Nightcap, Jar It or Not?

I'm with the few people that say aged tobacco is different, but not necessarily better. And with Latakia blends, it's probably not even going to be as good. This aged tobacco craze is largely in the eye (palate) of the beholder.
My advice - buy some fresh tobacco in 35 years and enjoy what you have today.

As i understand it, nightcap is probobly not in the stores in 35 years.

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It won't be in the stores next year, but I'd still enjoy it today and find something else later.
There are others with more aged tobacco experience that can elaborate, but my understanding is that Latakia blends don't age well beyond 5 years or so. The blends aged for decades are usually Virginia blends.

I have 2 lbs jarred and 10 Tins cedar. Let's see who picks this up once this is gone.

There is no way you know what you like in 35 years. If you are going to make a time capsule to open in 35 years you want the tins and labels and everything intact, because that will be half the fun.

@kpipe. Do whatever you want! I'm being serious, and in no way flippant. I have over 5 pounds of Nightcap cellared, and even more latakia/English/Balkan tins sleeping for years. The topic of cellaring is somewhat personal and I LOVE the idea of making a retirement box! In fact, I am going to start one tonight (roughly 15 years to go). Great idea.
The more you learn about cellaring, the less you know (or at least the more confused you become). IMHO, latakia/English blends DO age well. They just change in flavor profile with age. The high notes, the punch, mellow. I personally like that profile in my pipe. In fact, after a few years I've started to favor Va/VaPer more, thus the aged latakia blends taste better to me. But again, I enjoy very mellow and aged latakia/English blends and if I listened to all the dribble about Va>>Burley>>>English aging myths I would be nervous wreck.
Here are some examples:
Nightcap, packs of 5, cellared. I also have 2 pounds of bulk Nightcap in mason jars jammed full (no air, tightly packed).


Here are two examples of aged English blends I have cellared (and have smoked). The Harrods ready rubbed is from the 1970-80's, smoked one tin this winter and it was creamy and smooth and wonderful. The Craven Mixture is from the early 1980's. I smoked one tin last year and I still dream of it often! I have 4 tins left and can't wait to crack open another tin on a special occasion.
Like @workman says above, "that will be half the fun."
>30 years old


>30 years old

In response to your original question ... I keep them tobacco in the original tins mostly. It's a gamble, but at least that's the most common method employed for cellaring (in general, etc).

An error I've made with aging is aging without smoking. The older my tobacco got the less willing I became to smoke it. I kept waiting for the "special occasion" significantly important to justify the smoking, which never came. Now that I've quit the best outcome will be if I never smoke it. However I do have 4 Cuban Partigas Lusitanias that I've been aging since 2013 that are supposed to peak at 7 years or 2019. Maybe I'll have my pipe addiction well enough in hand to risk their smoking.
At any rate someone is going to get all my tobacco when the time comes. But for now it stays with me. Not selling anything. DON'T ASK!
Short of 10-15 years, latakia is supposed to mellow but not fade, though fade was the opinion until about 5 years ago. Burley is said to not to change, and Perique, a burley, remains potent. The superstar of aging is Virginia as the sugar in the leaf potentiates fermentation. I believe its timeline is much change within the first 5 years, another big change 5-10 years, though less than the first, and then slow change over the decades, with no end date.

Hey, retirement box seems fun. Maybe I will retire from work in, give or take, 30-35 years. Let me think about making one ::

There are many myths and rumours. The internet is full of it. But there are also truths to be found. There is only one way to know if blends age well. 'Well' is in the palate and nose of the beholder. You should try to find samples of aged blends to see if they have aged 'well'. In my personal opinion, all well-kept and well taken care of tobacco ages beautifully. And not just the virginias. The burleys, the latakia blends, and hey even the odd aromatic here and there. I always prefer the aged version over the fresh version. I find smoking aged tobacco (virginia, burley, latakia, perique, etc.) a more inspiring, balanced, and smooth experience.

About your original question I would keep in the original tin. The risk (small) of leaving in the tin is the potential of losing the seal. What I do is running aluminum tape around the lid to protect from this remote risk.

However, I would open and smoke every while some of the tins, first of all to see how the tobacco change during cellaring and second because who knows if you'll be around in 35 years, you might be doing all this work and never enjoy it.

I think buying tobacco to cellar is very wise.... But not so much for the reason of aging.... But for the reason of future availability, or lack thereof.

Not to mention ever increasing costs of tobacco.

Oh, do the time capsule thing, but don't make it oversize. I'd carefully store a dozen sealed tins or so, being sure to include some primarily Virginia blends which seem to improve the most, and see what happens. You could even buy some Nightcap in bulk (or a match if that's what you can get) and jar it up as an added feature, and pack it away for that distant day. It's an experiment, so suspend your expectation. Some blends may be bliss, and others may be stale, and such is life. It's for fun. If it turned out blah, drink some good whiskey and smoke some good recent tobacco. Incidentally, I think five tins might be just as much fun. Once you've popped a few, your curiosity will be satisfied. If it is wonderful, you'll have a month or more to enjoy it.