100 Year Old Gold Block Tin - 4oz Seal Intact (Pic Heavy)

[ashdigger]

Sable, we've had conversations about my crazy love of very old blends and we absolutely agree. Having said that, life is a gamble, the price was right (gift), so we'll see where it ends up.
Look folks, I'm a weirdo, I love history, I love old blends. Whatever I do with this tin won't be motivated by cost or any financial interest. That's not my thing. I'm very fortunate by the opportunity I have for a career and lifestyle. I'm more driven by shared experiences and assisting others down their baccy journey. If I was solely guided by monetary concerns I would have sold the 80 pipes I've given away and the roughly 50 lbs of baccy, but that's not what makes me tick.

 

[fitzy]

Very cool tin.
I hear voices chanting:

OPEN IT!

OPEN IT!

OPEN IT!

 

[whitesands77]

Hmmmmm, something even better than investing in the memory of smoking it you say?... investing in others memories and fellowship... it seems that tin fell into the right hands. :mrgreen:

 

[balkisobrains]

How rare is what you have there, in that condition? There's not really a lot of tin art there to go crazy about, but how hard would it be to find another one just like it, or better, if you wanted to? :puffpipe:

 

[samcoffeeman]

Sable/Jesse and Condorlover/Simon:

I have to kindly disagree. I opened up a cutter top tin of unknown age about a year ago. I just recently smoked another bowl of it and it is as good or better than the day I opened it. It may in fact be one of the best tobaccos o have smoked! Purchased from Pipestud and completely intact, I hope I get a chance to share some of this Bailiwick Navy Cut with you. Although I do agree this may be out of the norm, certainly not all tobaccos will stand the test of time.

 

[condorlover1]

Sam you got really lucky with that tin. You are absolutely right in that exceptions do happen in the 'cutter top' universe but on the whole I have found stuff to be a little on the flat side. I opened a 2 oz 'cutter top' tin of Condor yesterday and found the experience like smoking Condor Plug I had previously sliced and then left in the pocket of my leather trench coat for a few weeks. It was recognizable as Condor but tasted a little on the flat side, once mixed up with some other plug I smoke it seem to pep up a bit but there you go.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Nice Tim. I'd be willing to try it.

Life is a gamble, to get the high payoffs, you gotta take the larger risks.

 

[mayfair70]

As a historian, I wouldn't open it. Leave it as is, since there are few, if any, more of them out there.
As a pipe smoker, I would have opened it yesterday. Let us know how it tastes!!

 

[jpmcwjr]

I love the way you put the dichotomy, mayfair! A beautiful dilemma.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I was trying to find out something about the company, is it D. Ritchievby, Ritchieoby, Ritchieobo, none of which even registers even a twerk on Google. Sigh... this is where we need our "Mr. little letter" guy to do some research for us.

 

[bryguysc]

That is really cool!

Open and smoke it!

 

[jpmcwjr]

I was trying to find out something about the company, is it D. Ritchievby, Ritchieoby, Ritchieobo, none of which even registers even a twerk on Google. Sigh... this is where we need our "Mr. little letter" guy to do some research for us.

Yes we do miss him! I wonder if the Ritchiexxx might have been a sub of one of the following. What a history! From Wiki:

The Imperial Tobacco Company was created in 1901 through the amalgamation of 13 British tobacco and cigarette companies: W.D. & H.O. Wills of Bristol (the leading manufacturer of tobacco products at that time), John Player & Sons of Nottingham, and 11 other independent family businesses, which were in competition with companies from the United States by the American Tobacco Company.[7][8] First W. D. & H. O. Wills of Bristol merged with Stephen Mitchell & Son of Glasgow. Subsequently, other smaller companies including Lambert & Butler, William Clarke & Son, Franklyn Davey, Edwards Ringer & Bigg, Hignett Brothers, Hignett's Tobacco, Adkins & Sons, Richmond Cavendish, D&J MacDoland, and F&J Smith joined in the amalgamation. In 1904, James & Finlay Bell Ltd merged with Stephen Mitchell & Son. The Company's first chairman was William Henry Wills of the Wills Company.[7]

 

[sablebrush52]

I have to kindly disagree. I opened up a cutter top tin of unknown age about a year ago. I just recently smoked another bowl of it and it is as good or better than the day I opened it. It may in fact be one of the best tobaccos o have smoked! Purchased from Pipestud and completely intact, I hope I get a chance to share some of this Bailiwick Navy Cut with you. Although I do agree this may be out of the norm, certainly not all tobaccos will stand the test of time.

Hi Sam,
Exceptions do happen. In my experience so far, they have been few compared to the night horror variety. But when the exception does happen, it a pretty exceptional exception!

 

[JimInks]

One exception was the 1960s Balkan Sobranie that Simon gave me. It was fresh, moist, and had lost almost nothing during the years it was in the sealed tin. I was incredibly lucky.

 

[condorlover1]

I used to fish out the Turkish tobacco bits to roll cigarettes with Jim!!

 

[voorhees]

very cool.

 

[beefeater33]

What a find this is! I couldn't open it, but that's just me.......... :crazy:

 

[ashdigger]

I've shared the high of the Black Mallory tin and now the lows of superannuated baccy. While I was moving the tin of Gold Block I noticed a "shake" of the contents of the tin. I explored further and found a pin hole in the bottom. I then put the tin to my nose and push on the tin and could feel the air move in and out. I could smell the contents. I opened it up and it's a tin of mummy baccy. I'll post pictures in a bit. I'm going to try and rehydrate it. Nothing to lose at this point.

 

[woodsroad]

Mwah, mwah, mwah....

 

[ashdigger]

Exactly. That's the gamble. If you know the risks, it's all part of the game. That's why I post these things. Cautionary tales of crazy success and abysmal defeat, but if you don't try, you'll never learn. Now I'm smoking more Black Mallory that is absolutely fantastic!!