OCD Pipe Smokers Unite!

[scottbtdmb]

Good evening Brothers,
I have finally come to terms with a disorder that I seem to have. I am going to officially add to Psychiatry DSM Pipe Smoker's Manual "Pipe Smoker's OCD", which will find it's rightful place alongside DSM Codes "TAD" and "PAD". For those of you not hip to psychological disorder abbreviations, this is "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder". Let's examine my disorder closer.
I have gotten to the point in my pipe smoker's OCD where I go slightly beyond dedicating pipes to certain blends. I now have pipes dedicated to not just English blends, but certain pipes dedicated to light English blends and certain pipes dedicated to heavy English blends. I do the same for Va's....certain pipes solely for light McClelland Va's and specific pipes for stronger Va's like Full Va Flake and Dark Bird's Eye. I smoke Burley's in specific bowls, Lakelands in specific bowls, VaPer's in specific bowls, and finally I have 2 pipes dedicated solely to Bracken Flake. And oh....it doesn't end there. For each set of pipes dedicated to certain blends, I make sure that roughly half of my stock are smooth grain pipes with vulcanite stems (for smoking indoors), and the other half are sandblasted or rusticated pipes with lucite stems (for smoking outdoors).
Aside from pipes, I also have OCD with my tobaccos. Upon opening new tins, I immediately put them into half-pint mason jars, which then go into my desk drawer. My desk drawer is divided into three sections. The first section contains English/Balkan blends, the second section contains Va's, Burleys, and Lakelands, and the third section contains blending tobaccos. At the beginning of each work week, I transfer some of the jarred tobaccos to tobacco pouches. I have individual pouches labeled for light English blends, heavy English blends, light Va's, heavy Va's, VaPers, Burleys, and Lakelands. In each pouch, I put in roughly the amount of bowls I expect to smoke throughout the week of that particular blend. And we're not finished yet gents!
Finally, I have OCD with my pipe bags and accessories. I own three leather pipe bags and usually carry one with me each day (all are different sizes and hold different amounts of pipes). In each pipe bag, I have one lighter, one box of wood matches, several bristled cleaners, one tamper, one flint cartidge, one polishing cloth, and one mini flathead screwdriver to adjust the flame on my lighter if need be. Additionally, I keep all of the same items in my car and in my bookbag (I also keep butane in the bookbag and in the car).
So let's hear it, am I nuts or not? Hopefully, this thread will turn into somewhat of a support group and others will post their symptom of pipe smoker's OCD. Or perhaps this thread will just turn into a bunch of folks making fun of me

-Scott

 

[monbla256]

WAAAAAAAAAY to much work to enjoy something I'm guessing you approach EVERYTHING in your life this way ? To each his own

 

[scottbtdmb]

WAAAAAAAAAY to much work to enjoy something I'm guessing you approach EVERYTHING in your life this way ? To each his own

LOL, I suppose I should be expecting about 50 more posts similar to yours. No, I don't have "OCD" with anything else actually. Most of the reasons I am so OCD with my pipes is that I am extremely sensitive to "ghosting" so that is why I am so anal with how I dedicate my pipes to certain blends/tobaccos. Also, I do a lot of camping in the summer and find that straight grain pipes with vulcanite stems tend to rub against one another in my bag during hikes and wind up scratching, not to mention the vulcanite stems oxidize easily during long periods outdoors....so that is why I divide up the straight grains and rusticated pipes. As far as the pipe pouch routine goes, I have found it much easier to transport the pouches than glass jars, and once again, when I go camping the pouches take up less space. Finally, as to why I keep a close inventory in all my pipe bags and in my car, I constantly lose tampers, matches, lighters, etc, so I have found that by keeping one of each in all my cases, bags, etc, I always have what I need even if I lose a few in the process. So yeah it is a little work to enjoy the hobby for me, but perhaps it is the result of being an absent-minded bohemian

-Scott

 

[Hermit]

I'm terribly OCD.
It goes well with pipe/tobacco obsession. :lol:

 

[flytyer]

I leave for work at 4AM its a good idea to keep several pouches filled with your favorite blends, and pipes to match. That way you can just grab the one your smoking that day and go. There is a differance between being prepared and OCD though. Although your reasons for useing differant pipes in differant situations make sense to me.

 

[Rusty]

DSM - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual? LOL! You've managed to conjure up a view that might be that of an innocent but curious non-smoker eg a nonsmoking psychiatrist. Once they find out the depths of our detailed obsessions they're positive we're nuts. Only pointing at forums like these saves us from involuntary confinement. So put ALL the forum URL's on a biz card. You never know! Also, never talk to your pipes when other people are nearby.

