I guess I should come straight with an answer. Its way cheaper, especially if you don't go buy a bunch of fancy toys. My sticks average me between $1-$2 ea because I have a lot of waste i don't care to roll with or my costs would be even lower. That $1-$2 home roll smokes up there with a lot of premiums imo because I rolled it exactly to my tastes and know it's going to deliver the experience I want. Just like with brewing there is a learning curve and starting out things may not look so good, but unlike brewing even the ugly home rolls seem to taste pretty good unless your blend or leaf is complete garbage.
Last night I had to test out some new San Andres wrapper I got from my mentor. Rolled 8/9 but smoked great. Going to have to talk him out of more