You're right he probably was missing his drinking partner. We had a couple mutual friends there that were drinking so its not like he was drinking alone though.
I think he knows he has what society would consider a problem, but I dont really think HE considers it a problem. He thinks it's a solution, much like we all did at some point. He takes his breaks to prove to himself its not a problem, or at least its not a serious problem.
To clarify a bit, im regarding 5 minutes of my 6 hours there. We really had a good time, I just felt this 5 minutes was completely unnecessary.