Aged Tobacco: Quality and Value?

[turtlehead]

Coming from cigars, I loved my aged cigars. Nothing like some beautiful plume. Moving into pipes, I see lots of people selling tobacco with age, which I'm immediately drawn to.

That said, I've no idea for value on this stuff. eg... 2 years seems to hit a realm where the age has made a difference - maybe not like something with 10 years... but - better than new?

So - beyond just being patient (I am not a patient person) - is there any rules of thumb that you yourself follow if you buy tobacco with age? Obviously if it's discontinued, that probably causes some bump for the desperate - but what about stuff that's still in production?

Or, to come at it from another angle if you're anti buying aged tobacco for higher than retail - if you were to sell some of your tobacco with age, how would you come at pricing it?

I know, some of you will say it's a stupid pursuit, that's great - but I'm curious for those who do seek it out.

 

[Jaylotw]

In my opinion aged Pipe tobacco is hyped a bit. Things change, yes, but age does not equal "better" necessarily, but different. Knock yourself out if you want to buy some.

I bought a $60 dollar 100g tin of Old Gowrie with 8 years on it and it was incredible...but so is fresh Old Gowrie. The aged wasnt better per se, but it was different. It was aged. I was ok with dropping $60 on it, I thought that was fair. I wouldn't pay $200.

If I had a tin I'd been sitting on for years, I'd want to get above retail for it, of course. I stored it, resisted the urge to open it for years. Unless I was selling it to a close friend or trading or something like that, I'd want to get whatever I could for it.

I'm not too patient, either, but I've got a decent stock of stuff with at least two years or more in jars. Find a bulk VA or VaPer blend you enjoy, get a pound. Save a 1\4lb out for smoking regularly, a half to put away in bigger jars, and split the last 1/4 into smaller jars which you sock away and forget about. When you've smoked that 3/4lb, buy some more. Forget about that 1\4 you saved, it's untouchable. Before you know it, it's been four years and you've got a bit of aged tobacco!

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Depends how old, and what tobacco really. One could check PS website for previous sales to see what certain blends sold for. If the blends are readily available, I wouldn't think they'd go for a crazy mark up. Higher mark ups I think would only come from discontinued blends or blends with 10+ years on em.
Just my .02

 

[sablebrush52]

Aged tinned anything carries a level of risk. If a square or rectangular tin is older than 8 to 10 years, I don't buy it. Too high a risk of tin failure for me to drop twice the money on it. I've learned my lession there.

Canister and round tins hold up better.

 

[turtlehead]

Aged tinned anything carries a level of risk. If a square or rectangular tin is older than 8 to 10 years, I don't buy it. Too high a risk of tin failure for me to drop twice the money on it. I've learned my lession there.

Canister and round tins hold up better.

I’ve seen mention of rehydration- but I’m assuming dried tobacco isn’t aging in the ways desired?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Tobacco that dries out too much eventually turns to dust. And you can't rehydrate dust!

But that's unusual if care is taken. You don't want to dry down tobacco you are trying to age, unless someone spilled a cup of coffee in the tin.

 

[leonardbill1]

My experience is that rehydration has its limits and that you can never fully restore a tobacco to what it would have been if it hadn't dried out.

 

[boston]

I've had pretty good luck rehydrating tobacco. The components are dried and rehydrated before we get them. I never did a science experiment but I think it's not the biggest deal. And I do think age changes a tobacco. Generally for the better. Sometimes in a real meaningful way.

 

[OzPiper]

Check out the offerings from Pipestud (weekly) and 4noggins if you have an itch that needs to be scratched ?

 

[captpat]

I won't pay a premium for aged tobacco and I don't chase out of production blends that have supposedly mythical properties. My cellar is big enough that I can buy fresh tobacco that I like and it will be suitably aged by the time I get to it. This also affords the opportunity to address and mitigate suspect packaging

 

[jpmcwjr]

My experience is that rehydration has its limits and that you can never fully restore a tobacco to what it would have been if it hadn't dried out.

Not my experience, but that begs the question as to how far gone the tobacco is. Everything has its limits!

Simply try a small sample, and see how it goes!

 

[kcghost]

I've had good luck when aging thing. I take my English and VaPer tins and put them on the shelf and leave for a few years. Really good stuff. Aromatics don't age much so the only reason to store them is to protect from the vagaries of the market place.

 

[krizzose]

The prices I’ve seen suggest that you can expect to pay a premium for an aged tin of a blend that is still in production, but that it’s much less than the premium charged for tins of out of production blends of similar age.

 

[turtlehead]

Check out the offerings from Pipestud (weekly) and 4noggins if you have an itch that needs to be scratched ?

bought a 10 year old HH Old Dark Fired from pipestud last week - now to buy a fresh one for some comparisons!

 

[Eye-level]

Can't really do wrong if you're buying tobacco. My opinion only.

 

[turtlehead]

Eye-Level - can I get your phone number to have my wife call you? I’m convinced, but she doesn’t seem sold yet ?

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Aging Virginia & VaPers tend to round out the sharpness of the blend. However, that’s not saying it makes it better. I like a tin of Virginia/VaPer to be about 5 yrs or better. That seems to be a sweet spot for me. I’ve had tins 10 yrs or more and have enjoyed them fine. There is such a thing as too much aging as it can transform the blend into something that was not intended from the manufacturer. Don’t forget…these tins we buy are meant to be smoked…not aged. ?️

 

[pantsBoots]

Coming from cigars, I loved my aged cigars. Nothing like some beautiful plume. Moving into pipes, I see lots of people selling tobacco with age, which I'm immediately drawn to.

That said, I've no idea for value on this stuff. eg... 2 years seems to hit a realm where the age has made a difference - maybe not like something with 10 years... but - better than new?

So - beyond just being patient (I am not a patient person) - is there any rules of thumb that you yourself follow if you buy tobacco with age? Obviously if it's discontinued, that probably causes some bump for the desperate - but what about stuff that's still in production?

Or, to come at it from another angle if you're anti buying aged tobacco for higher than retail - if you were to sell some of your tobacco with age, how would you come at pricing it?

I know, some of you will say it's a stupid pursuit, that's great - but I'm curious for those who do seek it out.

So far, I have found Virginia-based blends age the best. I just finished a can of 07 Old Gowrie that was magnificent. I was slightly bummed my next oldest tin was from 2020, until I opened it. It is nearly as good as the aged stuff, so I stopped bumming.

In the 2 short years I've been smoking a pipe, I haven't seen magical transformations in pipe tobacco like I'm used to with cigars. There are a lot of cigars whose flavor profiles shift dramatically after 5 or 10 years, especially Havanas. It must be the black tobacco, or the fermentation process unique to cigars.

As for pricing, it's just like the secondary cigar market - people are charging what the market will bear. McClelland pricing is generally reasonable, excepting some sales here and there. Pricing on Esoterica, especially last year's tins and bags is just comical.

 

[briarbuck]

Buy 10 lbs of Bulls Eye Flake and your good to go.

 

[newbroom]

There are some very old blends, no longer produced, that reveal themselves for resale from time to time.
Some are 'legendary' and might still have smokable value.