Waxing (or maybe waning) philosophically: Hobby or habit?

[trouttimes]

Seldom, this is why I don't guide anymore. Fishing for me is less and less about catching. My passion at the moment is small streams(15' or so wide) where the challenge and reward is in skill in casting and presentation and far less on the catch. The trout are very seldom larger than 10".

 

[rdavid]

Definitely both for me. I enjoy all aspects of the hobby: Collecting, PAD/TAD, opening a new tin of something I haven’t tried yet, cellaring, drying, packing, lighting, tamping and recently trying to discern the different components of a really good blend. I love the discovery process.
Also love the nicotine buzz that comes with it all. Addict, yes. First bowl in the morning with coffee is absolute bliss!

 

[blackadderlxx]

I don't have track marks, but I have a lot of shirts with holes in the front, ha ha

Oh man, this. I have to say hobby. I smoked nails when I was younger but quit a LONG time ago. That was a habit.

 

[seldom]

Where the deer and the antelope play.

Shoot. Apologies, didn't mean to be a downer. I'm legitimately thinking of taking up fly fishing again. Anyone who has enjoyed it knows the many pleasures to be found in the pursuit of fish on some beautiful river or stream. Ernest Hemingway, obviously an avid fisherman, wrote this eulogy for a friend and I like it:
“He loved the warm sun of summer and the high mountain meadows, the trails through the timber and the sudden clear blue of the lakes. He loved the hills in the winter when the snow comes. Best of all he loved the fall … the fall with the tawny and grey, the leaves yellow on the cottonwoods, leaves floating on the trout streams and above the hills the high blue windless skies. He loved to shoot, he loved to ride and he loved to fish.”

 

[milehighpiper]

I am a new smoker and right now I want to say it is 100% hobby! However, I smoke every Tuesday night with my buddies, every other Friday at my local shop, and Sunday afternoons after all the errands and chores have been completed. I don’t crave it or get the shakes if I don’t have it, but I always look forward to it!

 

[economistandfisherman]

I hear ya milehigh...you simply enjoy the pleasantries of it...that's cool.

 

[jdhayes]

I think a habit and an addiction are different things. For example, I may drink a couple beers in the evening time and smoke a pipe because I enjoy it, yes its a habit. Its something I do over and over everyday about the same time, but I'm not addicted. If for some reason I am not able to smoke or drink for a day or a week, my body does not go into withdrawals, I am not dependent on a substance to make me feel better. Now what about an obsession, when one thinks about something all day, talks about it and even posts on online forums about it... :crazy:

 

[aldecaker]

I kind of take it as a given that most of us here are nicotine addicts. There may be a couple "a bowl or two a week" types, but a lot of us enjoy nicotine in other forms than just the pipe. I read the question as if the pipe smoking we do is merely habitual, or are we into the hobby aspect of it as well.