When to Stop Buying Tobacco and Focus on Pipes?

easterntraveler · Jan 9, 2015

I have heard/read that when starting out one should focus on tobacco first. Since I have started smoking a pipe I have acquired 32 pounds of tobacco. I have done this in about a year and a half. Although I have some nice pipes I really want to acquire some "Really Nice Pipes" as well as persue my birth year Dunhill. However every time I begin to save up for a $500 or more purchase on a pipe I end up placing a $100 order on pipe tobacco therfore starting my Pipe savings over again. I am thinking about not ordering anymore pipe tobacco for my cellar after 40 pounds and saving for two extra nice pipes. Anyone else having this problem? What is your cellar goal?

fnord · Jan 9, 2015

ET:
How old are you?
You've done very well with your cellar in such a short period of time. If you're in your 30's or 40's, treat yourself to at least one "great" pipe a year - maybe one more if finances allow - and then throw as much cash as possible towards your cellar. Inside of a decade, which will flash by in a heartbeat, you'll have a stable of superlative burners and a 130 lb. cellar if you set aside 10 lbs. a year.
That's not shabby, hoss.
Those pipes are always going to be around, especially if you buy estate burners. Tobacco will see the most significant price increases because they're easy government tax targets.
Fnord

easterntraveler · Jan 9, 2015

I am 33 in May

dmcmtk · Jan 9, 2015

ET, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, there are several excellent, and reputable online etailers selling quality estate pipes, RebornBriar, BriarBlues, and some of the forum sponsors. Take a look around see if you find something you like!

easterntraveler · Jan 9, 2015

Thank you for the advice. I have some nice estate pipes.

tppytel · Jan 9, 2015

That seems like an awful lot of tobacco to me. I smoke more than most do around here and still only burn through maybe 5-7 lbs per year. So you easily have 5+ years worth of tobacco stored up there already. Keep in mind that your tastes are likely to change over the years, so you'll end up putting down new reserves as you go and may not want to go too heavily into any one particular blend. Also, you'll surely want to keep exploring new blends, so you'll end up ordering some of those and sampling them fresh to decide whether they're worth cellaring in quantity. I've been smoking a pipe for 20 years and still find that close to half of my consumption is in blends that are either new, new to me, or that I haven't smoked in so long that I need to revisit them. So I'm only hitting the cellar about half the time. Finally, there's only so much benefit to be had from cellaring and only so much stuff I want cluttering my home and life. A year or two makes a nice difference in a tobacco, but after that I find it matters less and less. I've smoked a half dozen or so 10+ year old tins of VA's that I laid down. They were good, but not heavenly-choir-of-angels good. It's fun to smoke a tin like that now and then, but I don't need to do it all the time.
Go buy yourself a pipe!

newbroom · Jan 9, 2015

Look into your crystal ball and find out which of the blends you currently enjoy will become scarce and or out of production and buy those?

I think that there are just SO many good quality pipe tobaccos being made that not all will survive the marketplace.

Who knows how climate changes will affect availability?

toby67 · Jan 9, 2015

I'm trying to locate a Birthyear pipe myself, I was born in 1967. They are very hard to find and I'm guessing when one comes around it will cost a bit.

mcitinner1 · Jan 9, 2015

We aren't all in control of our TAD. :roll: (tobacco acquisition disorder) I myself have been way out of control, resulting in 99 lb of tobacco cellared in 1 year. 8O If you go to tobaccocellar.com you'll see what I mean. :!: I'm sure there are some who don't look at it as out of control, and are having a really good time. :nana: :puffpipe: :crazy:

huntertrw · Jan 9, 2015

"When to Stop Buying Tobacco and Focus on Pipes?"
The answer is to not stop buying tobacco, but to purchase both tobacco AND pipes!

buroak · Jan 9, 2015

Huntertrw has the truth of it. I would suggest just doing a rebalance of your purchasing. The average cost of the tobacco I buy is probably $50 a pound after discounts for buying some blends in larger quantities. If your average cost is similar, you have spent $1,600 on tobacco in the past year. It might take as little as one-fifth of that amount to get your birthyear Dunhill, especially considering your birth year. Having said all this, I must admit I probably have too many pipes and not enough tobacco.

psychpipes · Jan 9, 2015

I think that the focus should be tobacco rather than pipes at this particular junction. Tobacco prices are on the rise, and will continue to be. I wouldn't be shocked to see the headline that the selling of tobacco products is illegal during my lifetime. Before that, we'll be seeing madness in pricing that goes beyond the fees that WA state and Canada does. Pipes on the other hand rarely maintain their value once they are smoked except in rare artisan cases or limited editions. That being said, if there is a pipe maker that you have to have a pipe from, do it now. Age and wrath of the gods can happen at any time. My philosophy atm is buy tobacco. If I see a good deal on a pipe or see one that I must have, then I pull the trigger.

freakiefrog · Jan 9, 2015

I don't really focus on one or the other I see a pipe I like, if I can afford it I buy it. If I find a tobacco I like I buy a few tins. To me it's not an "either/or" kind of thing. Like right now I've got all this tobacco sitting in my cart at P&C and yet there is a Savinelli Oom Paul that I saw last night at the pipe shop. Which do I buy. It's six of one half a dozen of the other.

cmdrmcbragg · Jan 9, 2015

When I first started I focused more on pipes and quickly built a solid rotation for my smoking pace. I have kicked the PAD habit and have been taken with TAD, which has also subsided for the season as I cannot smoke as often nor smoke what I enjoy the most (VA and VaPer) because it leaves a stale smell in my car. I've gone aro for the winter until I can enjoy warmer days on the patio. But I've just been buying smaller amounts to give me variety.

wyfbane · Jan 9, 2015

I need to stop buying pipes and get more tobacco.

buroak · Jan 9, 2015

I recently hit that mark after swearing to stop at 125 lbs. Now I'm buying pipes to squelch the baccy funds. [:crazy:]

Why is that crazy? Sounds like a sure-fire recipe for success, that. :wink:

buroak · Jan 9, 2015

After giving the question some more thought, I think the answer depends somewhat on the kind of pipes you buy. If you are interested in current production pipes, then buy more tobacco. The pipes you want will still be available when tobacco prices may have risen out of your reach. Heck, those pipes may be cheaper if rising tobacco prices depress demand for new pipes. If, on the other hand, you are interested in rare old pipes or pipes made by a retired/deceased carver, then rebalance your spending to allow for the purchase of those pipes. I have seen the argument that the passing of the "Greatest Generation" means a swell in the supply of the estate pipes many of us clamber for, but I am not convinced there will be a true glut in the estate pipe market. My perspective, though, could be shaped by the fact that I am often looking for 1920-30s pipes or pipes that were expensive in the 1930s and 1940s. I assume that the owners of those pipes were probably not of the Greatest Generation, but of the previous generation and thus deceased for some time now.

yazamitaz · Jan 9, 2015

^^^ What he said

peckinpahhombre · Jan 9, 2015

Do what feels comfortable. My tobacco buying has slowed down and I m just beginning to focus on pipes. However, even when I was cellaring like crazy, I would still by the odd pipe if it caught my eye. It's hard to do one to the exclusion of the other, since they are so inextricably intertwined in the pleasure we derive from the pastime.

toby67 · Jan 9, 2015

I'm with a few others who sad trick is to buy both, neither are any good without the other. Also if you don't like a pipe you buy you can resell it, if you don't like a baccy then just mix it with others till you do like it.

When to Stop Buying Tobacco and Focus on Pipes?

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