Something to be said for aging
Something to be said for aging
I had the privelege this weekend to smoke what I now consider to be the greatest tobacco in existence. A friend gave me about 4 ounces of Balkan Sobranie + Dunhill 965 that he had pressed and tinned in 1987!! Talk about smooth! I guess there really is somthing to be said about properly aged tobaccos. I think I'll have to buy a few different tins and throw them in a dark closet for a couple of years and see what the end result is. Has anybody else had luck aging their tobacco? I'm curious to hear of how other blends have turned out over time.
I regularly age tobacco's prior to smoking - some on purpose - some I bought, put away, and forgot I had. Many I have had great success with, but there were a couple of disasters.
Some particularly old tobacco's in my cellar (closet) at the moment
Three Nuns from 1991
Dobie's 4 square curlies from 1991 to about 1994
McCranie's 1983 red flake from 1994 to about 1999 or so
McBaren's Navy Flake from 1991
A&C Peterson Curly Cut (black tin) from the early 90's
(Yes, I bought a lot of tobacco in the early to mid 90's)
The above tobacco's have all done very well with long term aging. The McCranie's is particularly spectacular. I still have multiple tins of all of these, and I smoke about one tin per year of each. (I'm actually surprised that the McBaren's has not gone bad, as is is similar to A&C Peterson navy flake described below.)
Last summer I smoked a tin of Butera's blended flake that I bought in 1994. Remarkable. I wished I had bought more back then.
I also smoked a tin of GLP Tribute earlier this year (tinned in late 2001). For my tastes, this has to be one of my all time favorite blends.
Other blends I am working on (holding multiple tins long term)
McClelland 27 (the older this stuff gets, the better. I generally prefer it after at least 5 years in the tin, although I have not been able to keep one much longer than that, so I cannot comment on 10 - 15 years, but I have heard that it gets really really good after this length of time)
GLP Cumberland (we'll see what happens with this stuff)
A couple of aging disasters:
A&C Peterson Navy Flake (blue tin) from early 90's. This stuff was fine when new, but got sharp and lost it's flavor with long term aging.
McClelland's 2000 bulk fragrant flake. A very nice flake when new (although prone to a little tongue bite), after 10 to 12 years in a mason jar, it got to the point that it is virtually unsmokable to me. I have more, so I will see what happens in another 8 to 10 years. Could have something to do with the way I stored it, or it could be the flavorings used in this particular tobacco that turned sharp. I don't know which, but it did not age well for me so far.
I also have the odd one or two tins of things I bought and never got around to opening, one in particular is quite old now. Anyone remember Ahton Type 3? I have no idea what this tobacco is like, but I have a tin I bought around 1990 or so and never got around to opening. I still do not have the compulsion to open it.
Good luck on your aging experiments!
Some particularly old tobacco's in my cellar (closet) at the moment
Three Nuns from 1991
Dobie's 4 square curlies from 1991 to about 1994
McCranie's 1983 red flake from 1994 to about 1999 or so
McBaren's Navy Flake from 1991
A&C Peterson Curly Cut (black tin) from the early 90's
(Yes, I bought a lot of tobacco in the early to mid 90's)
The above tobacco's have all done very well with long term aging. The McCranie's is particularly spectacular. I still have multiple tins of all of these, and I smoke about one tin per year of each. (I'm actually surprised that the McBaren's has not gone bad, as is is similar to A&C Peterson navy flake described below.)
Last summer I smoked a tin of Butera's blended flake that I bought in 1994. Remarkable. I wished I had bought more back then.
I also smoked a tin of GLP Tribute earlier this year (tinned in late 2001). For my tastes, this has to be one of my all time favorite blends.
Other blends I am working on (holding multiple tins long term)
McClelland 27 (the older this stuff gets, the better. I generally prefer it after at least 5 years in the tin, although I have not been able to keep one much longer than that, so I cannot comment on 10 - 15 years, but I have heard that it gets really really good after this length of time)
GLP Cumberland (we'll see what happens with this stuff)
A couple of aging disasters:
A&C Peterson Navy Flake (blue tin) from early 90's. This stuff was fine when new, but got sharp and lost it's flavor with long term aging.
McClelland's 2000 bulk fragrant flake. A very nice flake when new (although prone to a little tongue bite), after 10 to 12 years in a mason jar, it got to the point that it is virtually unsmokable to me. I have more, so I will see what happens in another 8 to 10 years. Could have something to do with the way I stored it, or it could be the flavorings used in this particular tobacco that turned sharp. I don't know which, but it did not age well for me so far.
I also have the odd one or two tins of things I bought and never got around to opening, one in particular is quite old now. Anyone remember Ahton Type 3? I have no idea what this tobacco is like, but I have a tin I bought around 1990 or so and never got around to opening. I still do not have the compulsion to open it.
Good luck on your aging experiments!
I have a bunch of tobacco aging. I think I have 6 or so cans of various smoker's haven blends from the early 80's. Some Peacehaven that has a year or two on it. Four tins of McClellands Christmas blend from 1996, 97, 98 and 02. Hmmm, what else? I'm really not sure to be honest. I'm running out of english blends to smoke. All my aged tin are about gone.
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KurtHuhn
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I can't seem to keep tins of anything around long enough to let them age. The one aged tin I have, I actually bought aged - a single tin of GLP Tribute.
I do have some tins of C&D Black Duck tinned about a year ago, but that stuff is so good I end up smoking the entire thing within a week of opening. I have a few tins of C&D Canal Boat that is *wonderful* newly tinned - the dance of sweetened cavendish and latakia is simply sublime. I'm going to attempt to age these for a couple years (if I can keep away from them that long) and I think they'll be absolutely incredible.
GLP Odyssey is another one I'd love to smoke after aging, but I can't seem to keep my fingers out of tin.
So I guess, any tins of aged tobacco that I have around the house, are pure accident.
I do have some tins of C&D Black Duck tinned about a year ago, but that stuff is so good I end up smoking the entire thing within a week of opening. I have a few tins of C&D Canal Boat that is *wonderful* newly tinned - the dance of sweetened cavendish and latakia is simply sublime. I'm going to attempt to age these for a couple years (if I can keep away from them that long) and I think they'll be absolutely incredible.
GLP Odyssey is another one I'd love to smoke after aging, but I can't seem to keep my fingers out of tin.
So I guess, any tins of aged tobacco that I have around the house, are pure accident.