Pipe Hobby Waxing and Waning

[popeofpiping]

This is more a discussion post. I’ve been smoking a pipe and in the hobby since 2014 to preface this.

Over the years I find myself waxing and waning in the hobby. Sometimes monthly. This can pertain to being on a cigar kick, or cooler weather creeping in and I find myself with a pipe in hand every evening, reading forums, chasing a pipe or tobacco, and reading related posts.

The pipe hobby can be obsessive. Scouring the sites for estate pipes, looking for vintage tobaccos, posting on forums etc. Almost like everything else doesn’t exists.

The question I pose is why the lull. Why do I feel a lull in the passion sometimes. Is it because I’m bored? Is it because the forum grows stale? Or is it because along with a couple other passions one peaks my interest at a certain time?

A lot of the codgers here will hate this post, that’s okay. I’m just curious if other pipe smokers feel this way. Does a similar pattern happen to you? If so what other passions creep in that seem to have you neglect the pipe smoking hobby?

Like many of you, the time and resources I have put into this hobby would make it seem like it’s here forever and all being. What’s gives? Why do I feel a lull sometimes?

Could it be the lack of shows, the lack of constant content?

Sure I will always enjoy smoking a pipe, but to a lot of us there is more to this hobby than partaking.

Curious to what the members think.

 

[SmokingInTheWind]

I only have so much time and money for my hobbies. I rotate between pipes, guns/ammo, and fly fishing. I’m on a pipe kick now. I will probably switch to reloading this winter. I will continue to smoke my pipes, just not focus on accumulating pipes and tobacco.

 

[Epip Oc'Cabot]

For me, a pipe has been the instrument of choice for tobacco since starting in the late 70s. Of course I tried other forms of tobacco consumption, but none seemed as good in my opinion. Probably consumed less than 1/2 of one pack of cigarettes all that time. Nasal snuff….. tried once, did not enjoy. Chew and related types, perhaps a handful of times total. Cigars….. I enjoy a little bit more, perhaps once a month or two.

Now, regarding the ebb and flow of the pipe….. for me it has always been pretty stable and perhaps heavy. In graduate school, it was indeed what I would consider heavy 10-12 bowls a day. In the last dozen years it has waned for me, not due to lack of interest, but more in terms of it being more of a hassle in several ways…. harder to locally find the codger blends I favor, harder to avoid negative commentary about smoking, harder to smoke when I would like to without a lot of forethought (tends to have to be planned and scheduled within the parameters of my day-to-day life), harder to just have pipe smoking be the easy carefree activity it used to be for me, but is less often is today. So with the above constrictions, my indulgence has waned to significantly lower levels…… because in some ways (related to the above negatives) it ends up feeling like WORK rather than carefree relaxation. And, I am not fond of having a carefree pastime feel like work.

I still am a pipe smoker, but I miss the old days.

(Caveat…. I am in a bit of a sour mood today….. I might answer this a bit differently on a better day.)

 

[xrundog]

Like me, you probably have plenty pipes and tobacco. So need isn’t driving your acquisitions. If you’re interested in more than one thing, as you and I both are, it natural for the focus to shift occasionally. Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[brian64]

There are a few here that seem to be on a lunar cycle.

 

[Dr. Internet]

I've smoked the pipe, off and on, since 1968. I smoked a lot in the Navy, 'cause there wasn't much else to do. I smoked a lot in school when I was studying, because it gave me a break once in a while. I did not smoke as much at work, first because it was sort of a hassle, later because it was outlawed. Now, I am retired and I smoke a lot. I enjoy sitting on the front porch, reading and smoking and chatting with neighbors walking by. As mentioned above, I also smoke a cigar, once or twice a month. I always come back to the pipe though.

 

[RPK]

I don't think pipe smoking is any different than any other hobby or interest there are periods of complete immersion and then times when a break takes place which is a good thing. Just imagine all the things we would be missing out on if we totally immersed ourselves in just one pursuit !

 

[fireground_piper]

Not I. I’m pretty consistent and that’s consistent with pretty much everything else in my life as I’m a creature of habit.

I refresh this forum more than I’d like to admit.

 

[didimauw]

I do tend to rotate my hobbies, but the pipe smoking is always there. One week I dive into reading about watches, the next is fountain pens, then cars, etc. But I don't think of pipe smoking as a hobby. Maybe that's the difference.

When I vaped, or smoked cigs, I didn't smoke my pipe as much. Especially vape. I never had to go outside for my nicotine. But Now it's just dip and the pipe.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Smoking a pipe is just something I do while engaging in other activities. I guess it's just something I'll always do.

