Can Pipe Smoking Be a Cheap Habit?

mrmachado · Oct 27, 2018

I chose it over cigars (among other reaons) because it seems a cheaper habit to mantain.
I mean, each good cigar is a fortune.
You can buy a decent pack of tobacco for a good price, and you only need one good pipe and a lighter. Maybe some filters and cleaners but that's it. It's all cheap.
If you want to go further you can go further, of course. Make a pipe collection, buy expensive tobacco etc.
I'm spending less with pipes than with cigars, and probably will spend less than with cigarettes too (since I smoked many packs).
What do you think? Do you think that you can keep it a cheap habit or that it is impossible?

jpmcwjr · Oct 27, 2018

Yes, one can.

ashdigger · Oct 27, 2018

Very easily. Buy a couple cobs. And burn away.

mrmachado · Oct 27, 2018

@ashdigger I mean that even with a Savinelli and decent tobaccos it can be affordable.

carolinachurchwarden · Oct 27, 2018

Sure thing! Keep to cobs, maybe a few inexpensive briars and smoke cheaper but good pouch OTC's and absolutely, it can be down.

hoosierpipeguy · Oct 27, 2018

It can be as cheap, or as expensive, as you choose to make it. If doing an economic comparison, I think you need to leave the pipe cost out of it and do your analysis based upon the cost of tobacco alone. Tobacco can be as cheap as $,25 per bowl (maybe even less) to $.75 per bowl. Say we agree upon $2.00 per day for 4 bowls. One pack of cigarettes sells for more than $5 per pack here, much higher in some states. So you could smoke more than 10 bowls per day of pipe tobacco for less money than a single pack of cigarettes.

warren · Oct 27, 2018

Define cheap. How much discretionary moneys do you have? Just keep the costs to what you can afford.

btp79 · Oct 27, 2018

Cob's and captain black, good to go

chilllucky · Oct 27, 2018

It's been said a few times on the radio show and I've repeated it to friends - If you like to smoke tobacco once a day, 200USD will get you either a box of low-end-of-decent cigars which will last a month, or a pipe and tobacco to last between 1-6 months depending on where you invest the 200. And at the end of that term, you still have the pipe.

dottiewarden · Oct 27, 2018

Probably the volume of tobacco smoked is what affects cost more than any other single factor. You can get decent pipes for next to nothing, but when it comes to the tobacco don't go cheap. Depending on where you live or how you source your tobacco also makes a major difference. Where I live, a 50 gram tin of tobacco costs the equivalent of about $28 USD out the door. In many places you could pay half that price. I go through a tin in about 3 weeks, making it $10 per week. For others that same tin would last less than a week. Enjoy every bowl.
If PAD or TAD should strike, it could cost several hundred dollars per month.

shanez · Oct 27, 2018

I'm spending anywhere from $5 to $10 per cigar (and I still love them) when I smoke them.
I figure I'm averaging $.25 per bowl with my pipe. So yes, much more affordable even if you purchase a few premium pipes.
I've used this math to justify some discontinued expensive tobacco. A 100g tin can be $70 but is 25-30 bowls. That's still less than a $3 cigar. I consider 1 bowl roughly equal to 1 cigar of robusto-toro size.

seldom · Oct 27, 2018

Mostly what others have said. I smoke cheap, but quality, estate pipes that required a bit of refurbishing. I've gotten lucky on some ebay auctions where the photos were blurry and the descriptions incomplete (early 60s Chratan's, 1899 Own Make BBB, Andreas Bauer meer, Savinelli Straight Grain etc for about 10-20 bucks each). So the pipes can be found for cheap.
Tobacco prices can really vary. Here in Germany I enjoy HU blends but they run about 20€/100 gram tin (well worth the cost if you have the money!). I also like Tabak aus Kiel (TAK search for Motzek), another very good blender who has excellent blends that run 12.50€/100 gram tin. With Christmas coming and gifts to buy the boys and wife I am ordering from TAK rather than HU.
Not sure any potentially addictive habit can be called cheap but there are more and less affordable ways of doing it.

bassbug · Oct 27, 2018

The cost of the pipe is virtually negligible.
Lets say you buy a $300 pipe and it lasts you only 3 years. That's about 30 cents a day. The reality is that a $300 pipe will last 10 times longer than that if cared for properly...that's 3 cents a day.

mikethompson · Oct 27, 2018

I think most things can be done 'on the cheap' if you so wish. Cobs, or even briars can be had for very little online. The biggest outlay is tobacco and what it costs where you live.
But with my PAD under control, and the size of my cellar, and my very moderate smoking, this hobby/habit/past time costs me virtually nothing.

bluto · Oct 27, 2018

I’m all setup , don’t need to spend a dime
Its good the tobacco improves with age

woodsroad · Oct 27, 2018

You can try to justify it any way that you wish, but smoking, in any form, is an unnecessary expense.
“Can it be done cheaply?” is a relative question , as Warren has said. Define “cheaply”.

dochudson · Oct 27, 2018

If I had to smoke cobs to afford smoking i would give up smoking.

woodsroad · Oct 27, 2018

Let's have a discussion of cobs vs briar. That would be novel.

blackadderlxx · Oct 27, 2018

Let's have a discussion of cobs vs briar. That would be novel.

:D
Definitely cheaper. Stay out of unicorn hunting and you'll be fine. Even your average decent $10-12 tins are significantly less expensive per bowl than cigars. And if you go with some of the more popular bulks: LBF, LNF, Anni Kake, Proper English, Father Dempsey, ETC. You can get a pound for the price of 2-5 good cigars.

michiganlover · Oct 27, 2018

A Morgan Bones pipe, a Bic lighter, a couple of long golf tees, and some pipe cleaners. You could easily get started for around $50.
I can get pipe tobacco locally for $4 an ounce, so yes it can be a value conscious experience.
The above prices can be even less if you like corn cob pipes.

Can Pipe Smoking Be a Cheap Habit?

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