outisde of Cigars....what is are your passions?

[El Presidente]

For members here, cigars are a given

We know from recent sports posts, most of you follow a team/ teams in various sports. What are they?

Those that do not follow sports (and those that do) what about the arts.....what do you enjoy/are passionate about?

I am a devout Rugby (Reds), League (Bronco's/Origin), Football (Man City), NFL (Bucs) tragic. I am a music buff (anything from Zappa to Rap), A flyfishing tragic (saltwater mostly), a voracious reader of books (anything), I love nothing more than taking the Jeep away for the weekend on the beach taking off the top and playing the Focal sound system loud and proud.

My other passion would be cooking. mostly Asian and southern Europe Cuisine. Often a fusion between the two.

let us know what rings your bells.

[gurman]

Rugby - Bulls

Soccer - Wolverhampton Wanderers (alas!)

Books - Jorge Luis Borges

Music - Bach, Coltrane

Movies - Fellini

[hdryder]

CFL--Sask Rough Riders

NHL-Montreal Canadians

Motorcycles-Harley davidsons

Fishing-both fresh & salt

Music-Mostly clasic rock & hard rock

Traveling-I own a place in Jamaica but have traveled in much of the Carribean but unfortunatly never been to Cuba but plan on going soon

Movies-Action

Books-very seldom

[polarbear]

I'm a massive custom car fan.

I stripped and rebuilt a 1964 EH Holden during my apprenticeship and have beem slowly filling it with go fast bits for the last few years.

After completing (mostly) the EH my father decided he wanted something for Sundays with a little class. I tracled him down his dream car, an 1965 XP Falcon Coupe. Being 55 and having quite a bit more cash to throw at this car he was able to fill it with great gear making it a total weapon that still retains its manners when required.

I also enjoy hunting with a bow and arrow as well a bit of Barra fishing. Living in the top end makes it hard not to enjoy the out doors.

[Pilgrims]

Wine - a job by also an obssession

Rugby (union) - played from age 6 to 36 this is my first year not playing - too many concussions, now coaching and refing, like watch ing RL too

Horseracing - Love everything about it, the characters, the bettig, the horses

Watches - becoming a hobby

Skiing - Just the best holiday and most actively relaxing thing to do, love skiing with my son

Music - need to make more time for this

[Guest rob]

Like most here, I find my interests become obsessions. I don't do anything by halves, so my hobbies / interests are more often than not - all or nothing.

Much to the detriment of my wallet and time...and an admirable patience by my better half, I love:

* Golf - play twice a week and watch every tournament and read as much news as possible. Having said that, I don't change my equipment much. I'm not a proponent of upgrading my way to a lower handicap. My clubs fit me, my swing and my ability. If something changes and a change is required - I will of course investigate.

* Music. I love it. Live concerts. Collecting. Playing guitar and had a 4 year stint with Cello. I am a mad vinyl junkie and this definitley gives my cigar budget a testing challenge. I regularly go a week of evenings without the TV on and just listening to music. Literally just sitting in the sweet spot and enjoying the performance.

* Audio / home theater. Unlike golf, I upgrade as often as 'necessary'. I just love ow good the home experience can be. It's nose bleed expensive once you want to get past 'good'.... But man it's good!

* Gardening. I love it. I love learning and observing what's new or changed every day. It's a real great way of unwinding and generally the time I'm smoking a Havana. Bonsai is also beautiful thing. My back yard landscaping project is my pride and joy.

* Silver age comics and original comic art. I love the good ol days...maybe I'm getting old but the new stuff has nothing on the silver age.

* Red wine, scotch single malt whiskys and cognacs.

* Also used to shoot Military firearms (long arms and pistol) but the cost has kept me quiet recently.

I also love my football and cricket. But my interest currently wanes in cricket. I was a tragic who would watch every ball of every test match Australia played.. And now I barely watch a match at all. The same for the Canberra Raiders...was a season ticket holder for a decade. The players lack of integrity and the want to 'have a go' have pushed me away.

[NJP]

Good question!

I don't know.

I'll be back.

[rusty]

I'm a massive custom car fan.

I stripped and rebuilt a 1964 EH Holden during my apprenticeship and have beem slowly filling it with go fast bits for the last few years.

After completing (mostly) the EH my father decided he wanted something for Sundays with a little class. I tracled him down his dream car, an 1965 XP Falcon Coupe. Being 55 and having quite a bit more cash to throw at this car he was able to fill it with great gear making it a total weapon that still retains its manners when required.

