Special storage was one thing I was thinking of.
But just thinking about the bare minimum basics for each... with a pipe you need the pipe (one time cost), pipe cleaners, and tobacco. If you water-flush after every smoke, pipe cleaners might not even be necessary for minimal. Cheap Czech tool is handy, and I'd recommend over a finger, especially if you don't have a narrow enough finger for the pipe bowl.
With cigars, aside from the sticks, you don't necessarily need a cutter like how a pipe doesn't necessarily need a tamper of some kind, but even a basic cheap cutter costs more than a Czech tool. And unless you want garbage stale smokes, you need a humidor of some kind, which can get costly just for something basic, whereas pipe tobacco can just stay in its original tin in a cabinet. And you have way more lighting options and cheaper options for pipe than for cigar—you can light pipes with matches and $1 gas station lighters, whereas while technically you could light a cigar with something other than a torch lighter, it's a huge pita to do.
But only considering basic necessary tools and basic quality-of-life tools (that are only technically unnecessary, like you don't need a tamper if you use your fingers or a nail and you don't need a cutter if you use a pocket knife or a nail), pipes are cheaper in that regard if you don't count the cost of the pipe itself.
Or another way to look at it is that pipes have a higher up-front cost (including cost of pipe), but lower maintenance and accoutrement costs than cigars.
But just looking at the work involved aspect, they're probably about equal for bare minimum. If you smoke a pipe correctly, all it takes is wiping out the bowl and running a cleaner through. My meer that I smoke every day won't pass a cleaner to the bowl with the stem on, and I still only "deep clean" the thing twice a year at best, which just involves unscrewing the mortise and tenon from the shank and stem and just running a drill bit (by hand) in the draft hole of the pipe and scooping out any excessive gunk from either part using a toothpick.
And then getting ready to smoke, I don't even dry my tobacco. If it's not a flake or plug, it's just load and go, and I would imagine is no more time or effort than unwrapping and cutting a cigar.
Another point I might make though, just me personally... most pipe tobaccos smell way better than most cigars when being smoked. That's maybe just me, but I haven't once smelled a cigar being smoked and enjoyed the smell as a third-party, and most are actually downright offensive to me and at best, are just only mildly annoying (cigars). It's actually part of why I don't go to smoking lounges—all the cigar smoke ruins my pipe smoking experience.
But just thinking about the bare minimum basics for each... with a pipe you need the pipe (one time cost), pipe cleaners, and tobacco. If you water-flush after every smoke, pipe cleaners might not even be necessary for minimal. Cheap Czech tool is handy, and I'd recommend over a finger, especially if you don't have a narrow enough finger for the pipe bowl.
With cigars, aside from the sticks, you don't necessarily need a cutter like how a pipe doesn't necessarily need a tamper of some kind, but even a basic cheap cutter costs more than a Czech tool. And unless you want garbage stale smokes, you need a humidor of some kind, which can get costly just for something basic, whereas pipe tobacco can just stay in its original tin in a cabinet. And you have way more lighting options and cheaper options for pipe than for cigar—you can light pipes with matches and $1 gas station lighters, whereas while technically you could light a cigar with something other than a torch lighter, it's a huge pita to do.
But only considering basic necessary tools and basic quality-of-life tools (that are only technically unnecessary, like you don't need a tamper if you use your fingers or a nail and you don't need a cutter if you use a pocket knife or a nail), pipes are cheaper in that regard if you don't count the cost of the pipe itself.
Or another way to look at it is that pipes have a higher up-front cost (including cost of pipe), but lower maintenance and accoutrement costs than cigars.
But just looking at the work involved aspect, they're probably about equal for bare minimum. If you smoke a pipe correctly, all it takes is wiping out the bowl and running a cleaner through. My meer that I smoke every day won't pass a cleaner to the bowl with the stem on, and I still only "deep clean" the thing twice a year at best, which just involves unscrewing the mortise and tenon from the shank and stem and just running a drill bit (by hand) in the draft hole of the pipe and scooping out any excessive gunk from either part using a toothpick.
And then getting ready to smoke, I don't even dry my tobacco. If it's not a flake or plug, it's just load and go, and I would imagine is no more time or effort than unwrapping and cutting a cigar.
Another point I might make though, just me personally... most pipe tobaccos smell way better than most cigars when being smoked. That's maybe just me, but I haven't once smelled a cigar being smoked and enjoyed the smell as a third-party, and most are actually downright offensive to me and at best, are just only mildly annoying (cigars). It's actually part of why I don't go to smoking lounges—all the cigar smoke ruins my pipe smoking experience.
