Pipe Smoking: A Thinking Man's Hobby or a Respite from Mental Chatter?

[Morrison Jeremiah]

I started smoking cigarettes as a respite from mental chatter about 57 years ago.
Took up pipe smoking 14 years ago. Since then smoking has become so much more than that.
But yeah, it's instant relaxation as soon as I light up my pipe.

 

[Rustamgtx]

I started smoking cigarettes as a respite from mental chatter about 57 years ago.
Took up pipe smoking 14 years ago. Since then smoking has become so much more than that.
But yeah, it's instant relaxation as soon as I light up my pipe.

Gold in your words, amen ?

 

[JOHN72]

For me it is a real pleasure. It's my daily yoga. An essential fuel for the engine of my life. It's not a hobby, it's part of my personality.Of course it helps to ponder much better.......When I smoke a tobacco that I like, I see God and all the saints together...and the angels too. Amen.............

 

[Talon]

Interesting that a few of you don't consider smoking a hobby as even when I smoked cigarettes many years ago I considered it one of my many "hobbies"but I guess the definition of a hobby varies from person to person. I suppose if you are looking at pipe smoking and smoking in general from a strictly addicted or addictive perspective it would not be one, which is okay. I practice bowhunting and archery as a hobby but also consider cooking or brewing a really nice coffee a hobby of mine.

And also there is some very interesting characters here and I had a chuckle at a few of the posts. Glad to be here! Enjoying reading the replies!!

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

When I chewed tobacco it was calming, but it was not a hobbie. The hobbie of pipe smoking to me are the pipes.

 

[bassbug]

Fair enough, I use the term Hobby in this case directly how it's defined:

1.
an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.

Kinda like the collection of ski masks and trips to the local convenience store late at night?

 

[danish]

To me smoking a pipe is both an addiction and a hobby. If it wasn't a hobby, I wouldn't be a member here, I suppose. Collecting stamps or pipes and learning all you can about a subject, such as the history, different tobaccos, how to smoke, clean, restore pipes etc. and then do it and participating in the forums is indeed a hobby. But a very addictive hobby compared to eg stamp collecting.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

Nicotine is very clever in the way that it sows deception in the smoker.
It's almost as though it has an intelligence all of its own.
I often ponder on the matter.

When I was 13 years old and a friend showed me a cigarette he had, I wanted to know all about out what was in there. I think I was addicted before I even took my first puff.

Oh well. time to light up another pipe, I just love that stuff.

 

[lawdawg]

Side stepping the whole "hobby" issue which I have weighed in on numerous times and surely will again, pipe smoking is a "thinking man's hobby" in that the average intelligence of the pipe smoking community appears (to my eye) significantly above that of the population on the whole.

 

[WVOldFart]

Without getting into the controversy of it being a hobby or even getting involved in the "P" word, smoking a pipe plays an important part in some of our lives. If it wasn't for the pipe we would be setting in our chairs staring out into space looking like a goof ball, but if you are smoking a pipe you become a man smoking a pipe. You transform from a goof ball staring into space into this very thoughtful looking individual smoking a pipe. It can change our lives from a front row seat at the nursing home to teaching at the local college.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I keep seeing Captain Jack: "We do not have time for your damned hobbies, sir!"

 

[sablebrush52]

Either and neither.

 

[warren]

I always thought that smoking a pipe would stimulate the mind and help me reflect on things that were stressing me out or causing me problems in life but I find when I light up my bowl I'm almost completely thoughtless and more focused on the subtleties of the pipe

It's whatever you think it is. You could accomplish the same tying flies, driving model trains or ... sitting quietly and thinking. Some need an outside agency, smoking, I suppose in order to engage the mind. Some think the pipe makes them a better person, deeper, more thoughtful, nicer, better looking, and so forth. It's an inanimate object which some people worship I suppose. Most people can do all of the things some attribute to smoking without the crutch. Others, less self-disciplined, need an object to focus on.

 

[burleybreath]

It's a crutch, as my m-m-mother used to say, thinking I gave a sh*t.

 

[LotusEater]

For me pipe smoking leads to distracted thought and mind wandering. If I’m writing something for work that requires focused attention the pipe can get in the way. I’m not sure why this is? I don’t think it’s the nicotine because my experience with cigarette smoking has been different. Smoking cigarettes seems to help me to focus and to identify links between ideas and concepts. Maybe this is just due to the fact that I’ve spent years smoking cigarettes while writing and now it’s kind of part of my process?

 

[SBC]

The question in the OP might boil down to who prefers to enhance other activities with pipe smoking and who prefers to focus on pipe smoking itself (as a restful diversion).

The way it shakes out for me is a merger of those two things in non-physical, receptive activities, such as listening to my wife read aloud, watching a documentary, etc.

I don't prefer to smoke a pipe while doing something physically active (partly because I can manage the burn more carefully when holding than when clenching).

But neither do I prefer to zone out and accomplish nothing more than smoking a pipe.

I prefer to enjoy a pipe as a secondary focus while focusing primarily on a book, documentary, music, etc.

 

[hauntedmyst]

Both, not kidding. Sometimes it allows me to be reflective, other times I get caught up in the smoking of the pipe.

This right here.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Interesting that a few of you don't consider smoking a hobby

A few?

as even when I smoked cigarettes many years ago I considered it one of my many "hobbies"but I guess the definition of a hobby varies from person to person.

Yes, but within reason.
Still waiting on where you dug up the wonky definition of "hobby" that you posted earlier.

I suppose if you are looking at pipe smoking and smoking in general from a strictly addicted or addictive perspective it would not be one, which is okay.

Are you really saying that only if you're addicted to pipe smoking it's o.k. to not call it a hobby? Well, that's what you say, but do you really believe that?

 

[hauntedmyst]

Smoking a pipe isn't a hobby for me. Looking at, cleaning, polishing and refinishing some pipes is. Briar has such glorious grain.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yup. And for me, posting and reading here is a hobby.