Pipe Smoking seems Cheaper than Cigars (?)

[pappymac]

They do make some good pipe blends with cigar leaf tobacco and a single tin - on average - is less expensive than two $10 cigars (what I generally spend when I buy cigars).

Even back in the 1970's when I started smoking a pipe, it tobacco was cheaper and lasted longer than good cigars.

 

[Briar Lee]

View attachment 170136
Smoker’s Pride costs just over a dollar an ounce, and I think it’s excellent everyday pipe tobacco.

An ounce of tobacco fills nine three gram capacity pipes.

You can smoke to your heart’s content for about a dollar a day if you smoke nine pipes a day, or less if you are moderate about it or use a smaller pipe.

The price of a good used pipe is also low. This one cost $13 delivered. It’s probably good for a year of constant daily use.

View attachment 170138View attachment 170139

If you rest and rotate it with other pipes, it’s a lifetime purchase.


I spend about a dollar a day on Yuban coffee and drink it from dawn to dark.

Canned coffee and value priced pipe tobacco are the cheapest of vices.

Still yet you hear people moan about the high cost of sinning.

Cheap bread a dollar a loaf, pork and beans only fifty cents a can, and tap water is free.

Everything else is optional.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

After years of using a budget of $300 a month to stock my cellar, I am now setting back cigars to age.
I am happy that costs attracts people to the hobby, but for me the cost wasn't the main reason to get into pipes.

 

[Briar Lee]

After years of using a budget of $300 a month to stock my cellar, I am now setting back cigars to age.
I am happy that costs attracts people to the hobby, but for me the cost wasn't the main reason to get into pipes.

Maybe twenty years ago I decided that I’d smoke nothing but Super and Flame Grain Kaywoodies every day.

Then I discovered Pipes by Lee. Gold Stars are prettier than plastic White Shamrocks, plus I got to remove the stinger.

Now I have more Lees than I can easily count, all of them in beautiful condition.

When I die they’ll be worth at least the small amount I paid for each one.

The way I figure it, cigarettes are a harmful addiction, good cigars are a lavishly expensive indulgence, but pipes can be a passionate, affordable obsession.

Besides, nobody ever complemented me on how wonderful my cigarettes or cigars smelled, nor how beautiful they were.

 

[cigrmaster]

@cigrmaster , on a tangent, do you have any recommendations on reading on wise use of trusts?

I forgot to add. A very good estate attorney is expensive relatively speaking. They go anywhere from 400-500 an hour but when you are protecting hundreds of thousands or even millions, you need a professional. You will never get the proper advice using some internet tool or attorney. If you need more info pm with what you want to do and I can point you to a very good estate attorney.

 

[DanWil84]

Long story short; it all depends on your smoking habits and what you consider enjoyable, but in general pipe smoking will be cheaper. How much is very arbitrary.

Short story long; Depends on what you consider a "quality" cigar (subjective), a "quality" pipetobacco (subjective) and not forget a "quality" pipe. Some are perfectly happy with smoking a corncob and a OTC blend, where others only appreciate Bo Nord pipe and 40 year aged tobacco bought on the secondary market for way over the price a fresh tin costs.

But to answer your question; I'm a light smoker, I hardly smoke more than 2 or 3 cigars a week and pipes maybe 2 a day. I like Partagas D4 cigars, those cost roughly 14 euros a piece and a box costs 140 euros. Hypothetically I smoke one cigar a week of this one. A tin of one of my favorite tobacco Presbyterian costs me 19 euros which lasts me about 2 boxes of D4's so 20 smokes, the pipe I smoke it from costs 275 euros ("artisan" pipe). My initial investment for the first tin is 275+19 = 294 euros. I like to dedicate my pipes, so this is the only tobacco this pipe sees which isn't really cost efficient. For the initial investiment I did, I could have bought 2 boxes of D4's which last me 20 weeks. After that my investment is earned back.

If you replace the expensive cigar with a cheap cigar and/or the relatively expensive tobacco and pipe with a OTC and corncob you get a whole different comparison.

 

[Chalaw87]

Pipe tobacco seems to give so much more bang for your buck.

I think pipe tobacco has much more nuanced compared to cigars. Being able to pick up different flavors from pipe tobacco depending on which size pipe and material your pipe is made from adds another whole level of complexity; also giving pipes another leg up on cigars. A tin of tobacco seems to be a much more affordable journey compared to a single cigar.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

I enjoy both the pipe and the cigar. Economically, smoking a pipe is much less expensive for me than smoking cigars. Fortunately, I enjoy my pipes every bit as much or more than I do my cigars. The pipe is convenient in that I don't have to dedicate a full hour or more to my smoking session. With the pipe, I can smoke what I want and set it down to come back to it later. The pipe also gives me access to a wide and varied range of flavors that I do not get from my cigars.

I will say that I've never found a pipe tobacco that will replicate the taste of a fine hand rolled cigar and when I want a cigar, nothing else will do. I maintain a modest inventory of around four humidors full of cigars and usually smoke one or two a week.

