Can Pipe Smoking Be a Cheap Habit?

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pepesdad1

Lifer
Feb 28, 2013
1,023
678
If you get serious...gonna get expensive...but tobacco will never be cheaper than today (said that 5 years ago and look what's happened!)

 
Mar 30, 2014
2,853
94
wv

Or

It can be cheap and easy or as expensive and complicated as you make it. We tend to go overboard because well, it’s just more fun that way. :puffy:

 

spcava

Lurker
Oct 18, 2018
6
0
Absolutely. I recently transitioned from a regular cigar smoker to a regular pipe smoker. I used to stock up on premium cigars at auction sites like cigarbid and occasionally purchase a few at the local shop. Even buying cigars for a fraction of their retail price on the auction sites, a years worth of cigars probably cost me at least $300. For that price, I can purchase three good estate pipes and enough tobacco to last me a year!
Pipes have maintenance costs, but so do cigars. Some people spend $50 to $100 a year just on humidification for their cigars.

 

spcava

Lurker
Oct 18, 2018
6
0
Additionally, depending on the cigars you smoke, you could conceivably buy a new pipe with every new tin purchase for the price of one box of cigars. I think it is reasonable to equate a 4 oz tin of tobacco with a 20ct box of cigars.

 

lawdawg

Lifer
Aug 25, 2016
1,792
3,812
I would venture to guess my average expenditure over the last three years (which is when I got serious about pipe smoking) has been about $500 per year for pipes and tobacco. I'm a former cigarette smoker, and its a hell of a lot cheaper than cigarettes, and I believe much healthier and more enjoyable too. Of course it can be more expensive too, as dave g illustrated above. I'm comfortable with a small(ish) rotation of factory-made pipes and a few of my favorite blends. I've been expanding my tastes some lately, but don't feel the need to own a bazillion pipes or try every blend under the sun... just the ones with the best reviews :puffy: Of course, if I had more money, I'd probably have pricier pipes and a bigger cellar.

 

krizzose

Lifer
Feb 13, 2013
3,392
21,305
Michigan
At the moment I have enough pipes that I like to be able to smoke every bowl out of a pipe that’s been rested at least a couple of days, which is what I prefer. I’m not a pipe collector, so new pipes are not part of my regular outlay to maintain my hobby. I have a rough budget of purely discretionary money that I spend on stocking my cellar against the day when high quality pipe tobacco may not be so ridiculously cheap in comparison to other high quality tobacco products. So I’m certainly spending much more money than I would just to cover the tobacco I consume in a given amount of time. But my cellar is very close to being at the point where that’s all I’ll need to do. And that will still be more about replacing the aged stock from the cellar I start to consume than needing to buy tobacco to smoke at that moment. And luckily I have enough unobtainium blends that I won’t need to pay premium prices for it on the secondary market. And none of that would be possible if pipe tobacco weren’t “cheap.”
Now I just need to stop trying new blends that make me dedicate more cellar budget to (I’m looking at you, Barbary Coast, you burley SOB).

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,211
60,649
If it weren't for the mania that comes with buying pipes and tobacco, pipe smoking moderately would cost next to nothing, to echo the above. A briar pipe can last for most or all of the rest of your life. If you can find a bag tobacco you enjoy, you can buy it by the pound for twenty bucks or not much more.

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,248
57,310
67
Sarasota Florida
Ever smoked banana peels or kinnikinnick?
No but once me and a friend tried smoking dried up pine needles using a brown paper bag as the rolling paper. It was disgusting. 15 year old's do some stupid shit.
My 20 plus year cellar of pipe tobacco was cheaper than my 1999 cigar purchases.

 

dethmutt

Can't Leave
Sep 14, 2018
376
11
As Mso489 stated,
it can be cheap,
but you will be driven to buy more, age more. You become a squirrel with ADD.. Oh look at that blend that looks nice I think ill, OMG look at that one!!! lemme buy 10!!! holy crap what is that!!! gimme 5... Esoterica is available (Ive never seen it happen) buy buy buy!!!!!!
But the journey while you "squirrel" away tins , what you smoke, what you save is just fun!!! its a Hobby remember!!!

 
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