Doing the math

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Warwick

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Musing on the front porch today, I wondered how much I've spent on tobacco, considering that I just started this hobby about five years ago.

Well, my stats on tobaccocellar.org:
  • The cellar contains 261 tins and has 82 blends represented.
  • We will find 61 lbs. 4 oz. of tobacco in the collection.
  • This quantity of tobacco is estimated to fill approximately 9,807 of the owner's pipes.
  • The cellar should endure 40 yrs, 10 mos at the defined smoking pace.

Hmmm. If there are 16oz in a pound...and I guesstimate an average cost of $2.90/oz (i.e., considering a rough average of about $40 per lb ($2.50/oz), and about $7 per 2oz tin ($3.50/oz))....then the result is:

((61 * 16) + 4) * 2.9 = $2,842

Yikes!! And that doesn't include what I've already smoked.

But...but.... I swear I just bought a fews tins here and an occasional pound there.....

Oh well....I guess that's why they call it TAD....
 
In an absolute sense, it seems like a lot, but compare it to a cigs or even cigars and you look positively thrifty. And the resale market for pipe tobacco makes it an investment, not just an indulgence.

...or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
 
Im not even going to try and think about how much I have invested in my cellar. If the tins in there only cost $7:00 per I would be happy. I think everybody has more dollar wise invested then they think but its well worth it considering $7:50 to $10:00 for a pack of cigs in New York, anyway pipe tobacco is a bargin when bought on line our tobacco tax is 46% plus sales tax 8.75% so a B&M is kind of out of reach a tin of GLP $9.42 at smokingpipes B&M here 14.57 and thats if they charge $9.42 for the tin to begin with not likely. Just keep building your cellars and hope they dont ban online sales.
 
I agree with Nate. I think we only have a few years before they start taxing online tobacco sales or just ban it all together. So, I would say....you're behind...
 
Indeed, I AGREE, here in Spain are increasingly getting worse every day laws and price rises but the snuff
 
Wow, I've only been smoking a year, I hate to think what I've spent in that time, and just on what I've smoked (since I actually never heard of cellaring until now.) I reckon it's about $300.... this does not bode well for the future.
 
My numbers are similar to Warwick and I slowed down the last couple of years. I smoke several pipefuls a day and likely go through 2 tins a week (2oz) easily.

I'm concerned about availibility in the future but don't want to be sitting on so much tobacco that I will never enjoy it. In fact, I often ponder if someone has ever figured out a "Tobacco Annuity". You reach a certain point and you are set for life.
icon_biggrin.png
 
Compare it to the cost of 40 years of cigarettes.

Let's take a pack per day cigarette habbit. For the sake of argument, let's use the cost of Pall Malls as they are the cheapest brand name you can get in my neck of the woods @ $4.38 per pack as of this morning. We will assume that cost stays the same for the next 40 years (which of course it will not). If my math is correct, we get:

$4.38 x 365 = $1,598.70 per year.

$1,598.70 x 40 = $63,948.

So the equivalent amount of tobacco for the pack a day cigarett smoker is almost $64k.

My math-fu is weak, but I think I got that right. Yikes.
 
Warwick":j7xk5s5k said:
Musing on the front porch today, I wondered how much I've spent on tobacco, considering that I just started this hobby about five years ago.

Well, my stats on tobaccocellar.org:
  • The cellar contains 261 tins and has 82 blends represented.
  • We will find 61 lbs. 4 oz. of tobacco in the collection.
  • This quantity of tobacco is estimated to fill approximately 9,807 of the owner's pipes.
  • The cellar should endure 40 yrs, 10 mos at the defined smoking pace.

Hmmm. If there are 16oz in a pound...and I guesstimate an average cost of $2.90/oz (i.e., considering a rough average of about $40 per lb ($2.50/oz), and about $7 per 2oz tin ($3.50/oz))....then the result is:

((61 * 16) + 4) * 2.9 = $2,842

Yikes!! And that doesn't include what I've already smoked.

