Aged Blends and The Oldest You've Had

texmexpipe · Oct 14, 2016

As I started smoking a pipe in 2013 nothing I currently have has anything more than about two years on it. I've smoked a sample of Star of the Wast and Bombay court that were four years old. Is there a generic optimum age? I suspect that is highly dependent on the blend and conditions, but wonder if there is a sweet spot. Also after reading another thread someone spoke of trying a blend from the 20s. What is the oldest blend you've smoked?

wyfbane · Oct 14, 2016

Been smoking 4 years steady.
Oldest I own is some 1979 MacBaren Scottish. It is yummy.
Oldest I've smoked was at the Seattle Pipe Club picnic last summer. It was a tin from the early '50's. I cannot for the life of me remember what it was, but it had the flowery taste so many complain about. After 60ish years of aging it was so mild and the tobacco was of such quality that it was a rare and wonderful smoke.

jpmcwjr · Oct 14, 2016

20 year old Penzance is the oldest I've smoked. Though the Balkan Sobranie I smoked 50 years ago, would be.....

perdurabo · Oct 14, 2016

45+ Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. Good god the stuff was magnificent.

jefff · Oct 14, 2016

It was ten years ago and it was Escudo. Maybe 30 years old.
It was magnificent.

dottiewarden · Oct 15, 2016

If straight cigar leaf in my briar counts, I have been smoking on some 28 year-old leaf recently and it is rather interesting. It has definitely lost some punch, but this is compensated for with an incomparable smoothness.

oldgeezersmoker · Oct 15, 2016

At a pipe show back in the 80's, John Herring opened up a cutter top can of Cope Brothers Escudo and shared it. The tax stamp was from 1949, as I recall. Nirvana. When Royal Cigar in Atlanta was cleaning out their basement before they moved, Bill Kiely, the owner, found a cutter top tin of John Cotton Smyrna. The tax stamp was not legible, but the tin had a royal warrant statement that referenced George VI,so we felt it had to be from the early fifties or late 40's. It was a good bit dryer than the Escudo, but rehydrated Ok. I would say it was a little thin.
All tobacco changes with age. Some improves, some stays the same, some degrades. Be careful out there.

clickklick · Oct 15, 2016

John cottons 1&2 from the 1950s. I've yet to find a consistent flat decade for aging, and I have many tins that have been smoked with 20 years on them.

JimInks · Oct 15, 2016

I'm the guy Texmexpipe referred to. I smoked mid-20s Half & Half. It had lost some of the topping, but a little remained. It was more burley forward than usual, and kind of sweet and very lightly savory.

sablebrush52 · Oct 15, 2016

Most of the really old tobacco I've smoked has been really past it. The oldest would have been Richmond blend from the 1920's and that was pretty much sludge with a clear burley note. Capstan Blue from 1938 was sludge, but Capstan Blue from 1941 tasted like Capstan Blue, though a bit miniaturized in terms of strength. 1980's era Balkan Sobranie was OK, though the Latakia had croaked out.As for the other superannuated blends I've tried, most of them were just ghosts and wraiths of their former selves.

Virginias and Va/Pers can go on for decades. Burley seems to be the longevity champ. Latakias fade sooner, like 20 years or so and seem to be mostly dead by 30+ years. One other issue is that these really old blends seem to be very unstable and quickly croak out when exposed to oxygen.

I hear tales of wondrous superannuated blends, 40-50 years, but have never actually experienced one that hadn't gone over the hill. I always hope to find that magic blend that is phenomenal at such an advanced age, but so far my personal experience suggests that it is more a factor of suggestion and wish fulfillment than reality.

ashdigger · Oct 15, 2016

I'm with Sable. I've run several group tasting of those blends Jesse is talking about and while it was exciting the blends die off astonishingly fast. I smoked all of them straight from freshly opened tin and they were decent, but a week later they were roughly hot air with a slight perfume thingy.
I'm about to take ownership of a tin of 1920's Gold Block.....it'll probably sit as a testament to Tin Art and not smoking material.

B18 · Oct 15, 2016

I've been a pipesmoker for 3years and the oldest tobacco I've smoked is the 6year old Robert McConnel Black & Gold.

But i've got 1 tin MB Viringia no1. and 3 tins of MB Scottich Mixture, all 4 are from around 1980, and 2 tins of Robert McConnel Fine London Cut (with the old tin art on it, don't know how old that is) in my cellar.

jvnshr · Oct 15, 2016

Thanks to Clickklick, McClelland PCCA Winter from 1995-1996 and Levin Pipes Klenderwood from 1993.

mikestanley · Oct 15, 2016

I currently have a tin of Blackwoods Flake. It's pretty darned tasty. The oldest was Edgeworth Ready Rubbed from 1948 but that was in 1994. I have smoked a number of blends from the 70's over the years. Some tasted a bit rusty, others were almost too good. All in all, I much prefer well aged blends of all genres to fresh.

Mike S.

hugodrax · Oct 15, 2016

WW II era St. Bruno flake. Magnificent condition and very tasty. On the whole, though, I prefer relatively fresh tobacco.

ahmadothman · Oct 15, 2016

Well, been smoking for a few months.. And the oldest I have had is a 10 year old Dunhill Standard mixture..The average of what I had is 3 years..

ray47 · Oct 15, 2016

I smoked some Blue Boar from the 50's that was gifted to me by a forum member.

username · Oct 15, 2016

40s Capstan Damon near blew my socks off but the second bowl seemed faded out.

shaintiques · Oct 15, 2016

Wow 30 year old Escudo. Can't imagine how amazing that would be. I've had 10 year old which was also very good. Oldest tobacco in a sealed tin in my cellar is some Tillbury from 1998. But I have various iterations of Balkan Sobranie in jars from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Oldest I've smoked is some Capstan from the 1930s. It was amazing and very strong. Tolkien was a beast for smoking that everyday.

bryguysc · Oct 15, 2016

l was gifted a nice 30 year old sample of MacBaren Virginia #1. It was pretty great. Sweet & sour, and delicious.

Aged Blends and The Oldest You've Had

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