Living outside of the U.S. may give me something of a more troubled perspective; but I tend to buy tobacco, and forgo pipe purchases (unless something really calls to me, or the price is just too good to pass up), and have around 20 pieces of briar and meerschaum that see action (and a half dozen cobs). I see this as working in my favour in three ways.
Firstly, tobacco will never be as cheap as it is today; it seems like every couple of weeks, someone is trying to increase the taxation by triple or even quadruple digits. We're even starting to see some of these bills stick; the proverbial flood gates are opening.
Secondly, being outside of the U.S. means that I have to order most of my preferred tobacco from internet E-tailers based in the U.S., and of course, love having the plethora of blends at my fingertips to try. This is a short-coming of the Canadian government to be certain, but it is a very real issue for me. I can forsee the day when I am unable to order tobacco through the mail, be it due to Canadian regulations, or American.
Third, tobacco is a great investment. A tin can double in value in a few short years. No other commodity on the market that I can conceive of acquiring sees growth at this rate. Now I certainly have no plans to sell off anything from my cellar, it is nice to know that if I ever need a chunk of change in an emergency, I know where to look. Now, certainly, high end pipes can also act as an investment, but the returns are no where near as high as with leaf - especially if you plan on smoking them (from an unsmoked state).