 

[sardonicus87]

My interest in pipe smoking doesn't wax or wane. My interest in the forum has waned, but that's the same with all forums. They get stale fast and I just kind of lurk to keep abreast of new stuff, but otherwise meh. Same 5 threads over and over, same as with any hobby.

However, forum participation is not part of the hobby for me, it's a separate thing that has no effect on my desire to smoke or not. I don't need to share my hobbies with anyone, and actually prefer not to. Consuming content was never part of it for me, nor shows or anything else. Even if the whole world hated it, I'd still do it because I like the basic thing itself, and have no real interest in the ancillary stuff.

And for me, despite doing it every day, it still is a hobby for me. I enjoy exploring flavors and all that, trying new things. It's not just nicotine delivery (for me, that's what cigarettes are for).

As to why you or anyone else has lulls in interest... only you can answer that, because the reason will be different for everyone.

 

[pinem]

Being an outdoor hobby for me, it has to lull in the winter. That said, it all boils down to mollycodling some smoke out of a piece of wood in the end. Not really anything to get one's dander up about.

 

[woodsroad]

My experience is entirely different than yours.

 

[bullet08]

Nah. I don't wax.

 

[warren]

Hobbies can do that. Doesn't seem to happen to pipe smokers, just to the dilettantes or "hobbyists".

 

[Trainpipeman]

I wonder if the passage of time might play a part in the waning of the hobby.

When I first started smoking a pipe 30+ years ago, I had a desire to try as many new blends as possible, and to purchase as many pipes as the budget would allow.

As time went on, I started feeling that the need to have more pipes was just not there. I came to the conclusion that the 15 or so pipes that I have (down from 50) suits me just fine. Of those 15, I smoke only about five on a regular basis. My blends are generally limited to just three, or so, unless a pipe-smoking friend suggests a new one. I suppose that I have become content with what I have.

 

[SoupCan]

I definitely go through periods where I think about pipes and tobacco a lot, doing a lot of browsing and window shopping, research etc. Then other periods where I think about it little. Earlier in my pipe smoking journey I did wax in wane in the actual smoking more. Lately I've been enjoying smoking on a more regular basis as a primary nicotine delivery method as I have given up other forms. Frankly I have very few pipes and I just smoke the hell out of them.

Getting more into pipes is kind of aspirational to me right now, though I have ramped up my exploration of blends. This is, as you stated, because I have other hobbies. Hunting, fishing, riding and working on motorcycles, leatherwork, gardening, butchery and cooking amongst others. All these things require the dedication of time and resources. For me reading about pipes or posting on a forum will wax and wane for sure. But smoking a pipe has become more of a rhythm of life even when I'm not actually thinking a lot about it.

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

I always chalked it up to my long unmedicated (but officially diagnosed!) ADHD. I tend to dive into hobbies with a burning passion and then after a month or so they fall by the wayside. Most stay there, some get rotated in and out. Pipes and tobacco are definitely in the rotation and I'll go through bursts of absolute fascination where I'm documenting everything, making labels out the wazoo and spending a good deal of free time just thinking about pipes, tobacco and my collection. When its waned I still have a pipe regularly but I think about it a lot less.

I really enjoy doing this with hobbies, I've learned too much information about a lot of esoteric things because of it. Gained a lot of skills I wouldn't have had otherwise and I count my lucky stars I am this way and not someone content with just plopping down on the couch and watching TV in all my free time.

So I'd say it's perfectly natural and to enjoy riding the waves.

 

[sablebrush52]

Pipe smoking isn't a hobby to me, but more of a pastime. There have been periods, like in the 1980's, when I didn't smoke anything for several years. While I've been a consistent pipe smoker since the late 1980's, my attitude toward it has gone through some changes.

Early on it was a voyage of discovery, trying out different tobaccos and different pipes. Sometimes I smoked a large number of bowls on any given day. Nowadays I might smoke 2 to 3 bowls in a day, sometimes I'll skip a day or two. Last August when I had Covid I didn't smoke for almost two weeks and didn't miss it.

All that said, a lot is different. I completed my cellar in 2020, and have not bought more than a few tins since. Even before, purchases had dwindled to a fraction of what I bought when I was in building mode. I went from buying a pipe a week at the height of my mania, to maybe buying a pipe a year. In fact, the last purchases I made recently were of three extremely rare Barlings to add to my collection. Before that I hadn't bought much of anything. I have enough pipes and tobacco to last long after I'm eating a dirt sandwich, so what's the point?

My interest in the historical aspects of pipes and tobaccos is as keen as ever.

As far as this forum, I check it out almost daily, though I often go for days without posting. If there's a topic that interests me, or some point of information that I can answer, then I log in and post. Otherwise I just glance at it. I've been on the forum for long enough that a number of topics become repetitive, so why respond.

I think there are just different seasons to it.

 

[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.