I also enjoy hunting with a bow and arrow as well a bit of Barra fishing. Living in the top end makes it hard not to enjoy the out doors.

Got any pics of the EH and XP you'd like share?

Cheers

[tydra]

Reading: Mostly fantasy, like the wheel of time series.

Sports: Used to do martial arts, too many injuries, so I just watch the UFC, and I go to the gym, mostly circuit training and HIIT.

Music: Death and doom metal, mostly Scandinavian

Cooking: Mostly try out healthy, low carb recipes I get off the net, like the steak recipe from

brazoseagle

Manga, Anime, and Japanese Comedy: Especially Gaki no Tsukai

[socapots]

Lowriders, are probably the only thing other then cigars. Classic cars in general.

Car audio was a large part of life when I was younger. It has come back in recent months. And of course music. Mostly dancehall/reggae. Also soca and most anything that sounds good. Lol

Except country.

And I think the lawncare is growing on me.

So I guess more then I ever thought.

[Hafner32]

I am a rabid follower of any of the Philly Sports Teams: Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, Union, Phantoms(Minor League Hockey), Wings(Lacrosse), etc. Grew up going to all the games with my dad and it just stuck.

When not watching sports live or on TV, I can usually be found coaching one of my 3 children in one of them with my passion surely being little league baseball.

After that, there's not much time for many other passions or money for that matter!

[Cohiba007]

Football- Miami Dolphins pro and Florida State Seminoles college

Motorcycles-Harley Davidson

Fitness-Crossfit 3-4 times a week

Cycling-road biking

[godpheonix]

i'm a sciences and physics buff. i use to watch sports but now i'm noticing how money dictates the sports and i think its gone way off the mark, so i don't care about any of them anymore. its not like the good whole days where players played, not for the money, but for the love of the sport. I'm also a big movie buff and i have quite a collection that has grown over the years. golf and tennis are the sports i like to play though i don't have much time with a 1 year old and another on the way...i can kiss those hobbies goodbye for a while ! LOL ! theres also wine and traveling, seeing the world, but i really haven't done that in sometime now...really miss it ! its on hold for now. other things too but can't think of them now..

[Reevzy]

Guitars, playing em, cleaning em.

And Flight Simulator X. I've spent stupid amounts of money on my computer in the hunt for frames per second and I've got a kick arse stick, throttle and rudder set up. Infra red head tracking for inside the cockpit, add on planes and scenery and programs to make flight sim better. It looks and feels unreal. I also use it to brush up on my skills for real world flying which I do every once in a while just for the fun of it.

Went and flew a Cessna 172 in the smog soup skies of Malaysia, that put the flight sim skills to the test.

[canadianbeaver]

Travel, coffee, painting and creating design artworks on my computer.

Anything to do with sitting outside and enjoying birds and nature.

[michaelhealy]

Im a sports nut. A QLD Reds tragic. Love the EPL- Newcastle United. An ex golf pro who now plays once a month (and manages to play to scratch!). Im a BBQ nut and love my Weber kettle. I cant stand other people making my coffee. I have to do it myself. I am a bit of a movie buff and watch anything with Pacino or De Niro. I cant cook, i hate reading books and grocery shopping.....well shopping of any kind (except cigars of course)

[Squarehead]

Watching my 2 grandkids play Icehockey winter and summer.Gardening and tending to my Tropical Hibiscus collection(I used to have over 50 different ones) but downsized to 10 as it was getting too much and running out of room.Also making French Poodles out of Solid Insulated Copperwire where the wiregauge determens the size of the dog.

[IcedCanuck]

Usually I am a huge hockey fan but the lockout during the first half of the season really soured it for me to the point where even when the NHL started back up I didn't get back into this year ... not even the playoffs. That being said I cheer for the Montreal Canadiens and will probably go back to watching next season. I have been getting into the NFL more and more every year and last year I think I only missed one or two Patriots games. Same goes for NASCAR I started getting into that a few years back and now I look forward to Sunday race days! I am into cars in a big way but I lean more towards American Muscle cars. I can appreciate the European super cars but I don't have much interest in them. I myself own a 2007 Mustang GT that I have modified over the years but have not done too much with it over the last couple of years. In the winter I do a lot of skiing; in fact I ski a couple times every week. I am lucky to live about 20 minutes away from a local ski hill. It is not the greatest hill in the world but when you consider how close it is and how cheap a season pass is there is no way anyone can complain about it. I do try and hit some of the bigger hills every month though.

