Cellaring Guidance

[Meerly John]

Hello all. I am a pipe smoker of only 6 months and I am now beginning to consider age. I have some Balkan Sobranie that's been cellared long enough to turn fruity, and I am delighted at the change that can occur with a little time. Newbie that I am, I have a quick question for any and all:

How long should I cellar a tin of Mac Baren's Royal Twist?

I have never smoked DFK. If ya'll insist that I should leave it for the decade, I will, but ideally I'm looking for an earlier point of flavor change. It's already 6 months old, and without some guidance I'm afraid I'll break down and pop it. Talk me into it, or stop me from making a huge mistake.


Thanks!

 

[shanez]

Age it anywhere from zero years and up.

I like that blends can get better with age but I'm not interested in anything that can't at least be enjoyed fresh. Age doesn't magically change a blend from bad to good. Just from good to a little gooder.

Please note tobacco changing isn't the same thing as your tastes changing.

 

[Chasing Embers]

turn fruity

Yikes, you might want to check for mold or something. I've never heard of a latakia blend tasting fruity.

Most production tobaccos are made to be enjoyed immediately. Some mellow with aging, others not so much.

 

[bullet08]

Ideally, you would have multiple tins so you can open one at certain check points. I used to buy 3 tins of something I want to taste to open at 2, 5, and 10 year mark. At 2 year mark, you can determine how much longer you want to age, or go with a set plan. Now I usually purchase more if a blend has reputation for possible potential.

 

[Meerly John]

Yikes, you might want to check for mold or something. I've never heard of a latakia blend tasting fruity.

Most production tobaccos are made to be enjoyed immediately. Some mellow with aging, others not so much.

I think it's just the limitations of language lol. It's not even like sugar sweet, it's a quality of fruit I almost can't articulate, but it's also subjective. There is though, in my experience, a rounding and softening of Latakia in a relatively short span of time.

 

[Meerly John]

Ideally, you would have multiple tins so you can open one at certain check points. I used to buy 3 tins of something I want to taste to open at 2, 5, and 10 year mark. At 2 year mark, you can determine how much longer you want to age, or go with a set plan. Now I usually purchase more if a blend has reputation for possible potential.

A solid strategy to be sure. I'm limited in that it's a run of 7500 tins, so it was only available for like 2.5 days and I could only get one. I'm almost tempted to just order a similar blend and gauge it off of that.

 

[OzPiper]

Age it anywhere from zero years and up.
lease note tobacco changing isn't the same thing as your tastes changing.

We all have different tastes and you are the sole arbiter with regards to what you like best.

As with wine, some like the vibrancy and fruitiness of very young wine, whilst there are some who like their wine moribund. Just like some love their steak barely warm, and others charred.

Older do not always equate to better. Open tins at various stages of cellarage and form your own opinion.

 

[verporchting]

Cellaring is a strategy to ensure your supply of blends to enjoy - now and in the future. You might not be able to get it later due to price, tax, availability, blenders going under, your money situation changing, zombie apocalypse, whatever. Otherwise many people like the flavors better after aging but … and this is important … I wouldn’t forego enjoying some now waiting for a tomorrow that may never arrive! What if you wait ten years to try a blend that sucks? Or you get ate by zombies or hit by a bus?! Try some now. Enjoy it. If you love it buy some more and cellar some for later. Or smoke it like a madman and to hell with tomorrow. Cellaring is great and if you’re able then pack your house full, but the point isn’t to cellar for cellaring sake but to ensure your supply in the future, and maybe to have aging improve the blend, but I’d never recommend waiting a decade to smoke something I wanted right now. Just my thoughts.

Also, not every blend is “better” with age. Some are, some aren’t, and sometimes our memories are not so great or our tastes change, so … smoke that shit, man! Burn baby burn! ?

 

[Meerly John]

Alright, I'm gonna open it tomorrow. I just lit my last bowl of the last night (PS LBF), but the tin has 5 months on it. I'll try it and if I decide I wanna try another 6 months it can age in a jar.

 

[Jacob74]

LBF and LNF both age extremely gracefully in my opinion! Definitely recommend a pound of each into mason jars.

 

[Grangerous]

Smoke for today. Find a blend or two that you really can’t be without. Cellar lots of these. You’ll be glad you did.

 

[username]

I cellar as a hedge against price increases the aging is just a nice side effect.

 

[karam]

A lot of good feedback from the members here.

Note what @shanez is saying as it's important, your tastes may change, and the change may be radical. A lot of people, myself included, have smoked Latakia for years and after some point a switch is thrown and we can't stomach it anymore. I got 1kg of Lat blends sitting around untouched for months now. Also @verporchting's post.

Don't worry about cellaring 6 months in, try many genres and blends and then decide what to cellar, go wide rather than deep lest you find yourself sitting on a pile of tobacco you don't even want to smell. Don't worry too much about ageing either, it will happen organically in the long run as you accumulate more tobacco.

For long-term cellaring get Mylar bags which you can seal yourself with an iron, and keep a number of jars for regular dipping, in the long run the Mylar is cheaper, more compact, and less of a hassle to deal with.

@hoosierpipeguy made an excellent post about cellaring, if you can find it it is gold.

 

[judcole]

The wisdom I have always heard is that, when you are aging a blend, you are not going to notice much change before about three years. That's been the rule I have followed.
I have discovered,however, purely by happenstance, that some blends - Amphora Virginia being the one I have in mind - will mellow a bit after just a few months, and make a better experience,
My practice has been, for a number of years, when I buy a new to me Virginia blend, I buy two tins - one to try now, and one to age. If I like it a lot now, I will buy more for aging purposes. If I have a tin that I am aging - or a jar of bulk - I don't "dip into it" to check the status. Once you open it, you have stopped the aging process. It can start again, at least with a jar, but I cannot believe that it will be the same as if it had been uninterrupted.

 

[krizzose]

If you only have 1 tin, smoke it whenever you want it. If that's now, then pop it and enjoy it. As someone else mentioned, if you don't like it fresh, it's doubtful it will change so much that you'll like it aged, even with several years on it.

The Stokkebye flakes, in my opinion, benefit a lot even from a little bit of aging. If you can hold out for a year or even two, you'll be rewarded.

 

[FurCoat]

Yikes, you might want to check for mold or something. I've never heard of a latakia blend tasting fruity.

Most production tobaccos are made to be enjoyed immediately. Some mellow with aging, others not so much.

It's made by Gremains so it may have come in contact with one of their toppings, possibly apricot. I've caught a faint Lakeland essence in Brown #4 once. I don't know, just a thought.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It's made by Gremains so it may have come in contact with one of their toppings, possibly apricot. I've caught a faint Lakeland essence in Brown #4 once. I don't know, just a thought.

Weird though, never came across it in that one.?‍

 

[Johnkelly55]

I can’t say I have a system to it. But, when want To buy a tin of something, I usually buy two. I put the second in the back of the shelf and forget about it. Thank God, I still have some McClelland kicking around. But, the other guys are right- the trends are NOT good. Seems I remember a Stephen King story about the last smokers in the world hiding in caves!
JohnK

 

[Johnkelly55]

I just opened and lit up HOTW 2012. It has lost all taste! I had it in a Ball Jar, placed in a closet. Has anyone else lost its flavor after 8+ years? Or would it be a. Ball Jars or b. air?
Aggg.
JohnK

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Let it breath for a week or two, then try it again.