Smoking The Best Is Not Expensive

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cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
I know people love to save money, I know I do. Getting a deal is fun, negotiating a good deal is fun. Smoking the best tobacco for short money is fun. Lets take a look at 2 blends which are similar in taste and in style.
In door number 1 we have Escudo, some say the vaper of all vapers.

In door number 2 we have Peter Stokkebye Luxury Bullseye Flake.
The cost of a 4 gram bowl of Escudo is approx .83 cents. This price is based on a single tin at 10.49 which is about the average price on line for a single tin.

The cost of a 4 gram bowl of LBF is approx.36 cents. I based this on the price of 2.53 an ounce which is for a pound purchase.
Now say you smoke 3 bowls a day, that means for 1.41(.47 cents difference between the two) a day you can smoke the best. Now I know some will say they like the LBF better and of course smoke what you like best. For those however that buy LBF to save money, is a 1.41 a day going to change your life style? Would you rather just store those nice round tins of Escudo or would you rather have to jar everything up and spend the money on the jars. If you factor in the cost of the jars, how much more are you really paying for Escudo? Also who among us smokes the same blend 3 times per day? I know I don't as I like variety. So if you are only smoking one bowl per day that means for .47 cents, you can smoke the best.
Now lets take a very expensive blend that only comes in tins. Capstan Blue Flake goes for 14.25 a tin which translates into 1.14 for a 4 gram bowl. So for a 1.14 you can smoke a bowl of one of the most expensive blends on the market. Think about what you pay for a cup of coffee. A 4 gram bowl of tobacco can be smoked from 1-1.5 hours depending on your style of smoking, how you pack the bowl i.e cube cut, fold and stuff or rubbing out. A fold and stuff will smoke the bowl much longer than a rubbing out in my experience.
So back to the original premise, smoking the best is really not expensive when you break it down to the cost per gram. Would you really want to smoke something that you feel is just ok and the whole time smoking that bowl, think to yourself you wished you could be smoking Capstan Blue Flake? Now you have the math to justify buying the best, now try to sell this to your wives the next time you go on a PAD attack.
All of these prices are based from the retail prices at 4noggins, as they were the only ones to have everything in stock.

 
Amen! And, some guys on here will send death threats to members wanting a paltry profit for a bag of Esoterica. Also, online vendor prices have also become the norm. These are just about the same price that B&M's pay, so don't be bitching about B&M prices. If a $17 tin sets off your blood pressure, you really shouldn't be smoking at all. You probably should be feeding your family first.

 

stickframer

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 11, 2015
875
8
True story!
Yeah, bulk is cheaper but I have to go out to buy jars, wash them, label them. I buy tinned 90% of the time.

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
606
Damn! We were just about to declare this a permanent Harris-Free Zone.
Great to see you. Welcome back. :D

 

mayfair70

Lifer
Sep 14, 2015
1,968
2
Good Mathematics there!! The whole reason I started smoking a pipe was because it was cheaper. The fact it is far superior to any other form of smoking, well, that was an instant and lovely surprise in and of itself. :)
Welcome back Cigrmaster!

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
Thanks for the welcome back guys.
When you break it down, smoking a pipe is the least expensive in comparison to cigarettes and cigars. If you are a pack a day cigarette smoker you are dropping 7 bucks a day. One decent cigar is going to cost you 5 bucks a day. Smoking 6 bowls of Escudo only costs you 5 bucks a day and you can continually smoke for at least 6 hours. One 5 dollar cigar gives you maybe an hour. I once figured out that if I quit my pack and a half day of cigarettes(9 dollars a day), I would save 65,700 over a 20 year period. I could buy a 20 year cellar of pipe tobacco for 13,200.00 based on a pound a month at 55.00 per pound. So I saved myself 52K by switching to pipes. Now that is what I call the new math.

 

swhipple

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 2, 2011
258
2
I knew I was saving money by smoking a pipe and Harris just did the math for me. Wait till I show this to my wife :D Now she will never complain when the boxed show up from smoking pipes.
Oh and out of all the tobaccos you mentioned. I actually prefer LBF, although I have Escudo and Capstan in my cellar as well.

 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,959
31,831
34
Burlington WI
Cigrmaster, I like seeing those numbers like that. It makes a lot of sense. But yeah... like cosmic said... (yes that was intentionally lower cased) something about Carter Hall... is the greatest tobacco...is the new Penzance or something like that.
He's a good guy.

 

nevadablue

Lifer
Jun 5, 2017
1,192
4
Of course 'Best' is subjective. The best may not be (and generally isn't, in my experience) the most expensive, and the most expensive isn't necessarily the best.
Lots of numbers. Thanks for all the math, but I just enjoy smoking my pipe once in a while. No numbers needed. :puffy:

 
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,195
Yes, pipe tobacco does work out to be cheaper than smoking cigars and cigarettes, by a heck of a lot, and the price of a higher end tin is only marginally less of a bargain. That was a big factor in my taking up pipes again in the summer of 2016 after a 15 year hiatus.
But then I read about the FDA deeming regulations. Then I saw free shipping with $100 or more orders. Then I learned about 15- 25 % discounts. Then I learned that every now and then discounts could be stacked. And I saw Mason jars on sale at Kroger's during summer canning season. And there were coupons for a few bucks off each case in the newspaper at that time and I had neighbors who had no use for those coupons.
And I only had a few pipes left, clearly not enough, no more than a dozen or so. And I discovered eBay. And then I discovered that shopping for pipes from Italian dealers was absolutely no hassle thanks to the web, PayPal and DHL.
There was a time (not in recent years, but not terribly long ago) that I used to get Cuban cigars from a shop in Switzerland. Regularly. I had a shop here in the US that sold me whole boxes of Fuentes Opus X when those were strictly allocated to single stick or two stick purchases. I figure I am spending about as much on tobacco related items now as I was then.
But yes, premium pipe tobacco is a bargain.

 

hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,221
Austin, TX
This is one hobby (past time) that I actually do opt for the best of the best. Life is too short to get frugal when it comes to quality tobacco. I would much rather have Escudo than Luxury Bullseye Flake although I just go the extra mile and cellar both, however, I have way more Escudo in my cellar than I do LBF.
I’ve apent a small fortune on Condor but to me, it just doesn’t get any better than that and nothing else does it quite like Condor does it for me so I have absolutely no problem shelling out the extra dough it takes to secure it. I’m close to reaching what I’ve calculated as a lifetime supply of Condor Plug, Long Cut and Ready Rubbed and that makes me one happy man! Life is good!

 
I’ve said it many times... I will never own a Lamborghini or Roll Royce, but in pipes, the best, most expensive is still within reach. I’ll smoke my Stonehaven in my Beckers while driving my Chevy Stepside with a cracked windshield like I’m cruising Wall Street with a big handful of caviar.

 

hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,221
Austin, TX
Cheers to that, Cosmic! I’m the same way. I’m a big 6’5 dude and I ride around in a lil (smoky) Honda Fit... but I’m happy.
I have some highend pipes but I spend most of my hard earned dough on tobacco. Tobacco excites me more than pipes do. Once I’m happy with my stash (probably never) I’ll start working on my highend pipe collection. For now Neerup and (Italian) Stanwell’s fill up most of my collection.

 
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