But lest you go through life not experiencing the full blast of OCD let me point out that all the things you notice are internal to the hobby. Other than funding they are completely independent of the world.
BUT when you start to wake up to even numbered days and odd numbered days and the ways pipe and tobacco selection and enjoyment can be interwoven with the external world (to say nothing of odd months and even months, and, the numerical significance of the years themselves). Just think about the variations possible when we start to marry the odd internal stuff with the external. You can sink into this for years.

But btw there are things that simply accumulate. This is not like PAD & TAD. Nobody has ever understood it. Pipe bags, lighters, jars, racks, etc seem to gather around us. It's a mystery and I'm trying all sorts of models to explain it. So far no luck.

 

[Cigar2you]

Scott,
I appreciate your knowledge and enthusiasm with pipes and tobaccos, always a great conversation when we get together. As you know with me, I don't have nearly as sensitive of a palate. I do separate my English pipes from my non English pipes but that's as far as I go with it. Since I am not a huge fan of the burley tobacco at this point I usually just smoke them in a Virginia/vapor pipe when I smoke them. I hope one day to get to the point where the nuances of flavor become so dicier able that I can divide the pipes I have to more specific genres. Til then I will just continue to puff and enjoy.

 

[scottbtdmb]

Scott,
I appreciate your knowledge and enthusiasm with pipes and tobaccos, always a great conversation when we get together. As you know with me, I don't have nearly as sensitive of a palate. I do separate my English pipes from my non English pipes but that's as far as I go with it. Since I am not a huge fan of the burley tobacco at this point I usually just smoke them in a Virginia/vapor pipe when I smoke them. I hope one day to get to the point where the nuances of flavor become so dicier able that I can divide the pipes I have to more specific genres. Til then I will just continue to puff and enjoy.

Likewise man, always a good time getting together. I do hope that the rest of you who don't know me well like Jon realize that this thread was done somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The whole DSM thing was meant to get laughs and I see one person caught on. In all serious, I am definitely not OCD with my pipes and tobaccos, but like another poster wrote, I am merely "prepared". Having my pouches organized and my accessories distributed between all my pipe bags makes my life a lot easier and after twelve years of working second shift, I just started a new shift in December and waking up at 5:30 is pretty difficult at this point. I am lucky if I remember to put my glasses on and grab my wallet at that hour, let alone pack a pipe and remember to grab a tamper and lighter! Anyways, now that you guys understand my dry sense of humor, perhaps this thread can be more of the "tongue in cheek" thread I intended it to be. So come on, I know you all have at least one pipe related idiosyncrasy.....let's hear about them? :lol:

-Scott

 

[kieveryuu]

The OP for this thread is very careful with his pipes, this is a good a thing, though not OCD, he called himself ‘anal’ which is far more accurate. A dry sense of humor is good. I know I am not “playing along” so much, but for the record I am very much a dry humor kind of guy.

‘OCD’ (more properly ‘CDO’ for the letters are in the right order ) as an expression is much like ‘nazi’ in that it is used with a certain off-handed casualness.

Now, I am not saying that there is not a place for a casual use of these or of other terms/words that have a very serious attachment to them, much like there is a place for sarcasm and such. However, I put it to you that we need to be careful with such terms as OCD. Those of you who have an intimate knowledge of OCD one way or another understand why I suggest caution.

Understand that I am not saying that this thread is inappropriate or wrong or insensitive (I am not even close to PC like that) It just struck me today a little sidewise, that is all... :|

And for the record, I think you have a great system going with your pipes and tobacco, perhaps you are a little anal but it sounds to me like you are super taster. I imagine you are very sensitive to what is in your food and beverages as well. Very cool. 8)

 

[Zeno Marx]

I'm OCD elsewhere...most elsewhere. So, I purposely do not allow myself to be OCD with the pipe hobby and with my hiking and backpacking. My hobbies work as my balance, or I attempt them to be so.

When I first started the pipe, I was very much compartmentalized and very concerned with the details of every little detail. For a while, it was understandable. It was new. The learning curve was still on a huge upswing. Then I caught myself doing it all purely out of habit and making quasi-rules for myself. Nullified some of the benefit I enjoyed from the ritual. Some habits are easy to break. Some habits are easy to break only in certain areas where those habits occur. Stopped most of what I deemed nonsense, and I've never looked back.

 

[Blackhorse]

Nice. I'm totally opposite of the OCD thing...total chaos. If ONLY I had just a little OCD in my life and my pipes and such.

Before I realized that what you were describing was 'tongue in cheek' I was thinking..."jeez, being organized doesn't make you OCD!"

