Two new 'hobbies'

[Brewbirds]

He has been away for a while but hasn't missed a beat on the Borg pulse and turns on (no wait he can't turn it off EVER) the humor machine the minute he touches down.

JoeC > a true blue unit.

[Ibasterd]

I recently (within a year) have taken up pipe smoking occasionally. I have never smoked in any shape way or form my entire life. I have always enjoyed the smell of of a pipe (cigars, not so much). I do enjoy a nice pipe with a homebrew in the evenings. Plus it's another fun hobby to collect and try different pipes and tobaccos. I wrestle with the fact that it is potentially unhealthy (oral cancer) but I figure if I have a pipe once or twice a week I should be ok.

[RickBeer]

He has been away for a while but hasn't missed a beat on the Borg pulse and turns on (no wait he can't turn it off EVER) the humor machine the minute he touches down.

JoeC > a true blue unit.

That was humor? Oh.

[jimjohson]

. I wrestle with the fact that it is potentially unhealthy .

So what ain't? Not like your going to get out alive. Might as well have fun along the way.

[Ibasterd]

Alright. I'm sitting on the deck now, having a Bells java stout and a pipe. Peter Stokkebye luxury bullseye flake in a corn cob pipe.

[philm00x]

Andrew just might be the most interesting man.... in Florida. I love the way pipe smoke smells. Not so much cigars, and def not cigarettes.

[Ibasterd]

Phil, we can share the title.

[joechianti]

It was always funny to me how pipe smoke smells so much better than it tastes. I always expected to enjoy that intoxicating aroma when I smoked a pipe that I smelled when other people lit one up, but it was not even close. What we need to do is just hang out with someone who smokes a pipe instead of smoking one ourself. As for the health hazards, that's the beauty of having your best years behind you. You get to the point where you can honestly say you don't give a s**t and truly mean it. Seems like a fair trade. You know you're gonna die soon but in exchange you get to not give a s**t. It's good enough for me.

[Ibasterd]

It was always funny to me how pipe smoke smells so much better than it tastes.

In my short pipe smoking career, I've realized that tobacco that's classified as an "aromatic' are the ones that smell the best when someone else is smoking it, but those are also the ones that taste the worst. Straight up virginia and english blends smell more harsh but have much more flavor. And as for having our best years behind us, well, I'd like to think that's not true, but I still like the idea of not giving a shite!

[Chuck N]

Okay. I'll be the wet blanket...

I've been on this same road; I smoked for more than thirty years. About twenty of those years were cigarettes. Then I quit smoking for three or so years and one day I was out pheasant hunting. I stopped in a convenience store to get some water. They had Swisher Sweet singles at the counter. I figured one of those "wouldn't do me no harm". I bought one a smoked it while en-rout to the next hunting field. Afterward, on the way home, I bought a pack of them.

It took me another ten years to kick them. I inhaled them at first but they were doing more harm to me than the cigs did so I taught myself to not inhale. Then I switched to a better cigar. All that did was triple the money I was spending. After ten years I finally kicked them but it was harder kicking them than it was kicking cigarettes. To this day the smell of cigarette smoke almost makes me gag while the smell of a good cigar stirs up the urges again.

As for the air-rifle: I'm hoping that Texas law is more sensible than Minnesota law but up here, if I was to get caught shooting an air-rifle in town, because Minnesota considers an air-rifle a fire-arm, I would be charged with discharging a fire-arm with-in city limits and could potentially (and in today's anti-gun atmosphere more than likely would) lose all my gun Rights and have to turn over all my guns.

So be careful, Joe.

[joechianti]

Well, I don't think the critters will have much to worry about from me for quite awhile. I can barely hit a 12" wide target from 30 feet so far. I have bifocals, but I think I probably need trifocals. And as far as I know, shooting an air rifle in a fenced yard in Texas is legal. Luckily I am having better luck with my other hobby, smoking cigars. I had tried a lot of different cigars without finding one I truly enjoyed, but then a guy in the local cigar shop gave me a valuable tip. He said that most men find that the perfect cigar for them is one that is the same size as their private organ. It sounded too simple, but sure enough, once I found a ciagar that was about 3 1/2 inches long with a 1/2 inch diameter, I was truly satisfied.

[Ibasterd]

This is what's happening.

[jimjohson]

Okay. I'll be the wet blanket...

I've been on this same road; I smoked for more than thirty years. About twenty of those years were cigarettes. Then I quit smoking for three or so years and one day I was out pheasant hunting. I stopped in a convenience store to get some water. They had Swisher Sweet singles at the counter. I figured one of those "wouldn't do me no harm". I bought one a smoked it while en-rout to the next hunting field. Afterward, on the way home, I bought a pack of them.

It took me another ten years to kick them. I inhaled them at first but they were doing more harm to me than the cigs did so I taught myself to not inhale. Then I switched to a better cigar. All that did was triple the money I was spending. After ten years I finally kicked them but it was harder kicking them than it was kicking cigarettes. To this day the smell of cigarette smoke almost makes me gag while the smell of a good cigar stirs up the urges again.

As for the air-rifle: I'm hoping that Texas law is more sensible than Minnesota law but up here, if I was to get caught shooting an air-rifle in town, because Minnesota considers an air-rifle a fire-arm, I would be charged with discharging a fire-arm with-in city limits and could potentially (and in today's anti-gun atmosphere more than likely would) lose all my gun Rights and have to turn over all my guns.

So be careful, Joe.

I quit cigarettes by finding a cigar I could just barley stand for when I just had to have the nicotine. One day it was just easier not to light it up at all

[Chuck N]

Okay. I'll be the wet blanket...

I've been on this same road; I smoked for more than thirty years. About twenty of those years were cigarettes. Then I quit smoking for three or so years and one day I was out pheasant hunting. I stopped in a convenience store to get some water. They had Swisher Sweet singles at the counter. I figured one of those "wouldn't do me no harm". I bought one a smoked it while en-rout to the next hunting field. Afterward, on the way home, I bought a pack of them.

It took me another ten years to kick them. I inhaled them at first but they were doing more harm to me than the cigs did so I taught myself to not inhale. Then I switched to a better cigar. All that did was triple the money I was spending. After ten years I finally kicked them but it was harder kicking them than it was kicking cigarettes. To this day the smell of cigarette smoke almost makes me gag while the smell of a good cigar stirs up the urges again.

As for the air-rifle: I'm hoping that Texas law is more sensible than Minnesota law but up here, if I was to get caught shooting an air-rifle in town, because Minnesota considers an air-rifle a fire-arm, I would be charged with discharging a fire-arm with-in city limits and could potentially (and in today's anti-gun atmosphere more than likely would) lose all my gun Rights and have to turn over all my guns.

So be careful, Joe.

I quit cigarettes by finding a cigar I could just barley stand for when I just had to have the nicotine. One day it was just easier not to light it up at all

Genius!

Actually I finally quit cigars - three years ago - in much the same way. LOML won't let me me in the house or around her as tobacco smoke makes her very ill. So the only place I could smoke was outside or at work - also outside. One day, while standing out in ten below zero weather I said to myself, "Self. Just how stupid is this? Here you are out side freezing your a$$ and off slowly committing suicide by allowing a leaf fire burn to with-in inches of your face."

Thew them out and never looked back (with the help of some nicotine patches).