What do forum members think of smoking pipes versus cigars? Cigars stay lit more easily, but I think the taste is actually better with pipe tobacco?
Cigars Versus Pipes
- Thread starter djwebb1969
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Imo pipe smoking is way cheaper and a tin last way longer than a single cigar. But i do love both.
Each has a time and place with me, I prefer a pipe when I’m driving, working, walking etc, mainly because I can stick it in my mouth and focus on other things while I smoke. When I smoke a cigar I want to be able focus on it and not get an eyeful of smoke!
As for flavor it just depends on what you’re smoking as to which has more.
As for flavor it just depends on what you’re smoking as to which has more.
Cigars easier to operate, more smoke more nicotine, but look at how much tobacco is in a cigar compared to a bowl, so all that is pretty obvious. I still smoke 3 cigars a day and i fill in with bowls out of a pipe between. I will say i enjoy the different blends and notes in pipes more than the average cigar, some times i'll lite a cigar smoke for a bit, put it down and fire up a pipe and enjoy that and then go back to the cigar, they compliment each other very well.
No comparison, two entirely different smoking experiences, apples to oranges!
We're here at the Pipes Magazine Forum because cigars are awful. 
I smoke cigars when I am outside or at the smoke shop. Then I smoke my pipe at home. Other people do it all kinds of different ways.
I enjoy both, but l find them completely different experiences—there was a time when I hoped I could get the fullness of cigar smoke flavour from a pipe, but it’s not possible; there’s usually more subtlety with pipe tobacco. The Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas I had in the ’90s were incredibly complex and subtle, with the flavour changing every inch, but I’ve found that to be very rare with a cigar these days.
Yes i already envision smoking a few sticks at the florida meet up this weekend and only one or two bowls. To me cigars are just a bit more social.
Tried cigars not fond of the taste or sogginess of the wrapper
Cigars have no commitment. Pipes do. You commit to a pipe. When the cigar is done you toss the stub. The pipe stays with you when you finish like an old friend. Each cigar is a new experience but each pipe bowl is part new and part familiar.
I like pipes because I can put it down after a few minutes if need be, multiple times throughout the bowl, and I like the ritual. Some pipes are beautiful and can be admired throughout the smoke, which adds to the pleasure and experience. Cigars are good too though, and hard to find the richness and bold flavour in pipe tobacco, as you can find in a good cigar. Unfortunately my wife hates the way I smell after smoking one. I guess they are much more pungent and offensive to non smokers
Cigars are low maintenance. Take one out of the humidor, gnaw off the end if necessary or, cut/poke it, light and enjoy. When it's lived a full life, toss it. Pipes? lotta of maintenance. Both are very satisfying, like a well earned cigarette or an hour with a chaw in one's cheek. Just entirely different experiences with full flavors, different of course, to be enjoyed at the proper time.
Incidentally, I chew when in no-smoking areas, bars, pubs, flight-lines. other's homes, etc.
Pipes seem a little more fulsome experience, more various flavors, more interesting rituals, a visual and tactile object beyond the tobacco, and an image that is more thoughtful and mysterious.
I do enjoy a good cigar now and then. It's a fun smoke, transient and celebratory. There's a reckless image that goes with it, a bit of braggadocio and strut.
Also, not being the most formidable physical presence in town, when I was alone on business travel, I'd sometimes light up a stogy walking through a city I didn't know. If I were a mugger, and had a choice of lots of victims, I might not choose the guy with a big dirty cigar fuming away.
In terms of cost, there's no comparison. For the price of one full size premium cigar you can buy a tin of premium pipe tobacco that will give you twenty or more smokes, depending on the size of the pipe chambers.
I do enjoy a good cigar now and then. It's a fun smoke, transient and celebratory. There's a reckless image that goes with it, a bit of braggadocio and strut.
Also, not being the most formidable physical presence in town, when I was alone on business travel, I'd sometimes light up a stogy walking through a city I didn't know. If I were a mugger, and had a choice of lots of victims, I might not choose the guy with a big dirty cigar fuming away.
In terms of cost, there's no comparison. For the price of one full size premium cigar you can buy a tin of premium pipe tobacco that will give you twenty or more smokes, depending on the size of the pipe chambers.
The cigar is also a great weapon. When younger and walking patrol I kept a cigar in my face which kept friendly drunks at a reasonable distance. A cigar in the eye or mouth will send a mugger, not an armed robber necessarily, rapidly on his way.
I don't see this issue in terms of competition. But I will say that by the very nature of the construction of a cigar there are tobaccos that can never be enjoyed in a cigar. The variety that the pipe gives in terms of tobacco is unthinkable in a cigar. On the other hand, by putting the tobacco in contact with the mouth, the cigar involves other types of senses and sensations that the pipe does not have.
Most blends will stay lit like a cigar maybe 1 more light if packed perfect. I think they both have their place though. It's more convenient to smoke a cigar while mowing. But I prefer the pipe. Its cheaper, taste better to me, I bypass a roller and pack it myself for a perfect draw, and when its gone I still have a pipe and not a paper band. Not to mention pipe tobacco is easier/cheaper to store and not lose presentation.
Just considering costs, money up in smoke or, on the ground for cigars, cigarettes, pipes and chew. All are satisfying methods of keeping one's nicotine at an acceptable level. All different experiences. Now, it can be fun to justify one over the other but, tobacco, in any form is just a selfish choice we've all made. So, rather than compare, just enjoy the leaf however you wish.
