Aging Blends As A Bad Habit

[mso489]

I'm a moderate smoker, so I use tobacco at a glacial pace. As a result, between a few dozen tins of blends and my jars, I tend to opt for the jars, easy to open, less of a commitment, many different blends and samples sent by Forums members to choose from. Now in the case of my Virginia dominant tinned blends, that's wonderful; they just get better and better, and every now and then I open one for a thrill and it doesn't last long. But other blends probably aren't improving much and some are probably going downhill. Lat can fade, not always but sometimes. So does anyone else "age" tins as a bad habit?

 

[rigmedic1]

All the time. I have 147 tins of different things. I am a sucker for the next "big thing", and after the last few years have 47 blends I haven't tried yet, and tins I bought that I like that have been sitting around over 2-10 years. Add to that tobacco that I get gifted, and trades, and then I get it into my head that I want to smoke all of something, and the unintended cellaring grows.

 

[mso489]

I suspect that many, maybe most, Forums members could smoke their pipes into their second centuries and never run out, whatever tobacco regulatory problems may arise. When was the last time anyone actually ran out?

 

[ashdigger]

I'll never run out. I'll slowly walk away, but never run out.

 

[voorhees]

I tend to agree. I smoke moderately and open tins and put into jars. Revisiting them as I feel. May take years to smoke them up.

 

[fitzy]

I can't seem to finish what I have open and because of that I have maybe 30 new blends still in tins that I've had lying around for up to two years. I have about 75 mason jars of stuff I've opened.

 

[jpmcwjr]

It can be overdone, but in general, I'd say no, not a bad thing at all.

 

[bluegrasspipe]

Oh thank goodness I am not the only one. I get thinking I need to try all of the blends to figure out what I may be missing that I will love, the greener leaf at the end of the rainbow so to speak.. But then I tell myself with about 35 tins/jars open I need to finish before opening more. I am not sure what is right anymore. I guess as you say MSO, just get to the latakia ones that may not age as well first and leave the virginia leaf for another time when it is riper for the picking.. Decisions decisions..

 

[allthebass]

In 2008 I went on a tin popping spree. I'd smoke a little bit and if it didn't thrill me I'd put in in a mason jar and open something else. Things in life changed, I didn't smoke as much and was poorly (mis)diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The doctor put on a medication that I later found out helped people quit smoking and it badly screwed up my taste buds. Killed my taste for many things including tobacco. For around 6 years most of my tinned and jarred tobacco, just sat and aged. I would occasionally smoke a bowl here and there but nothing consistent. In 2016 I went to the Chicago Pipe Show expecting it would be my last, but what do you know? My taste for tobacco started returning at the show!
This past year I promised myself I wouldn't pop any more tins until I had at least smoked off all the opened English blends in my collection. Some had gotten better, some worse and others still bored me but overall I've made a pretty good dent in it while learning appreciate some blends I might have otherwise written off. Recently I had the revelation that I hadn't smoked some of my favorite blends in 6+ years! I have tins of some of favorites from the early/mid 2000's just waiting. Are they aging well? Have they peaked? Well life is too short to go forever without smoking my favorite blend(s) so I finally popped a tin 2009 of Westminster and have been enjoying it very much.
Still trying to practice patience and not pop a bunch more tins until I finish a few others ......but there are some James B Russell era Rattray's and Robert McConnell's tins in my cellar just calling my name. Patience is hard.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I hit 200 pounds in my closet a few months back, and am still buying. Yep, bad habit.

 

[bluegrasspipe]

I hit 200 pounds in my closet a few months back

Whoa, I know where I am going when the zombie apocalypse happens.. :lol:

 

[Chasing Embers]

Several of us are at or around that point. That's what multiple decade of hoarding causes. :mrgreen:

 

[allthebass]

I hit 200 pounds in my closet a few months back, and am still buying. Yep, bad habit.

Wow! That's impressive. I think I've got around 15 lbs but that might last me 10yrs at the rate I smoke (1 or 2 bowls a day but almost never in cold the winter; hate freezing in my garage). Kind of holding off buying more until I can wrangle and make sense of my cellaring habits. I love trying new blends so I probably have 40 unopened tins of stuff I've never tried. As I find favorites I try to stock up....that is if it's still being produced by the time I get to it.

 

[panamacharlie]

Well, I did run out. When I moved to Panama in 2005, I brought just a small amount with me, figuring I could always buy more. Then I found out that pipe tobacco is realistically unavailable here and in Costa Rica. I reluctantly put my pipes aside. Then in late 2016 I discovered that I could have it shipped here with no duty. I went on a mini buying spree and bought 25 or 30 pounds, mostly PS flakes and some aros. I figured I had a two year supply, but is over half gone already! If something happens with shipping or duty I will be in trouble again, so I had better stock up!