Just shoot a little of that over this way!

 

[Harlock999]

It goes well with pipe/tobacco obsession. :lol:

Hey, that's what I was going to say!
It is a hobby that is conducive to a little selective OCD.
One of my little ticks is spacing the pipes out in the drawer, just so...
then checking on them every now and then to see that they haven't shifted out of position.
Of course real OCD is no fun, and nothing like this, but pipes can make it fun to have a pretend disorder.

 

[Blackhorse]

Hey...I think that black one up on the upper right is a little out of line...



WAIT!!! It just MOVED!!!



Damn...he was right!

 

[Harlock999]

Hey...I think that black one up on the upper right is a little out of line...



WAIT!!! It just MOVED!!!



Damn...he was right!

Exactly!! In fact this photo is used as a reference to confirm any movement... :cheers:

 

[Boxerbuddy]

It goes well with pipe/tobacco obsession. :lol:

Hey, that's what I was going to say!
It is a hobby that is conducive to a little selective OCD.
One of my little ticks is spacing the pipes out in the drawer, just so...
then checking on them every now and then to see that they haven't shifted out of position.
Of course real OCD is no fun, and nothing like this, but pipes can make it fun to have a pretend disorder.

Is this Harlock actually chiming in on the subject? Or was it a perfect chance for him to show off his awesome Italian pipes right in our faces. Ouch Harlock.......ouch.

 

[Harlock999]

Is this Harlock actually chiming in on the subject? Or was it a perfect chance for him to show off his awesome Italian pipes right in our faces. Ouch Harlock.......ouch.

How dare you! Lol!
Ok, ok, I could have just described my little obsessive quirk with words, but it's so much easier with a pic...
Thanks Boxer!

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Random Compulsive Disorder: RCD resembles closely Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, but seems to have no pattern, cue or trigger. Episodes could happen daily or go long periods of times without an "attack." It might have something to do with how the affected channels the compulsion or energy at hand--not like I'd know anything about that. 8)

 

[George Kaplan]

I only WISH I could be more like that. A while ago a brother asked me how many pipes were in my collection, and I couldn't give a straight answer because they're never all in the same place. I'm convinced the cobs have started breeding. There's always one popping up somewhere I didn't expect it. I actually found one under the hood of my car the other day!
My ex-wife's sister has some fairly serious OCD. When they were little they'd challenge her to a race to the tree and back. The sister was the tallest and could easily outrun the other kids, but she'd have to touch the tree 30 or 40 times to get it right. Ah, childhood! When you could get away with exploiting other people's handicaps.

 

[George Kaplan]

...the cobs have started breeding...I actually found one under the hood of my car the other day!

Still smoke-able, by the way. :cheers:

 

[scottbtdmb]

The OP for this thread is very careful with his pipes, this is a good a thing, though not OCD, he called himself ‘anal’ which is far more accurate. A dry sense of humor is good. I know I am not “playing along” so much, but for the record I am very much a dry humor kind of guy.

‘OCD’ (more properly ‘CDO’ for the letters are in the right order ) as an expression is much like ‘nazi’ in that it is used with a certain off-handed casualness.

Now, I am not saying that there is not a place for a casual use of these or of other terms/words that have a very serious attachment to them, much like there is a place for sarcasm and such. However, I put it to you that we need to be careful with such terms as OCD. Those of you who have an intimate knowledge of OCD one way or another understand why I suggest caution.

Understand that I am not saying that this thread is inappropriate or wrong or insensitive (I am not even close to PC like that) It just struck me today a little sidewise, that is all... :|

And for the record, I think you have a great system going with your pipes and tobacco, perhaps you are a little anal but it sounds to me like you are super taster. I imagine you are very sensitive to what is in your food and beverages as well. Very cool. 8)

I definitely hear what you are saying, although I think using the casual use of "nazi" loosely is a bit of a bad analogy to use compared to the casual use of the word "OCD". Aside from that thanks for the compliments. By the way, as far as being taste sensitive to other things, not so much with food, but I do have a discerning palate for craft beer. I am not one of those people that reviews beers or tobaccos using descriptions like "a complex blend of horseblanket and rosebud petals mixed with a citrusy finish", but yeah I definitely would say that my palate can be a little sensitive at times (moreso with pipe tobaccos). Anyhow, I just got a new pipe in today (old Castello) so I will have to get the old calculator out and do a few logarithm based equations to find out which tobacco I should smoke out of it and if I have time I will compile a list of statistics equations to determine which rack it will go on.....(guess I should point out that this is a joke for those who will take it seriously) :lol:

-Scott