You guys are making my head hurt. I smoke a pipe, I collect pipes, I collect tabacco. I don't care what anyone calls it.
Pipe Smoking: Hobby? Life Style?
- Thread starter jpmcwjr
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Like growing a beard , or rideing a motorbike , some things a blokes just drawn to do .
We can split hairs here! For me a hobby is a leisure activity that I am interested in, research, enjoy doing and learning about in my free time. These include vaping, pipe smoking (as opposed to smoking a pipe), forging and other DIY crafts, gardening, cooking, listening to music.
The divide, for me, is something that you do habitually while not thinking about it at all vs when you do, cigarettes are a key example: I used to smoke RYO cigarettes for about 10 years, I had a single brand of tobacco and never deviated from it. It was just an activity, a nicotine reception system. Sure there were tobaccos I liked and tobaccos I hated, but I didn't think about it at all. There are cigarette smokers who research their tobaccos, and even maintain collections of tobaccos like some pipe smokers do - I'd call them hobbyists. Going to the "trouble" of joining and reading about anything is what separates it from a habitual activity and makes it something more.
Similarly there are people out there who collect stamps, bottles of any sort of drink, caps, trading cards...I even know some people who catch fish, take a picture of them and then release them to the water. One particular guy told me he caught the same fish in the same river twice.
I understand why some people don't like it being called a hobby though, so I'll refrain from calling it that!
The divide, for me, is something that you do habitually while not thinking about it at all vs when you do, cigarettes are a key example: I used to smoke RYO cigarettes for about 10 years, I had a single brand of tobacco and never deviated from it. It was just an activity, a nicotine reception system. Sure there were tobaccos I liked and tobaccos I hated, but I didn't think about it at all. There are cigarette smokers who research their tobaccos, and even maintain collections of tobaccos like some pipe smokers do - I'd call them hobbyists. Going to the "trouble" of joining and reading about anything is what separates it from a habitual activity and makes it something more.
Similarly there are people out there who collect stamps, bottles of any sort of drink, caps, trading cards...I even know some people who catch fish, take a picture of them and then release them to the water. One particular guy told me he caught the same fish in the same river twice.
I understand why some people don't like it being called a hobby though, so I'll refrain from calling it that!
I guess for me it's lifestyle?
I don't really think of it as either one. It is less something that I do and more something that's a part of me. I love smoking pipes and it is something that I'll do as long as I'm alive.
I don't really think of it as either one. It is less something that I do and more something that's a part of me. I love smoking pipes and it is something that I'll do as long as I'm alive.
I have a sore throat, so for me its a lack of lifestyle right now, a vice (I would love to ad) an addiction that is mild enough to ignore for a few days, and a hobby which has enough facets to it that at least during this period of abstinence a pile of dirty pipes will get put back on the rack clean, and I might get the label maker out to make some jars 'fancy'
Isaac.
Isaac.
It's a hobby if you think it is for you. It's your lifestyle if you wish to think of it in that way. It's just something you do if you don't like to categorize your pipe smoking. Just don't tell another guy or gal how to categorize it!
I don't typically smoke when I'm busy doing something. Only when I'm sitting down relaxing. I love looking at pipes, collecting up tobacco, and reading this forum. I don't have alot of time to indulge in piping, leaving me a once a weeker if I'm lucky. Call it whatever you want, who cares. It's enjoyable, every aspect.
Its a lifestyle for me. A pipe is a necessary part of my life and, personality. I make sure to moderate my smokes and not get addicted to lady N. But its a part of who I am. The ritual of smoking a pipe. The mood it puts you in. The mental state of contemplation, presence, and thoughtfulness is something I cant live without. I enjoy learning about the lore, tobacco, makers, blenders, ect. But for me. Its just about "being a pipe smoker". And everything in history that has meant. The man in his study lost in bowls of tobacco thinking about everything. A pipe his companion to thought, relaxation, tobacco a daily enjoyment and interest. A "pipe smoker" in every sense of the word. That contains a certain image and, way of being. To me thats what pipe smoking is. There are pipe smokers, and non pipe smokers.
To me thats what its always been about. And everyone I have ever talked too, read, watched on you-tube, or any pipe tobacco historian has told me the same. This is what I was brought up thinking pipe smoking was about. This is what got me into. Everything reinforced this.
I understand its not the same for others. But the whole world of pipe tobacco/smoking has always been presented to me as a lifestyle or at the very least a "interest, pursuit, or hobby". Pipe smoking is a way of life. A way of living.
If your just someone who loads up a bowl because its something to do. For no real reason. Why post on a forum? talk about tobacco, collect pipes, cellar tobacco. That is a in the very least a hobby. Your partaking in a community, culture, people. Even if you say your not.
To each his own though. I am not slighting anyone who is not into it the same way I am.
To me thats what its always been about. And everyone I have ever talked too, read, watched on you-tube, or any pipe tobacco historian has told me the same. This is what I was brought up thinking pipe smoking was about. This is what got me into. Everything reinforced this.
I understand its not the same for others. But the whole world of pipe tobacco/smoking has always been presented to me as a lifestyle or at the very least a "interest, pursuit, or hobby". Pipe smoking is a way of life. A way of living.
If your just someone who loads up a bowl because its something to do. For no real reason. Why post on a forum? talk about tobacco, collect pipes, cellar tobacco. That is a in the very least a hobby. Your partaking in a community, culture, people. Even if you say your not.
To each his own though. I am not slighting anyone who is not into it the same way I am.
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I guess I'm an odd sort. I use nearly every form of tobacco based on how much time I have to enjoy it. A cigarette for quick smokes, a pipe or cigar for long smokes, nasal snuff with coffee for a wake up call, and chewing tobacco for long walks. Less a hobby and more of a companion for whatever I'm doing.
That used to be me as well. I quit cigarettes 3 years ago and quit dip a year and 4 months ago.
I just smoke pipes and cigars now and occasionally nasal snuff. I'll never quit these. I gave up my cigs and dip, that's enough.
Yes, the pipe will never go away for me. I too used to enjoy all forms of tobacco. I haven't had nasal snuff in a few years, but I do miss it. Cigarettes, I come and go with. I like them for the quick smokes on busy in and out days. But I've gone months at a time without them. I'm done with the electronic version. Did that for a couple years. And chew I just quit about 6 months ago. My teeth and gums are bad enough as it is. But the pipe I love. Everything about my pipe makes me smile on the inside.
Even my doctor indirectly gave me the "ok" to smoking my pipe as a means to knock down my anxiety levels.
Even my doctor indirectly gave me the "ok" to smoking my pipe as a means to knock down my anxiety levels.
My doctor tried to prove I use tobacco (she knows I do). The same thing keeping me beneath 120 pounds burns up everything. My blood work shows zero trace of nicotine and when I hit the rum I can only get a really good buzz for about half an hour.
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