I'd say it's fluff because the first half adds nothing you don't already know by that point, and the second half is a longwinded way to say 'he liked rebuses'.
I could have sworn we in Sweden used another word for rebuses and I was proven wrong many times in a pub discussion recently but I'm on a hunt for my word. (Very interesting I know...) If you don't mind what word did you use before for rebus? (I haven't given up there is an archaic or "brand name" out there I saw in my youth...)