Aging Sutliff?

They won't get funky. Just make sure that your tins don't have silver bottoms. Those had some problems. The others are fine and will last for a while.

They tend to give it away or discount it heavily everywhere I've ever seen a Sutliff blend. Guy at events have been seen skipping tins out across the water like stones. Full tins being used as hockey pucks, hacky sacks, etc... Heavily flavored, chemically tasting, bottom of the barrel tobacco in a paper tin. I don't think the company ever had any intentions of people actually buying a backstock of the stuff, much less smoking any of it. Ha ha. I jest of course. There is certain to be someone out there that likes the stuff. And, the company intends to give away tins of it till they find that guy. :lol:
If by chance you wanted to keep the tobacco long term. And, that is what I would do with it as opposed to smoking it. Just be sure to remove it from it's cheap paper tin and put it in a jar. But, keep in mind, there is so much preservative and flavoring in these blends, that to expect it to "age", would be like awaiting the Red Sea to part again.

Not a fan of Sutliff aromatics but the few no aromatic blends I've had are pretty good. I like the Blend No. 5 and Golden Age is a pretty good smoke too.

Cosmicfolklore: I think your assessment is kind of harsh and unfair. Not all the Sutliff blends are aromatics. Some are English and a number of them are burley based and easy on the toppings. Also, with the exception of Molto Dulce and a couple other blends, they use less PG than they used to, which was something I was after them to do for a while. As for using bottom of the barrel tobacco, it's the same tobacco used for Iwan Reis, Hearth & Home, and a number of other companies products that people don't know about. I don't think Russ Oullette or a great many H&H smokers would agree that he's using bottom of the barrel tobacco in his blends. If you think Sutliff is using cheap tobacco, then you would have to have the same opinion of a lot of other companies, too. Some of which you might be smoking yourself.

Sutliff has been very generous with the Seattle Pipe Club. We often get to sample different blends during our meetings. I have like a great many of the blends I've tried. Of course I am pretty easy to please, tobacco-wise.
I agree (but haven't done it in my own cellar) that you may want to jar the stuff instead of relying on those cans. I have 25 or so by now I haven't jarred, but then the oldest of them is still

I enjoy a great many of Sutliff's more natural offerings, it's definitely not low quality leaf, makes me wonder how many of their blends Cosmicfolklore has actually tried.

I occasionally smoke Molto Dolce and a few others, but come on, even their Englishes and Virginias lack luster in comparison to other companies, in my opinion. And, hopefully, I can have an opinion. Many don't like straight Virginias or VaPers, and that's OK by me. Differences make the world go around.
But, they are at the bottom of the gene pool in price. They give them away at the drop of the hat. My pipe club has also received many freebies. This is how I've managed to try most of their selections.
But yeh, I was joking. Some guys don't use their tins as skipping stones. :wink:
But, as much respect as I have for Creasy and the folks at their company, I have to side with my taste buds. If they're product were to cost as much as all of the rest, I wouldn't smoke them at all.
I'm sorry of my opinion offends you. But, if we all liked the same things, the world wouldn't have as much wonder and amazement, IMO.
Happy smokes ::

Of course, you certainly are entitled to your opinion, but since you made it public, I think it's fair to challenge it. I would stand Blend #5 favorably against most other Englishes. It's won several top English awards at pipe shows over more "popular" offerings, which says quite a bit in my book. It may not have some of the nuances some top rated blends have, but a blend doesn't have to be overly complex to be a very good tobacco. Ten Russians and Nightcap immediately come to mind here because they don't have much nuance, but nobody can deny that they are premium English products. Sutliff's Kasimir, Sutliff 1849, and Court of St. James are also top blends, and I'd rather smoke them more than a lot of fancy boutique offerings. It is true that Sutliff doesn't offer many VaPers or straight Virginias, which are my two favorite genres (FVF is my favorite straight Va.), but they have enough good stuff worth pursuing. They make a lot of aromatics because that's almost 90% of the market, which makes good business sense to me, and I'm hardly the biggest aro smoker you will know.
And no other company has come anywhere near supporting pipe clubs like Sutliff has. I don't think that is an indicator being at the bottom of the gene pool, if that is what you are inferring. I think it's good promotion whether you like the blends or not. I don't see a correlation between price and quality regarding Sutliff. In fact, a number of people would say some of the boutique blends are over priced.
Yes, taste is an individual thing, and everybody has their preferences. I could never argue against that. But one thing you should realize is that most pipe tobacco companies use quality tobaccos, and I think you'd be surprised at how many of them are getting them from Sutliff. Some people have the mistaken idea that companies use cheap leaf for aros because the toppings cover up that leaf. That's simply not true 99% of the time.

Sutliff Blend #5 is a great all day English blend. Bargain prices doesn't always mean bottom rung. If they charged $35 a tin for Blend #5, we would be hearing on tobaccoreview.com about how it's the bees knees. If you like Balkan Sasieni, then you'll like #5.

^^ Well said JimInks.

And, that's your opinion, brother. I have no qualms with someone liking their blends. In fact, Molto Dolce a few years ago was all the rage, and I agreed, even if it takes a blow torch to dry it out. I sort of like it all squishy wet now. I could make a list and add my own assessments, but I dare not argue with you, Jim. That would bring about lots of really bad pipe karma. I will just apologize for making an attempt at some pipe levity. Apparently, I crossed a line. I'm sorry.

Cosmic: I don't take it personally, and I know you're good guy, and I like you. But I did feel you were a bit unfair, so we had to have the discussion.

Back on topic aromatics really aren't made to age, so stick with the natural flavored blends if you intend on aging.

I had 4 tins(8 oz) of blend no.5 and every year opened 1 tin.

Two years later I could catch up what is "aged". So far 2 more tin left.

I do planning 3 years later will open 1 tin and last tin I don't know yet.

Westminster and the tribute to Balkan Sobranie (I can't recall the numerical order 957-759?) is very tasty and I'd never age it, it's too good right from the get.

Settersbrace: I meant to include Luxury Balkan Blend 957, and I agree with you on it and Westminster.
Gambit: English blends only get better with so much age, depending on the amount of Virginia in it. Latakia can lose some depth of its favor after about ten years. I don't think that Great Outdoors will improve with age, but it won't degrade either. It really depends on how long you plan on aging tobaccos. In regard to long term aging, Virginias benefit the most from age. Burley does a little. Perique and latakia tend to mellow. Some aros mellow, some do not. I have smoked samples of Sir Walter Raleigh from every decade from the 1940 until this decade, and every sample tasted the very same. only in the 1945 version, did I notice any difference, and in that case, I thought SWR had just a slight bit more depth of the very same flavor the others had.

Gambit88:
Aro's do nothing for me but English blends buzz every one of my buttons. I have several tins of #5 in my cellar and they're all jarred up.
Then again, I jar everything save a few containers of spec'ed Esoterica and Dunhill tins.
Fnord