Even squares, middle class, rich people, nerds, alcoholics, Christians, morons, geniuses, everyone has a lifestyle. EVERYONE. It may be a lifestyle just like everyone else you know, but it is a lifestyle.
Pipe Smoking: Hobby? Life Style?
- Thread starter jpmcwjr
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Sure, smoking could be an obsession, just as eating could be also, but eating can also be a lifestyle (foodies).
The things that were the hardest for people to understand historically, were that humans required oxygen, and that gravity was a thing... because they were so ingrained into our existence, that we couldn't think of existence without them. Thus, it was the hardest things to make human understand.
When we talk about trends and lifestyles, we are talking about things that everyone participates in, even if we don't want to. There is no way to live without them.
I believe I could be accurately labeled as at least 5 (maybe 6) of these 7 categories in my current state.
Names of things do not affect what they really are. I don't consider pipe smoking a hugely important part of my identity. For others it may be, and that is okay. Call yourselves whatever you want and, for that matter, you can call me anything you want. Just don't call me late to dinner.
Does it matter? I think some of us "macho" types refuse to admit that we have a hobby. Sounds too girly. Rick Newcombe has written more than one essay about this subject. Here is the way I look at it--If the accumulation of little pieces of wood, ceramic, meerschaum, clay, etc for the purpose of holding burning tobacco then that becomes a "collection" and is therefore a "hobby" in the broadest sense of the word. But if the pipe is secondary to the contents (the tobacco), then it approaches the status of a habit. Those who appreciate the pipe form and the skill it took to design and produce the "end-product" without the pleasure of the aroma, taste, and procedural aspects of using tobacco are really collectors. Those who amass tin after tin and bag after bag of the pernicious weed and savor it for years are, to me, members of that group of folks who appreciate the "finer" things of life-art, literature, wine, food, music, etc. I have been smoking and accumulating pipes for over 50 years (I will be 80 if I make it to November) and that makes me very appreciative of the "lifestyle" that comes from associating with pipes, tobacco, and the individualistic members of the pipesmoking clan. There are so few of us anymore we should encourage the "newbies" and congratulate the "old fuds" (like me) who have made it through the clamor of those who think, regardless of whether it be hobby or habit. I will continue the enjoyment of smoking various flavors in various utensils whether it become illegal or not. Hobby or habit matters not to me and my generation. I harm no one. All I ask is to be left alone to "collect" or utilize my tobacco and briar.
Yeh, I think it is the sound of hearing someone talk about smoking as a hobby or lifestyle, by someone who just smokes.
Meaning, a guy who doesn't think much about pipes and tobacco outside of just firing up a cob full of whatever is on hand once a week, probably has a hard time thinking of what he is doing as a hobby, or lifestyle. Maybe even a guy who smoke all day long in his handful of pipes and handful of tobaccos has the same problem.
But, some of us live and breath this stuff, reading magazines about pipes and cigars, perusing smokingpipes every day, making budgets for the cellar or planning new pipe acquisitions, and collecting high grades or artisan-mades.
We have a few members who have never smoked a pipe, but are passionate about collecting pipes.
Not everyone is the same. No one is any better or worse than the other. We just share a passion about some aspect of the... hobby, pastime, or whatever.
But, ultimately, someone else is going to see this all differently from everyone else. So, if we hear one of these phrases that seems to scratch fingernails on the chalk board for some, just know that not everyone shares YOUR opinions on the hobby. puf
Meaning, a guy who doesn't think much about pipes and tobacco outside of just firing up a cob full of whatever is on hand once a week, probably has a hard time thinking of what he is doing as a hobby, or lifestyle. Maybe even a guy who smoke all day long in his handful of pipes and handful of tobaccos has the same problem.
But, some of us live and breath this stuff, reading magazines about pipes and cigars, perusing smokingpipes every day, making budgets for the cellar or planning new pipe acquisitions, and collecting high grades or artisan-mades.
We have a few members who have never smoked a pipe, but are passionate about collecting pipes.
Not everyone is the same. No one is any better or worse than the other. We just share a passion about some aspect of the... hobby, pastime, or whatever.
But, ultimately, someone else is going to see this all differently from everyone else. So, if we hear one of these phrases that seems to scratch fingernails on the chalk board for some, just know that not everyone shares YOUR opinions on the hobby. puf
In the end it is kind of silly to argue about this, but while we're at it, I don't believe everyone has a lifestyle. Everyone has a life and in that life they do many different things. Lifestyle strikes me as an advertising term that try to get people to feel better about the money they are or are about to spend on their hobby. On the other hand, I feel comfortable with the term pastime. Pipes and tobaccos help us to pass the time, indeed.
Nope, a lifestyle is just how you spend your life. Even the poor can lead an impoverished lifestyle, a homeless lifestyle, or maybe a spiritual lifestyle. It has nothing to do with marketing. However, trend is a marketing term, but it is passively used to show how goods and services are spread out. So, everyone is a part of a trend. It is passive, and there is no way not to be a part of a trend. Even if you bought nothing ever, and lived in the woods naked, you'd be a part of a trend.
Hobby? Lifestyle? Neither has just the right ring. I think people who don't smoke pipes would settle for hobby to describe my interest. Lifestyle might be a little grand or sociological. Is breeding airedales a lifestyle? If you are deeply into it, I suppose you might say that. Hobby sounds like a private maybe healthy obsession that helps one unwind, so that may be true of pipes. I guess I'd describe it as an interest of mine, with some social focus via Forums. I'd hear hobby as a bit of a put-down, but that's being pretty fussy of me.
Ok, think of it this way... everything you do, you do in a certain style, whether you intend it or not. Driving a car, walking, eating, all of these things (everything) is done with a style... even if that style is just the same way everyone you know does them. It is still a style.
The problem is that you are associating the word style with something way more fancy that the word implies. And, yes, fancy would be a style as well.
Earlier today, I was telling a debate student to work on his presentation style, and he was saying that he didn't have a style... Even if you just read it like a script, it is still a style.
Admitting that we all have a style doesn't make everyone gay, or high falluten, or excessive, or anything beyond what you already are. It is merely a word that means "the way" one does something, even if the way is sloppy, normal, or just like everyone else.
The problem is that you are associating the word style with something way more fancy that the word implies. And, yes, fancy would be a style as well.
Earlier today, I was telling a debate student to work on his presentation style, and he was saying that he didn't have a style... Even if you just read it like a script, it is still a style.
Admitting that we all have a style doesn't make everyone gay, or high falluten, or excessive, or anything beyond what you already are. It is merely a word that means "the way" one does something, even if the way is sloppy, normal, or just like everyone else.
That's exactly what it says....man you must be getting old, your eyes are going ....
My lifestyle includes oxygen, for sure!
So, no one—or very few— cares what anyone else calls calls his intersection/interaction with pipe smoking. Just don't tell others they are part of "a hobby".
So, no one—or very few— cares what anyone else calls calls his intersection/interaction with pipe smoking. Just don't tell others they are part of "a hobby".
Of course not, because for something to become a hobby requires a more assertive behavior. You have to actively make something a hobby. Whereas, we all couldn't not have a lifestyle if we tried.
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