A fine gentleman came into the pipe/cigar shop over the weekend and produced a gorgeous bent apple that I come to find out he had made, (along with many others over the years) and fills it with some tobacco he pulled from a small zip lock Baggie. So he's smoking and talking with customers and I get free for a bit and strike up a conversation concerning what he was smoking.
Well, it turns out that he scored on a 35 year or older tin of John Cotton #'s1+2 and as we talk he handed me what was left in his stash. It was a generous bowl full, ( thanks again Andy!) and I placed it in my pipe kit and took it along home after the day was over. Yesterday after lunch I decided I would give it a try, I had a clean palate and was in no hurry to be anywhere. It was just dry enough for my liking and it packed nicely. After a couple charring lights I gave it a good true light and immedietly noticed that this wasn't going to taste like an English blend, at least not like any I'm used too. What I was getting hit with were Virginias and not the sweet stuff, no this tasted like hay and for sure was a little bitey. I slowly and carefully worked my down to mid bowl where I started to detect some more familiar notes only severely muted, not the smokey Latakia I'm so accustomed to but rather a softer, nutty version of it. I finished it down to a nice white ash and pondered why after having just consumed a 35+ year old, highly sought after Vintage tobacco, I'm not just gushing with nostalgic enthusiasm? Could it be that those of you who chase the online auctions for this and similar tinned English tobaccos are really after it because the age mutes the Latakia into near non-exsistance?
I feel like I've squandered an opportunity on one hand but on the other feel that maybe I'm not just sophisticated enough to really enjoy what decades of aging can do for a blend. I'm not knocking those of you who tirelessly pursue these vintage tins, in fact it's the opposite. I'd like to know exactly why you do and whether my taste buds are just too immature to fully appreciate what's there.
Well, it turns out that he scored on a 35 year or older tin of John Cotton #'s1+2 and as we talk he handed me what was left in his stash. It was a generous bowl full, ( thanks again Andy!) and I placed it in my pipe kit and took it along home after the day was over. Yesterday after lunch I decided I would give it a try, I had a clean palate and was in no hurry to be anywhere. It was just dry enough for my liking and it packed nicely. After a couple charring lights I gave it a good true light and immedietly noticed that this wasn't going to taste like an English blend, at least not like any I'm used too. What I was getting hit with were Virginias and not the sweet stuff, no this tasted like hay and for sure was a little bitey. I slowly and carefully worked my down to mid bowl where I started to detect some more familiar notes only severely muted, not the smokey Latakia I'm so accustomed to but rather a softer, nutty version of it. I finished it down to a nice white ash and pondered why after having just consumed a 35+ year old, highly sought after Vintage tobacco, I'm not just gushing with nostalgic enthusiasm? Could it be that those of you who chase the online auctions for this and similar tinned English tobaccos are really after it because the age mutes the Latakia into near non-exsistance?
I feel like I've squandered an opportunity on one hand but on the other feel that maybe I'm not just sophisticated enough to really enjoy what decades of aging can do for a blend. I'm not knocking those of you who tirelessly pursue these vintage tins, in fact it's the opposite. I'd like to know exactly why you do and whether my taste buds are just too immature to fully appreciate what's there.
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