Aging Experiment:A Question About Side By Side Comparisons

I started smoking a pipe in 2005 for about a year and then gave it up. In that time I managed to cellar a pretty healthy (to me) amount of tobacco. I returned to pipe smoking earlier this year and because of this I find myself in a pretty unique situation. I have some sealed tins from 2006, and I also have some mason jars that have been filled with tins opened fresh in 2006. These jars have been open and closed maybe 10 times over the course of a year and have been sealed since maybe 2007. I've read numerous times that once the tin is cracked the aging process stops. I've also read that it doesn't stop, but changes. Well I've compared bulk tobacco (sealed for 8 years compared to open and closed for a year and then sealed since) and cannot tell the difference. Both were very good and was definitely better to me than fresh.

Saturday I smoked the last bowl of 8 year old Nightcap that was opened 8 years ago. Today I plan on cracking an 8 year old tin of Nightcap and seeing if I can tell any difference from a bowl I smoked 3 days ago.

If I had thought if his sooner I could have done a side by side comparison. Taken pics. Hindsight yada yada.

Then I realized I have some Penzance with the same circumstances. I have a sealed tin from 2006 and about a half tin from the same year that's been sealed in a mason jar and has been exposed to new air several times over the course of a year and then put away until now. I even have some fresh on hand thanks to rsuninv (you are an inspiration). I was planning on putting it up on the trading block after I had become eligible next month as I'm not the biggest fan of the Penzance. However, I have decided to see what differences I could notice, if any, between the 3 samples.

Sorry for the long write up. On to my question. What's the best way to do a side by side comparison? Actually going back and forth between 3 different pipes in one session? Back to back bowls of the different samples? Using the same pipe and resting it for a day, which would lead to what would seem to be a long time between samples?

Thanks!

Alright i got a little lazy, and thought that too many days had passed, and have too many open blends already, so i decided to skip the Nightcap and go straight for the Penzance. I want to start by saying the biggest thing I learned was that I SUCK at comparing blends. Also this experiment was for personal use and the sample size was very small, so take this all for what it's worth.

Fresh Penzance:



It got broken up in transit. I also suck at reviews, but it was mild, creamy, sweet. Hint of tea and a little smokey. It also got better throughout the bowl. Tin note was more smokey than sweet. After 2 bowls I decided I knew I liked the 8 year old stuff sitting in my mason jar better and had enough of the new stuff. Decided to put the rest in another jar and let it age.

8 year old Penzance sitting in a jar:



Tin note was more sweet than smokey, opposite of the fresh stuff. Maybe a little fruity and a little 'fumey' if that makes any sense. The only way I could describe it was that maybe it was more sweeter and smokier than the fresh stuff, but at the same time more muted, toned down, mellow. Very confused at this point. I think I like fresh Penzance better than aged. But mind you I know I'm not the biggest Penzance fan, or Cyprian Latakia fan for that matter. Maybe the mellowness was due to the fact that it was my 2nd bowl of the day (the 1st being fresh Penzance). The next day I had my 2nd bowl of this sample (first bowl of the day) and got pretty much the same result. Huh, I'll be damned...

8 year old tin opening:









Some kind of oily, residue, condensate...







Aged sample from the jar is smaller, probably due to loss of moisture from repeated openings



Seems to have gotten a lot darker in the jar too



Tin note smells like any other run of the mill English blend. Many Englishes smell the same to me, and I got more Latakia scents than the sweet or smokeyness of the other 2. Room note was the biggest difference I noticed, got hints of graham cracker? At this point this is my 5th bowl in a row of Penzance, 2nd of the day (1st being the aged/jarred). I usually never have 2 consecutive bowls of a blend, i don't think I've ever had 3. I really don't know how else to describe this 3rd version of the same blend. I will continue to go back and forth between the blends, but I don't think I'll have much to add to this. Perhaps someone with a more discerning palate will want me to send them some of the 2 differently aged samples?

I guess in conclusion, I like the fresh Penzance better than either of the aged. That is not to say I don't like aged tobacco. Perhaps I will continue to compare other blends like this, but it will be for personal use (which this is). But if I had to choose right now between the 2 aged blends, I would pick the freshly opened tin. What I can take away from this little experiment of mine is that, for me, aging does work better in a sealed tin, and once opened and transferred to a jar, I should try to smoke it sooner rather than later or trying to age it more.

Not rust. Not sure what it was. Moist, oily/greasy condensate maybe... Like the tobacco was sweating oil or something.