Advice on tobaccos that don't need to age

[exterminatewho]

Hello everyone, as the title suggests, I'm looking for tobacco that tastes great straight out of the tin or pouch (bulk). Right now, I'm enjoying a lot of tobacco, and I wonder how much better they'll be after aging. I plan on buying some blends that I love right now and jarring them for a year or more, but what should I be smoking right now while I wait for the aging process? Any blends that are known to be great right from the start? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mayfair70]

Who- From what I understand, most tobacco doesn't need to age, it just improves with age. That said, Virginias seem to benefit most from aging. Dark Fired Kentucky does as well in my experience. Others, such as Perique and Latakia, come down to personal taste and they have a definite shelf life around ten years, give or take a few years in either direction. Burley blends are the safest bet and don't change radically even after many years. So, Burley blends will change the least, and be very good with no aging, depending on what they are blended with.
Long story short- All blends can be smoked right away. Some you will WANT to age to get the most out of the tobacco. I'm sure more experienced members will chime in and offer their expertise. Good luck!
BTW, BIG Doctor Who fan here!

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

There are countless blends that are just fine fresh from the tin. Balkan blends such as Balkan Blue, or Black House, english blends, many virginias great for aging are also great fresh out of the tin, McClelland Navy Cavendish or Dark Star. Any aromatic, as aging doesn't do much for most of those. I'm currently in love with Kramer's Blend for Cary Grant, awesome fresh. Cornell & Diehl's Black Frigate is another. I'm going to say just about anything should be just fine fresh. Aging is just going to make it better. Especially virginias.

 

[didimauw]

Carter Hall doesn't need to age. Delicious at any age.

 

[exterminatewho]

Nice, that's actually quite awesome, since I was enjoying most of the tobacco I bought straight from the pouch and tin. I think I'll buy some luxury bullseye flake and age that for a couple of years and try it. I'm thinking of doing that with some Frog Mortons Cellar as well (I love FMC and Frog morton).
BTW, I'm a HUGE Doctor Who fan as well (obviously), but I need to catch up on this latest season. I haven't had the time due to meeting deadlines (writer for BengalsWire.com) and getting through my last few weeks of school (I'm 27 and still going...I know).

 

[mso489]

Most tobacco comes "fresh" aged a certain amount. So it's tobacco that comes aged as much as it needs to be you're probably seeking. Most aromatics come as good as they get and only lose flavor after that, although sometimes they taste better for that, or the Virginia in them improves as the flavoring fades. Most Latakia blends are quite good, and the Lat is as good as it gets right out of the freshly opened tin. Burley, if jarred, will be stable for a long time, won't improve or fade, so burleys are dependable if you like those.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Most Latakia blends are quite good, and the Lat is as good as it gets right out of the freshly opened tin.

Ima hafta disagree which youse on dat, Tom.

 

[beefeater33]

Ima hafta disagree which youse on dat, Tom.

Ebonics?.............. ::

 

[tschiraldi]

Sounds more New Jersey Italian to me. If you like it enough to age it, you like it enough to smoke it now.

 

[toobfreak]

Aromatics. They are what they are when you get them. No real advantage in aging them. Whatever they are topped with to get the flavor and aroma they have, aging for them is more like a deterioration. Usually, that deterioration is a slow fading of the quality, in some few cases, if it wasn't particularly good to begin with, the deterioration might be sort of a good thing.

 

[pipestud]

Who- From what I understand, most tobacco doesn't need to age, it just improves with age. - mayfair70"
Plus 1 on what mayfair said. It would not be smart of blenders to sell tobacco that wasn't good to go from the moment the tin or pouch is opened. And, some blends are as good as they are going to get with no aging. Others will improve greatly with age. But again, your tobacco should be good to go from the start.

 

[clickklick]

Some are better after they mellow from aging a bit. Takes a bit of sharpness off, but those needing the sharpness lessened are few and far between.

 

[hawky454]

In my opinion, most every blend is packaged ready to smoke and putting them away and waiting on them to get better is just going to result in disappointment.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Sounds more New Jersey Italian to me. If you like it enough to age it, you like it enough to smoke it now.

Right on both counts!
You can't make a silk purse....etc..... But you can mitigate what you don't like through aging, sometimes.

 

[jpmcwjr]

In my opinion, most every blend is packaged ready to smoke and putting them away and waiting on them to get better is just going to result in disappointment.

Smiley? This notion is somewhat unique here!
Is that your experience?

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

Arango/Stokebye Balkan Supreme is good to go fresh, have no intention of letting any age. The McClellands​ tinned Virginia's are good now, will definitely improve with age. Their 2015 can be a tad sharp to my taste, depending on how long it has been in stock, but just a few months takes care of that.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

The Gospel according to John Loring, from his 1999 article,Dating English Tinned Tobacco,
"I suspect that the aging of tobaccos treated with chemical additives and/or preservatives is effected in two ways. First, preservatives will retard the aging process. Second, the chemicals and the tobaccos will neither uniformly age nor maintain the original balance of flavors. Personal experiences leads me to believe that for at least the first decade the chemical component becomes more noticeable as the years go by. For these reasons I generally avoid 'cellering' of chemically treated or preserved tobaccos and tend to believe the manufacturers of those blends when they state that their blends are best smoked shortly after purchase."
Amen.
My experience is in accordance.

 

[calabashed]

I actually think the perique in some VaPers looses some subtle flavors with time and air exposure, though on the flip side the Virginias improve and the flavors meld together better. I love Mac Baren's HH Acadian Perique with at least a couple years on it, but I also like it enough fresh that when I was stocking up I also stashed 1 pound in a large mason jar and vacuum sealed it as hard as possible with a Foodsaver attachment, which is to say about 10% atmospheric pressure. Should be able to open that one decades from now and still experience something very like what it was fresh. Sometimes I think this would be a good idea for folks to do with a lot of current blends, what with the uncertainty of production and regulation these days. Kind of like tobacco time capsules so future blenders would be able to recreate blends that have fallen out of production closer to what they were like at the time.

 

[curl]

Question about this post....
The Gospel according to John Loring, from his 1999 article,Dating English Tinned Tobacco,
"I suspect that the aging of tobaccos treated with chemical additives and/or preservatives is effected in two ways. First, preservatives will retard the aging process. Second, the chemicals and the tobaccos will neither uniformly age nor maintain the original balance of flavors. Personal experiences leads me to believe that for at least the first decade the chemical component becomes more noticeable as the years go by. For these reasons I generally avoid 'cellering' of chemically treated or preserved tobaccos and tend to believe the manufacturers of those blends when they state that their blends are best smoked shortly after purchase."
Amen.
My experience is in accordance.
...did Mr Loring specify any blends when he talked about additives and preservatives? Or can anyone else here name names?

 

[jmatt]

At least one manufacturer gets annoyed at smokers faffing with his tobacco.