Buying Tobacco: How Old?

[Gavrin]

Title edited for clarity and caps. -jpm

When one buys tobacco from a store, online etc be it a bulk amount or pouch or tin, how old is it? I ask as folks seem to gage the aging of their tobacco from the point they get it “new”.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

I guess that would vary from store to store. if you really wanted to know, you could try asking them. whether you get a straight answer or not is another thing.

 

[mortonbriar]

Tins will have an indication of their production age on the bottom, some companies have a tricksy number system you have to learn to understand the month and year.
If it is a popular blend, it will generally be produced in the 12 months prior to you purchasing it. But I have bought a dusty tin from a B&M that had ten years age on it.
If you are buying bulk to age, just go ahead and date it from the month you got it.

 

[Jaylotw]

Almost any tin you buy online will be 6 months old or less. Most online stores, even the smaller ones, have a quick turnover of most blends. Sometimes you might get lucky with a less popular blend and get a tin with more than a year on it. Happened to me with an 8oz tin of Chelsea Morning from a smaller online shop, it was 2.5 years old.

C&D and MacBaren tell you exactly what date the blend was tinned, others use codes which require the Pipes Magazine Super Secret Decoder Ring, which you must be initiated to acquire.

If I open an aged tin from my cellar, I put the original tinned date as well as the date I opened and jarred the blend on the jar lid. Bulk stuff or tins I immediately open and jar, I just put the date I jarred it on there.

 

[DanWil84]

 

[jpmcwjr]

Almost a half hour? Too long for me, but thanks for posting the link.

 

[DanWil84]

Almost a half hour? Too long for me, but thanks for posting the link.

In the discription there are timestamps per brand.

 

[kcghost]

I use the date of purchase unless I have information to the contrary.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Impossible to tell for certain. I date the tins I cellar based upon the date of purchase. If you purchase a relatively unpopular blend, you might get lucky and receive something with some age on it. If you purchase a popular blend, especially one that sells out promptly, it's most likely to be less than 3 to 6 months old since the package date.

 

[cigrmaster]

If the tin doesn't come with the date, I just use the date I got them in. If they are older that's a bonus for me as I will gouge your eyes out for older tins.

 

[Chasing Embers]

My bulk bags and most of my tins have date stamps on them.

 

[btp79]

Not sure if this applies to tobacco inventory, but unless they are specifically holding product to age or some got misplaced in a move or by accident, FIFO is the standard management approach. First In First Out.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Impossible to tell for certain. I date the tins I cellar based upon the date of purchase. If you purchase a relatively unpopular blend, you might get lucky and receive something with some age on it. If you purchase a popular blend, especially one that sells out promptly, it's most likely to be less than 3 to 6 months old since the package date.

I said impossible which I meant it is impossible to tell when you're shopping online unless the Retailer provides age information. You can determine the date on many brands/blends from the codes marked on the tins once you receive them.

Best thing is to build a cellar, after awhile, you'll have aged tobacco to smoke and you won't be stressing over these types of things.

 

[Grangerous]

There’s a lone tub of Half and Half at my local pharmacy that’s quite dusty. Been there for years.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

There’s a lone tub of Half and Half at my local pharmacy that’s quite dusty. Been there for years.

Has anyone tried an aged OTC blend, like the Half and Half above?

I'm curious what it does, if anything, for the flavor. I'd assume the anise topping would be less pronounced.

 

[mortonbriar]

There’s a lone tub of Half and Half at my local pharmacy that’s quite dusty. Been there for years.

Be careful what you put up on the internet, soon every small pharmacy will be ordering bags of dust online to sprinkle on each 'lone' tub of tobacco on their shelf!

 

[burleybreath]

Has anyone tried an aged OTC blend, like the Half and Half above?

I'm curious what it does, if anything, for the flavor. I'd assume the anise topping would be less pronounced.

I had a five-year-old tub of Carter Hall that impressed the hell out of me. It was better than just about anything else in recent memory. I have one upopened tub of the same approximate age left, and I wouldn't trade it for Penzance or any other non-obtainium. Regular CH I can take or leave, but these aged tubs tweaked the cockles of my gizzard real good. Your experience may vary, of course.

Oh. What does it do? Sweeter. Deeper. Richer. Reminded me a bit of the scent of EGR when you first open a fresh tub.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

I had a five-year-old tub of Carter Hall that impressed the hell out of me. It was better than just about anything else in recent memory. I have one upopened tub of the same approximate age left, and I wouldn't trade it for Penzance or any other non-obtainium. Regular CH I can take or leave, but these aged tubs tweaked the cockles of my gizzard real good. Your experience may vary, of course.

Oh. What does it do? Sweeter. Deeper. Richer. Reminded me a bit of the scent of EGR when you first open a fresh tub.

Thank you.

@Grangerous care to hook a brother of the broad up? If so, please PM me. If not, no worries at all.

 

[Aomalley27]

Has anyone tried an aged OTC blend, like the Half and Half above?

I'm curious what it does, if anything, for the flavor. I'd assume the anise topping would be less pronounced.

Yep; bought a tin of Walnut from a CVS about a year ago. They stopped producing Walnut in 2016 or 2017(????? Wish I could remember the exact date). Have since went looking for Kentucky Club and Middleton Cherry at all the local Walgreens and CVS (no luck so far).
* But Walnut isn’t an aromatic, it’s more a weird American-English blend, but quite tasty.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

Yep; bought a tin of Walnut from a CVS about a year ago. They stopped producing Walnut in 2016 or 2017(????? Wish I could remember the exact date). Have since went looking for Kentucky Club and Middleton Cherry at all the local Walgreens and CVS (no luck so far).

In my best Guinness marketing advertisement voice (with the index finger raised head high): Brilliant!