Yesterday I had a pretty critical job I needed to get done around the house. It involved going to a hardware store for some materials and, being on the boards here, I let the store close before I got there. This , or some similar situation, has been happening more frequently lately and I started reflecting on how much of my time I devoted to cigars and cigar-related.

I'm talking about the time I spend on CBid with the auction and the boards, surfing the web for cigar/related sites, looking at cigar catalogs, shooting the breeze at my nearest cigar shop, keeping up my Igloodors/humidors, rearranging cigars/boxes in storage, emailing other BOTL, etc. I'm talking about at home, at work, on vacation, on deployment, logging in from remote computers, etc.

When I started thinking back and estimating (rather conservatively, I think) the time in a cumulative fashion, I was absolutely ASTOUNDED!!!! I had no clue as to the running total amount of time in a week....a month..........three months..........that I was investing in my affair with cigars. I'm still trying to digest it.

My fellow BOTL this moved way outside the parameters of a "hobby" a long time ago. I'm not even sure how I would characterize the behavior, but it's frightening..........no wonder I hear the charge/refrain, "are cigars all you think about?" leveled at me so often. THEY'RE RIGHT (well, almost)!

Just my (not so pleasant) thoughts............

P.S. I hesitate to state my estimate of hours per month invested in cigar/cigar related activities for fear of riducule/derision..........

arwings: i get what you're saying. and there are folks who are PASSIONATE about cigars -- but it's still in the realm of "hobby." it sounds to me like what you're wondering if this has become a sort of addiction.

so let me ask the question: are cigars and cigar-related activities interfering with your life? enhancing your life?

honestly, there is no hard and fast rule that says "if you go over X amount of time, you have a problem."

you have to measure it according to what it's doing either FOR you or TO you -- and those in your life.

now there are guys who have significant others who will kvetch and moan if their bf/husband has even ONE cigar a year. i think that's pretty extremely persnickety. but everyone has to guage for himself (or herself) what is REASONABLE -- whether it's how many to smoke, when to smoke, how much time to spend on cigars, how much money, etc.

imo, life's all about balance. if your life is out of balance, and it's because of cigars, then i'd say it's time to do some evaluating and make some changes.

if you want to talk, feel free to email me: BBELTRISI at ec.rr.com

-sicilian tony

as i point out to my wife, 'at least i'm not out in the garage cooking meth'.

there are much worse pastimes to which you could devote your energies.

persnickety... what a fun word 🙂

chipslave: second only to "brouhaha" 🙂

I can fish and smoke cigars at the same time, so no problem, time well spent.

Barry

mattmelcher, do you by any chance have a recipe for meth? For a friend of course.

hehe

cavallo......Understand what you're saying. And I guess mattmelcher is correct.......there are a lot worse hobbies/obsessions/pasttimes that are more costly/damaging/harmful than cigars. I was just surprised with the amount of time I came up with, as I had never thought about it before. Probably something of a "knee-jerk" reaction (like I had the first time I broke the $1000.00 barrier in one month in cigar purchases, excluding ISOMs...if I was inclined to purchase ISOMs) and now that I'm somewhat "settled down" I can look at it more objectively.

I think I have probably substituted the cigar community for a social life. The more I think about it, on the boards/web/auction you don't have to make plans (you can log on anytime), you don't have to get dressed to go out, you don't garner any reciprocal obligations, etc. Working two jobs I simply find it easier to socialize with fellow BOTL.

Whether it's good or bad I don't know. I know I enjoy it a great deal and feel like I know a lot of the people here even though I've never met them.

I'll have to give it some more thought, but many thanks for your input and comments.

By my (conservative estimate) I devote approximately 50 hours per week (including weekends) to cigars and everything cigar related. There.........I've said it!

arwings: only you can determine if you spend "too much" time on cigar stuff. personally, i spend a good deal amount of time here. when i feel well, this is what i WANT to spend time on.

i'm disabled; i get out of the house -- for ANY reason, socializing or a trip to the pharmacy -- about 2 times a month. if i had to depend on "real life" interaction to make a social life, well, i'd be one lonely, lonely boy.

i consider the BOTLs (and SOTLs) i've "met" here to be friends. there are people i've known in "real life" for over a decade who don't show as much care, kindness and generosity as folks i've known here for less than a month! i think my social life's just fine.

the only problem i see is if you or your SO find that cigar stuff is interfering with your life. if, for instance, you call in sick from work to stay home and be online, if you and your SO have plans to go see a movie or something, and you back out so you can play with your cigars, etc.

my SO thinks i spend a lot of time on cigar stuff; she also sees nothing wrong with that. it makes me happy, and she gets all the attention from me that she wants. if i'm on here and she says, "baby i need you to snug me a bit," then zooooom! i'm off here and she's in my arms.

if we make plans to go out together, the only thing stopping me would be my health at the time. i dunno. i feel like it's balanced. she feels like it's balanced. no harm, no foul. if your SO or your friends are being NEGLECTED because of cigar stuff, then yes -- i'd call that a problem. but again, keep in mind what is reasonable and not. if your SO was up your nut for smoking one cigar a month, i'd say that was highly unreasonable.

anyway, go with your gut, too. if YOU are concerned about the time spent, then cut back a bit and see if you feel better about it. set limits if that helps, like "no more than 2 hours daily/nightly spent on the boards" etc. hope you find your way. 🙂

wings, if it makes you feel any better, I spend about the same amount of time with it. It's a combination hobby, social activity, and I can chat on here all I want for the cost of my internet connection! What's wrong with that? Like Cav says, if you are negliecting other obligations to persue this, then you need to reevaluate, but if you are happy, and not neglecting anything else (other than maybe losing track of the time once in a while) why worry?

Recently my wife told that her friend's husband won $72 at the casino. I said that I was very happy for "them". My wife then said "well, she's not too happy about it". Turns out that he spends at least $600 /month at the casino. Its probably more than $600 since he had to refinance the house etc, etc.

Sorry, that was $72,000 at the casino.

Hi, my name is Tony and I'm a cigar-a-holic........

gentlemen, you must all turn your stashes over to me. i'll compassionately dole them out to you one at a time -- problem solved!

*counts* "one for you... three for me..." 😉

LMAO....at BigTony.......he may be the one "right on."

There is probably a bulletin board for ladies at the QVC channel with the same discussion.

QVC ladies smoke cigars??? 😉

I dream of cigars. I almost always find myself waking up trying to get my fingers to light up a piece of my blanket so I can smoke it. It pisses off the wife, but I just love those beautiful pieces of tabacco art.

I started the Cigar hobby about 9 or so months ago, and I absolutely love it ! I have had other hobbies in the past, but nothing compares to this. You dont have to spend a lot of money if you dont want to. The people here are friendly and always here to give you advice/information.
Bottom Line...this is the most relaxing, stressfree hobby I have ever had. It is now my only hobby and this is all I need. BTW my wife thinks it is really neat ! Theres my 2 cents worth from a not so knowledgable stogie lover....