But...but.... I swear I just bought a fews tins here and an occasional pound there.....

Oh well....I guess that's why they call it TAD....
Click to expand...
$2842.00 divided by 490 months(40 yrs X 12 + 10months) = $5.80 per month. Quite a bargain, I think :lol!:
 
i think i need to buy a lot more tobacco. i figured i'd just bump my way along buying a pound when i'm running low but i think maybe i'd rather have 40 year aged tobac when i'm 60...
 
I spend roughly the same amount on tobacco as I do on cereal, so I don't see it an expensive. :D
 
I'm primarily a cigar smoker, and have a strong preference (and a great source!) for Cubans. I probably smoke about 5 cigars a week, or roughly 260 a year. Average price is probably around $12. That's $3,120. A year. So, when you think about it that way it's not too bad. In fact, when I went on 4noggins the other day and ordered 15 tins and showed the receipt to my wife, she said "wow, that's cheap!". :D
 
Slow Puffs":luxl1cro said:
My numbers are similar to Warwick and I slowed down the last couple of years. I smoke several pipefuls a day and likely go through 2 tins a week (2oz) easily.

I'm concerned about availibility in the future but don't want to be sitting on so much tobacco that I will never enjoy it. In fact, I often ponder if someone has ever figured out a "Tobacco Annuity". You reach a certain point and you are set for life.
icon_biggrin.png
Click to expand...
I have actually built an excel model that does exactly that. Accounts for consumption, average tobacco inflation, and how much you want to spend per year. I'd be happy to share with the group if someone can tell me how.
 
Warwick said:
Well, my stats on tobaccocellar.org:

[*]This quantity of tobacco is estimated to fill approximately 9,807 of the owner's pipes.
[*]The cellar should endure 40 yrs, 10 mos at the defined smoking pace.[/list]
quote]

Thought this was useful tool, so I went to tobaccocellar.com and set up an account. Yes, I said tobaccocellar.COM... not .Org... painstakingly filled in all the info on my purchases.... and then couldn't find out how to get the above data which was my main objective to begin with... :affraid:
Click to expand...
 
To make you feel better about what you've spent - my modest cellar cost in Canada (from tobaccocellar.org):

"The cellar contains 15 tins and has 12 blends represented.
We will find 1 lb. 11 oz. of tobacco in the collection.
This quantity of tobacco is estimated to fill approximately 273 of the owner's pipes.
The cellar should endure 2 yrs, 3 mos at the defined smoking pace.
An investment of $662.00 was required to establish the collection."

Yup, less than 2lbs for nearly $700. Stock up my American friends, in case things get as bad as your crazy canuk neighbors.

Ty
 
I am about in the same boat as Warwick. I am in the 65lb range but am still buying as I can. If something happens I am good for a very long time. If something doesnt happen I will gift it away and make someones pipe experience as pleasurable as mine has been. :D
 
I spend about R100 to R200 a month stocking my cellar, thats about $10 to $18 a month. I don't mind it..... blends here are going off the market due our poor exchange rate and the prices are going through the roof! Local tobacco can be had around every corner but it is the crappest of crap. I have not smoked anything local for almost 2 years!
My math is real bad so I have not yet given it any thought. My pipe collection is worth more I think?
 
I try to not do the math and enjoy the tobacco. My hoarding instinct kicked in a couple of years ago; even though I am a Democrat (yes, yes, I know) I am worried that the purchase of tobacco over the Internet will be banned eventually, particularly by my chosen party but there are other issues out there, believe it or not :)

As i mentioned on a previous post, I've got about 70 lbs. of tobacco in my cellar and generally don't touch it but, for the last couple of years buy maybe twice or three times what I smoke at the local B&M and put in a bulk purchase for jarring. I figure I've got some time ahead of me, god willing, and hope to kick the bucket with my last bowl going, so maybe another 100 pounds will assuage my TAD anxiety.

Sure is pretty to look at though. Now if i can just stop buying pipes .... No, not really.
 
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