSmoke]

I drift in and out of all my pastimes regularly as interests change, and due to time constraints. I tend to think of pipe smoking as a pastime now, and many parts of it are. If at some point I become disinterested in trying new blends, collecting pipes, and other related items, I think I'll still smoke a pipe for no other reason than the downtime and pleasure. Much like having a couple adult beverages in the evening isn't a hobby for me, I could see myself having a pipe at the end of a day, just as a relaxing thing I often do. For the time being for me, it is both a pastime, and a relaxing thing I do, and I'm enjoying the journey in the present.

 

[brian64]

cha bakky. That's what they call it in that one small town where the accent basically just sounds like a person talking with a pouch of chaw in their mouth. It's probably the worst accent I've heard.

 

[Sig]

When I started smoking a pipe in 2005, I was ALL in, 100%, zero drawbacks.
I had 15,000+ posts on Smokers Forums, I was constantly looking at ebay or online pipe/tobacco retailers, and I bought a LOT of pipes and tobacco.....a lot.
At one point I had over 200 pipes and we'll over 100 pounds of tobacco jarred and dozens of tins. I bought enough "old" tobacco from Pipestud and others yo buy a new car!
I did that until about 2013....then I slowed down. In 2017 I quit piping completely, only restarting this last March.
I smoke exactly ZERO pipes in the winter, but I dip Stokers all year around. This hobby has never been about nicotine for me, I get plenty with a dip in my lip 15 hours a day.
Before pipes it was cigars for me. I started that in about 2001 and, as with the pipe, I was 100% in. I had several humidors for aging and a coolidor for sticks to smoke. I usually smoked 1-4 cigars a day.
I was on a couple cigar forums, mainly Cigar Geeks, where a guy turned me onto the pipe.
These days I'm just going through my horde of tobacco and haven't bought a pipe in many years. I'm more of a casual pipe and cigar smoker now.

 

[Pipke]

...and because we can’t smoke in classrooms with our professors and run through 10-15 bowls a day of the same burley blend, we aren’t pipe smokers.

Says who?

Just relax and what you do. And I'll keep chilling and do what I do. No need to throw down the gauntlet. Take it easy ... You are among friends here.

 

[KruegerFlap]

My pipe and cigar smoking schedule is dependent on my ability to get time to do it which ebbs and flows. Lately I haven't had the time, so I haven't smoked a pipe in a month. Sometimes I'll go a few months to a close to a year without being able to smoke. In the meantime I am on forums such as this one and picking up the occasional tin or pipe to add to the cellar to enjoy upon my return. That's one of the reasons I picked up pipes and cigars, they aren't addicting so I'm always in control of them instead of the other way around. I can enjoy them whenever I have the time and the want and when I can't they sit and wait until I can.

 

[OzPiper]

I don't think of the hobby part of all of this as having to do anything with smoking. Hobby doesn't encompass the entirety of pipes to me. I have friends who do not want to talk pipes or smoking at all, nor would they even go into a pipe shop ever. They buy their drug store blends and smoke their one pipe all day. They are NOT hobbyist. But,. we've had a ton of members here that do not even smoke, but yet they collect pipes, participate in the forums, and go to pipe shows. They would be included in the hobby category.

For me, the hobby part, waxes and wanes.

Absolutely spot on !

 

[Servant King]

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

Still better than seeing it...