Who Is The Best Virginia Blender With McClelland Now Gone?

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cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
Now I have Jesse and mark breathing down my neck to buy more tobacco, I guess that is what friends are for. I actually have tried these tobaccos now that I think of it. Flakey Jakey sent me a sampler package. . I will have to find it. I have no idea if I liked them or not is was a few years ago.

 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,101
Cellars are for hoarding. What else to call goods bought years in advance of intended use, if used at all, stored beneath ground with tuberous vegetables for the winter?
The main consideration for a cellar is money as a cellar is a hedge against the future,and one can only project future needs by current. But current needs change, and thus so do the needs of the future, so we again return to money. How big a cellar is big enough? (Of course for Harris, it can never be big enough.) But again a cellar is a hedge, and being prudent, and for any pipe smoker worth his salt, it really should be twice as much as calculated for the remainder of a lifetime. Once you get to that size, a cellar is measured in orders of magnitude three, five or ten times as much.
If you have more than you need, you won't run out. Isn't that what a cellar is about, plentitude in times of scarcity? Could be that the Indians rise up and leave the reservations to murder the arrogant whites who have sullied the pipe, smoking it outside of its sacred, tribal past, etc., etc. If they take your head, that's a lifetime of scarcity, and in which case your cellar won't be of much use. Be does that really matter? Be prepared. Cellar!
Before we leave the cellar subject, it should also be said that one should take no heed for the disposition of one's cellar, unless of course you have a bud who gets all of it. If so he's likely to be with you during your last days, holding a pipe to your mouth so you can take a few draws and then your head as you hack. You'll know. Surviving family won't have a clue. They won't even fight for it, which is saying something for the disreputables spawned by most families. No, they'll likely carry the 500 ibs to the curb, all of your careful, ongoing work to cellar destroyed in an hour by your relatives and the garbage crew.

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
salt, I do appreciate your dry sense of humor. I cellar so I can smoke aged tobacco and have my favorites available so when blends get discontinued, I will have plenty. I have never bought a blend that I don't smoke just to save it and try to make a profit years later. I am currently smoking a bowl of Curly Block and it is awesome. My first 2 bowls of it were good, but not like this one. I found a perfect pipe for it and now all I can think of is how many of those ropes am I going to buy. "
"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in"

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,775
45,376
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
If you like the flavor of aged blends and don't wish to be cornholed by by scalpers, then cellaring is a necessity. And, as we are being reminded, a favorite bend, or and number of favorite blends can disappear with little to no warning. I know folks who started cellaring McClelland Virginias as soon as they appeared on the market and now they can enjoy a bowl of 30+ year aged leaf whenever they want.
As cellars go, mine is pretty modest. I started seriously cellaring very late, 5 years ago. But I'm glad that I did it. I have what I want and don't have to chase anything. The scalpers can look elsewhere for victims.
As for my family tossing the cellar in the trash after I've croaked out, I've left instructions in my will regarding the value of the tobaccos and various ways to get it sold off.

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
Jesse, I was also late to the game as I only started cellaring in 2012. I decided on how many pounds I would need averaging 4-5 bowl a day. I thought I had completed it back in 2013 but I just had to go looking for new tastes. I should stop as I don't need more tobacco but I am like most junkies, ruled by my addiction. I was really going to stop when I got as many Butera tins as I wanted, but no I just had to fall in love with 2 more blends. I am not going to cellar these last 2 like I did the Butera, I am not, I refuse to be ruled by TAD.
Sometimes I feel like I am back in the 70's chasing Rorer 714's. Once a junkie always a junkie. :mrgreen:

 

unadoptedlamp

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 19, 2014
742
1,368
I would prefer not to cellar, but am slowly accepting this is just not wise in the current climate. For some reason, I prefer almost every blend I smoke to be fresh. After a year or so, some of my favourite blends meld together into something new and lose some of the features I enjoy. Haddo's does this to me. Which I guess is part of the point of aging tobacco... you basically get a new blend. Sometimes that's great, but other times, I find myself wanting the original.
I want a future where I can buy my favoured blends at a reasonable price, damnit! And free trade on tobacco is another pipe dream.
The economics/logistics is a major hurdle for me. Unfortunately, and it is a pain in the ass sometimes, I have to divide my time between Canada, Germany and Brazil. All with an unfavourable climate to tobacco imports. In Brazil, you can't even pay a tariff. They just return it to the sender. I've had packages resent more than 3 times before finally getting in, each with at least a month of shipping time. For some, the bonus is that it arrives aged... So I'm left with the choice of amassing a huge stockpile in one country without any guarantee that I will settle there. I could end up with two cellars being write offs.
No shit, I've seriously considered the logistics and consequences of loading up a sail boat on the day I settle into a spot and finding some patch of shore where I can unload my contraband. It's very depressing. I might even have to make a decision to go primarily with flakes, despite a fondness for blends like Telegraph Hill, simply because it's easier to hide a bigger quantity of them and store in the hold of a sail boat that I can be sneaky with.
Is anyone else amassing multiple cellars?
When I retire, I may just end up turning into a tobacco pirate! Ply my trade on the high seas, shuttling tobacco around the world. It's sad to think there may even be a demand for this one day. It might be exciting, but I'd rather just kick back and smoke my pipe in peace. It's getting more tricky by the year.

 
Jan 28, 2018
13,075
137,024
67
Sarasota, FL
Why don't you find a tobacco shop in Canada or Germany where you can rent a small locker? Store your tobacco in the locker. If it is a friendly store owner, you may even be able to talk him into accepting shipments for you and putting them in your locker. For that matter, you could rent a larger mailbox at a Mailboxes Etc. or something similar. Just explain to the manager you're gone for lengthy times and need somewhere for your things to accumulate.
If you want to do it badly enough, there are any number of ways for you to get it accomplished I think.

 

elvergun

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 21, 2017
111
0
Totally disagree with that statement. Mc Virginia's are definitely unique but better no way. There are tons of people who dislike the ketchup style of Virginia's that MC makes.
I'm one of the people who think that nothing is better than McClelland Virginias.
FVF is pretty darn good though.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,775
45,376
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I would prefer not to cellar, but am slowly accepting this is just not wise in the current climate. For some reason, I prefer almost every blend I smoke to be fresh. After a year or so, some of my favourite blends meld together into something new and lose some of the features I enjoy. Haddo's does this to me. Which I guess is part of the point of aging tobacco... you basically get a new blend. Sometimes that's great, but other times, I find myself wanting the original.
Well, there is a method for preventing aging, if you're interested:
http://www.glpease.com/Articles/vacuum.html

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,450
109,394
No profit plans here either. I cellar to get ahead of ever increasing tobacco prices while I can still afford it. I've freely given blends that scalpers sell for $100 or more. My intent is to have tobacco when I want it in the future and to secure favorites while they are still available.

 

jaytex1969

Lifer
Jun 6, 2017
9,520
50,598
Here
When I retire, I may just end up turning into a tobacco pirate! Ply my trade on the high seas, shuttling tobacco around the world.
Thar be room aplenty aboard the Black Frigate, matey. Come on down...
6a010537193d4d970b01a3fcd0e843970b-pi

jay-roger.jpg


 

oldtoby

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 7, 2011
798
341
I'm definitely not a C&D fanboy, but the Carolina Red Flake they put out a while back was
some of the absolute best I've ever had. Opening Night and Red Carpet are excellent blends as well.

 
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