While economics are not my main thought when choosing something to smoke, it is certainly a factor. I enjoy my tobacco and want to be able to continue enjoying it for years to come. As such, I've really been stockpiling pipe tobacco for the last couple of years or so. Building a cellar of pipe tobaccos is certainly much cheaper than trying to do the same with cigars. I fear that it is only a matter of time before tobacco in any form will become cost prohibitive to procure. Hopefully I will continue to be able to enjoy both my pipes and cigars for a few more years. All the best.

 

[Sailingtiger]

I have spreadsheets on everything, yes I am not well, probably need professional help. I gave up cigars last year and my last annual spend on cigars was $3,873.42. This year, my pipe tobacco spend thru September was $624.23. I smoke several bowls a day. I have leftover cigars in my humidor and occasionally I try one and they have no flavor. I smoke complex blend pipe tobaccos so I guess I have lost the taste for mild. Like coffee, I only drink Cuban or Italian coffee, expressos. If I have regular coffee there is no taste. Main reason I smoked cigars is that I hung out daily at a local cigar shop with amazing characters. Was able to work from their and the characters were a mix of Seinfeld and Cheers people. I miss them but I move to a place where there are no shops. Life is short so live well, our annual wine budget is xxxxx. Cannot tell you because do not want to be judged
Cheers

 

[bullet08]

It's true cigars are more expensive, but I only spend money on pipe tobacco so pipe is relatively more expensive for me. Then there is cigs.. Thank god I don't do crack!

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Here where I live (Finland) there's ain't differences in price whether it is OTC or premium blend, all pipe tobacco(1,75oz) starts at $ 22 and up. 5 pieces of mediocre gas station cigars will set you back $12, ten Holland-style cigarillos will be $ 10

 

[cigrmaster]

I bought a 20 plus year cellar of pipe tobacco for (18-20 grand) and I used to spend at least that on cigars every year so in my world pipe tobacco is dirt cheap compared to cigars.

 

[anotherbob]

Hi all,

After the initial investment into a pipe and lighter and a bit of tobacco, I'd say pipe smoking it going to be waaaaaaay cheaper for me.

I smoked one pipe's worth yesterday in the time it would have taken me to polish off a $12 cigar.

It didn't seem to make a very big dent in the little 1 oz. pack of pipe tobacco that I bought either.

So for me this could be a big "win".... Unless I'm missing something...

But to be fair, EVERYONE'S mileage varies I'm sure.


JR

it's a couple things. Marketing is part of it. What I mean by that is cigars have a market that will buy more expensive rarer more desired tobaccos, where as if there was a fresh brand new from smoking pipes tin that cost 100 dollars it probably wouldn't be viewed as normal or a sure sell. The other is processing. Every cigar needs a out wrapper that is pretty all over not torn or poked with any holes. The other economic factor is that the leaf used in pipe tobacco is used in many things where as cigar tobaccos at least certain ones are used almost exclusively in cigars and further more only in certain cigars so the farmers that grow those leafs have to charge more to turn a similar profit. (if you make cakes and want a profit you can either make as many as cheaply as possible or remove all the stops and make the best fanciest prettiest cakes that take more work per cake and charge an arm and a leg). Oh yeah and premium cigars are hand made not machine made. Pipe tobaccos have a human touch to them but machines do a lot of the heavy lifting. You know all those things lead to the wonderful fact that pipe tobacco is a genuine and fine luxury that costs so little the girlfriend considers it a necessity and not a treat. (I can buy cigars if we have the disposable income, pipe stuff equals we'll figure out how to make it work if broke ).

 

[anotherbob]

Here where I live (Finland) there's ain't differences in price whether it is OTC or premium blend, all pipe tobacco(1,75oz) starts at $ 22 and up. 5 pieces of mediocre gas station cigars will set you back $12, ten Holland-style cigarillos will be $ 10

with what I said the exception to the cigar rule are machine made cigars which I assume those 10 dollar cigarillos are. Which doesn't mean they're not going to be good, quality or enjoyable, but not as expensive to make as the cigars that one cigar costs more then those ten.

 

[Searock Fan]

Pipe smoking doesn't just "seem" cheaper than cigars, it's way cheaper than cigars.

 

[woodsroad]

Years ago I met a gentleman who bought the biggest, longest house brand (cheap) unbanded cigars at Holt’s, and chopped them into nubs to smoke. And chew on.

There are still plenty of very inexpensive, quite good seegars out there, like New Cuba, running around a buck a piece if you shop carefully. In the end, I enjoy both pipes and cigars. I enjoy blends and sticks across the price spectrum.

If you want to really save money, don’t smoke. If you believe that money exists so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor, buy what you enjoy.

 

[EvertonFC]

It's actually one of the reasons I started with pipes. While I can currently comfortably afford to smoke whatever cigars I wish, as often as I wish, I suspect in my retirement, with more times on my hands, I will likely smoke 3 cigars a day. At $10 a cigar, that's about $900 a month. Conversely, 3 bowls a day at roughly $0.35 per bowl, that's roughly $30 a month. That leaves me $870 a month to spend on bourbon.

 

[geoffs]

Pipe smoking is cheaper, no question, even if you go all out with expensive tobaccos and pipes. Having said that, the experience of smoking each is very different to me and if I was craving a cigar I wouldn't be happy with a pipe. But having the option to smoke a pipe has allowed me to invest in better quality cigars, since I smoke them less often now. It's win/win!