Travelling is something I have always enjoyed but then doesn't everybody? I have been hitting up the all inclusive resorts a lot lately and I always take a day or two to do some excursions. I have done some backpacking in the past and I would like to do some more eventually.

I suppose one of my biggest passions is music. I have been playing electric guitar for approximately 16 years. Lately I have caught the bug again and have been playing for one to three hours a day for the past couple of months. I am a self confessed metalhead but also like and play some lighter stuff such as Eric Clapton. I have a YouTube channel I have been posting guitar covers on. I do absolutely no editing, full takes, and I mic it as opposed to plugging in directly from the amp to a PC. I have only been putting up songs that I find extremely easy to play because I will not upload a video that is riddled with mistakes lol. Gives me something to do, keeps me busy, and keeps me out of trouble

[Tino]

Rugby League - Wigan Warriors (some of my happiest father/son memories are going to games with my Dad)

Football - Manchester United (Living in London now its not that easy going to games, but managed to get to 6 last season, including Sir Alex's last game)

Food & Drink - Love cooking, eating, wine, whisky, good beer, pubs etc...

Dogs - We always had dogs growing up, the little fella in my avatar is my Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Ernie.

Comedy - Tough call but would chose this over music, love both the live experience and recordings. Far too many to list properly, but I love the work of Bill Hicks, Daniel Kitson, Stewart Lee, Mitch Hedberg, Richard Pryor...

[Mr.T]

Football - Liverpool

College Hockey - Golden Gophers (Minnesota)

Reading - history, current affairs, philosophy, travel

Traveling

[Marker]

Enjoy doing Tae Kwon Do as much as possible.

Softball in the summer

Pheasant hunting with my dogs

Reading outside while having a cigar

[jsoftz]

I spend much of my time swing dancing. Lindy hop, charleston, shag, and all the American Jazz Vernacular Dances. I go out a couple times a week dancing and compete a little bit on my own and with my city's competitive team. I also travel to big "lindy weekends" which are basically big parties with bands, workshops and dancing all weekend - I'm driving back from one now actually. It's a great hobby most of my friends are from here.

My other hobby is men's clothing. I am currently transitioning my clothes to mostly bespoke.

I also enjoy gaming but haven't had much time lately and there haven't been too many great games that are worth the time... Last ones I liked were Bioshock Infinite and Ni No Kuni.

Sports teams include any/all Houston teams - Texans, Rockets, Dynamo, my college team the Houston Cougars and the Astros. Not always easy being an a Houston fan.

Other than that I spend time with the girlfriend and my dog, a very sweet corgi who hates the smell of smoke.

[Dbone]

Being a family man has limited my scope of free time. Enjoying a cigar is a great escape. Fishing and grilling, too.

[rook]

NHL - St. Louis Blues & Washington Capitals

Growing up my family had season tickets to the St. Louis Blues games for 11 years, I practically grew up inside the arena. When the 2005 NHL Lockout occurred we decided to quit buying season tickets. I love nothing more than the sport of hockey, well except my little brother and my dog.

MLB - St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis is a huge baseball town, if you come to St. Louis in the summer you must go to Busch Stadium and catch a Cards game.

NFL - St. Louis Rams

While the Rams have been struggling on and off the field in recent years, I feel that they are finally getting back on track thanks to Jeff Fisher and Les Snead.

I also thoroughly enjoy time with my little brother, any chance I get I try to hang out with him. He's now of the age where he is wanting to smoke cigars, so every so often we will take the roof off his jeep and sit the back seat and light up some cigars and talk about life. I also enjoy 4-wheeling and buying and selling old balloon tire bicycles.

[finecigar]

I really enjoy painting and drawing and have been doing that since a young age. Color is my forte and I have an eye for successful design and harmony in any kind of art. Most favorite is 2D though (oil painting and charcoal or graphite), sometimes I do a bit of mixed media work also.

Traveling is something I strive to do yearly, whether it is in the US or across the world. I feel that stepping out of my comfort zone and into another culture is what fuels my creativity and imagination! Also, I love trying new foods across the world and learning how to cook. My most favorite would be Middle Eastern cuisine.

Movies are another activity I have passion for. I usually watch at least one movie a day. Most are foreign films- I am tired of the US crap so I have ventured out. Have a collection of 5,000+ DVDs and Blu rays

As for physical activity, my favorite would be jogging, in addition to hiking! Usually in the deep woods near my house- I find tranquility while pacing myself in nature and seeing the changes each time I run. I try to run about 3-5 times a week, time permitting.

Love to fish too! Nothing serious though