Maximum cellaring time.
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Improvement isn't guaranteed with the passage of time. Virginias may sweeten and perique can get more of a dark fruit flavor and lose some peppery tones. Latakia tends to soften with age. Burleys tend to very slowly change. But these are just generalities, each blend will change differently with time. Whether it is an improvement depends on your tastes.
In general the most change happens in the first year or two and becomes more gradual with additional time. Latakia can fade a lot in 10 years from my experience.
This is one of the Top Ten questions posed here. The short answer is, nobody knows. The long answer is quite long and discusses how some tobaccos are likely to improve over a 1-20 year period, while some will degrade over that same time range. Give us an idea as to what your favor is, and we might be able to narrow it down a bit. Be warned: There will be caveats.
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It really depends what your taste is and what you want from a blend.
I recently had 15 year old Solani 633 and it was sweet and sublime. But I also had 20 year old Brown Clunee and it had developed an odd medicinal flavor that said to me it was past its prime.
I have had Balkans and English blends that mellowed out in ways that I enjoyed, but also ones that lost so much of their power and fragrance as to be downright boring and not worth paying good money for.
It can be a crap shoot.
If you want to speed up the aging process, decant a new tin into a jar and try it in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, etc. Introducing oxygen can mimic some of the aging. You can also see Virginias darken and ripen through the glass.
I recently had 15 year old Solani 633 and it was sweet and sublime. But I also had 20 year old Brown Clunee and it had developed an odd medicinal flavor that said to me it was past its prime.
I have had Balkans and English blends that mellowed out in ways that I enjoyed, but also ones that lost so much of their power and fragrance as to be downright boring and not worth paying good money for.
It can be a crap shoot.
If you want to speed up the aging process, decant a new tin into a jar and try it in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, etc. Introducing oxygen can mimic some of the aging. You can also see Virginias darken and ripen through the glass.
While my experience pales in comparison to many on this forum, I have found my Virginias from McClelland, Gawith , and even PS Stokkebyes Luxury series all seem to sweeten and develop darker flavors since cellaring in 2016. Aro’s seem to start to flatten out a little as they get beyond five or so years.
Tobaccos change, to a greater or lesser degree, as they age. Whether that change is an improvement is up to the individual smoker to decide.
Greg Pease, in his FAQ, says that the amount of change is greatest during the first five years, and after that, the pace of change is more incremental.
On the other hand, the better blenders age their products before release and believe that their products are ready to be enjoyed upon release.
There’s no one standard regarding “aging”. That most of my cellar is anywhere from 3 to 15 years old, with some much older than that, is more a matter of my rate of consumption than any intention to age blends.
I like my aged tobacco over the fresh stuff almost every time. The Virginias always develop a darker sweeter taste. To me Burleys don’t ever change. I had a tin of the original release of Gaslight and it was the best Latakia blend that I’ve ever smoked.
If there are still unopened tins in your cellar when the heat death of the universe occurs, you’ve waited too long.