Just over 350 pounds total myself and more than half is C&D/Pease.
Cornell and Diehl/GL Pease Blends and Mold (Cellaring Potential Input)
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These kinds of things get magnified on the forums so it usually appears to be a bigger problem than it actually is. Like @chasingembers said, 2016 was a bad year for C&D as far as mold is concerned but they have really corrected the problem as much as they can.
This piqued my curiosity so I checked my spread sheet. C&D plus GLP comprise a bit over 80 lbs. You seem very uptight. If reading the forums are going to cause you to be paranoid, I'd cut the internet cable. The reality is, the incidence rate of mold is 1% or less. I wish I could operate with 99% odds on everything. You eat and breath more mold spores each day than your likely to ever ingest smoking pipe tobacco. Relax and enjoy it.
Im definitely a little paranoid when it comes to things I love, that I cannot hide! Nevertheless you all have for the most part assuaged any concerns I have. Truly I appreciate the insights from people undoubtedly more tobacco-wisened than I!
Come on man don't be a pussy. SG will mold, Dunhill will mold. Esoterica will mold. Basically anything short of Captain Black will mold.
Embrace the mold!
I can respect this notion, however its more pragmatic to minimize ones risk when it pertains to an investment. I can buy one kinda tobacco that is more susceptible to molding or i can buy one that is less so and be more assured, even if its only slightly, that the investment is safe and sound
From what I read years ago, Greg doesnt add any PG or other humectants/mold inhibitors in his blends. There may be some already in it when C&D buys it from their sources but Greg doesn't add any. But maybe thats changed.
Seems like a nay, then! Though you seem to be a gl pease fanboy based on some other threads I've seen you in. Would you say this detracts from its cellaring potential, despite your fondness for Pease?
I think it's a mistake to think that Pease doesn't considering cellaring a priority. He talks about it all the time on his website. It's probably Pease more than any other blender who championed cellaring and popularized it. I don't recall anyone talking about cellaring back before GLP became prominent. If he doesn't use mold inhibitor it's because he doesn't like the side effects on the taste and burn properties of tobacco, not because he doesn't care about cellaring.
Truthfully I think you're looking for something that doesn't exist (i.e. top of the line pipe tobacco that cellars well and will never mold). You're either going to have to take the same risk that the rest of us take or stick with the OTC blends.
Truthfully I think you're looking for something that doesn't exist (i.e. top of the line pipe tobacco that cellars well and will never mold). You're either going to have to take the same risk that the rest of us take or stick with the OTC blends.
I smoke and cellar Pease's blends.
Signed. GLP Fanboy.
wtf and smh
Signed. GLP Fanboy.
wtf and smh
I can respect this notion, however its more pragmatic to minimize ones risk when it pertains to an investment. I can buy one kinda tobacco that is more susceptible to molding or i can buy one that is less so and be more assured, even if its only slightly, that the investment is safe and sound
You're smoking tobacco on one hand, calculating risks of mold on another. Is it just me that finds that humorous? The most mold risk free tobacco you can buy are cigarettes. I'm guessing five manufacturers make 80% or more of the pipe tobacco distributed in the USA. I guarantee you all of them have had a mold issue to some degree at one time or another. C&D had an issue with a few blends one year and you want to take them out of consideration? Seriously?
Perhaps pipe smoking isn't for you.
C&D is committed to providing as natural a tobacco as possible, which translates to adding as small an amount of mold inhibitor as possible. As has been stated earlier in this thread, their mold issues have for the most part centered around their red Virginias. After their disastrous 2016 release of their small batch Carolina Red Flake, where the entire shipment got recalled because of widespread mold contamination, they've attempted to adjust the level of mold inhibitors. Reports of mold issues have declined since then, though not gone away. Their mold issues also seem to be related to specific blends as well. And other brands also experience mold, though not as prominently as C&D.
My issues with C&D had to do with tin rot, something that occurred with several Pease blends. Failure rates on those old tins of troubled Pease blends like Haddo's, Bohemian Scandal, Renaissance, Cairo, and one or two others reported to me, was close to 50%. I opened up and jarred tins dated as late as 2011 and found corrosion forming at the solder joints. So while I interrupted the aging process (oh boo hoo) I secured the tobacco from becoming spoiled.
I love some of the Pease blends and C&D makes a couple of my favorite blends, Bijou and Yorktown. Otherwise, I don't cellar C&D because I don't like their blends. I'm 90% a Virginia and VaPer Smoker and I don't find Virginias to be C&D's strength. My cellar has more Samuel Gawith, HU, K&K, McClelland, Germain's, MacBaren, RO Series, etc. What I do cellar of C&D is jarred since I don't trust their tins for the long haul.
My issues with C&D had to do with tin rot, something that occurred with several Pease blends. Failure rates on those old tins of troubled Pease blends like Haddo's, Bohemian Scandal, Renaissance, Cairo, and one or two others reported to me, was close to 50%. I opened up and jarred tins dated as late as 2011 and found corrosion forming at the solder joints. So while I interrupted the aging process (oh boo hoo) I secured the tobacco from becoming spoiled.
I love some of the Pease blends and C&D makes a couple of my favorite blends, Bijou and Yorktown. Otherwise, I don't cellar C&D because I don't like their blends. I'm 90% a Virginia and VaPer Smoker and I don't find Virginias to be C&D's strength. My cellar has more Samuel Gawith, HU, K&K, McClelland, Germain's, MacBaren, RO Series, etc. What I do cellar of C&D is jarred since I don't trust their tins for the long haul.
Pretty sure C&D solved that problem when they changed their tin design. The current style of 2oz C&D tins have no seam whatsoever and are completely smooth inside and out.
Larger sizes I'm not sure about. I have a Druquer & Sons 100 gram tin from last year that has an obvious seam with a brown stain on the inside. Doesn't look like rust but not sure how well it would last over a number of years.
If you have any friends that work in a hospital or in research, you might have them irradiate your tins. This service is also available on a fee basis from certain companies that hospitals outsource the service to. Alternatively you might try "baking" your tins. All of this, of course, if the possibility bothers you enough and if you consider your investment in tins worth the trouble/expense.
Lol, I appreciate the candor, however if I put alot of stock in a certain type of tobaccos predisposition to growing mold it is because I am in my mid twenties and wish to properly prepare in the event that the whole industry is dragged down by regulations or otherwise. I am not banking on it, just preparing. I have no delusions of having enough or relying on a tobaccos ability to weather 6-7 decades of time and still consistently be smokable. but just wanna have a reasonable amount for the foreseeable future (which I have mostly and still am in the process of acquiring). It has been amusing being called a pussy and a pipesmoking-inadequate though
.Thanks Sable, its reassuring to hear that they have improved on their mold inhibitors since for me GL Pease is more accessible than some on your list...I will watch the 8oz tins intently and going forward am probably going to chiefly purchase the 2oz, if only because they are more manageable. 50% is a staggering percentage, which only further deepens my prejudice towards the larger tins. I too favor Virginias and as much as I agree that other blending houses VA's are a touch richer, I enjoy C & D's for their pure smokability. They are brainless middle of the road virginias that do not excel in any one area, however still have more characteristic va sweetness than say a Stokkebye flake and are easier to get lit than Samuel Gawiths offerings. When I first started smoking pipes (7 years ago?) I was exclusively interested in aromatics. Man do I kick myself sometimes for not having tried McClelland back then. And also kick myself for having stocked up on pounds of aromatics that In order to smoke I have to blend with something else...usually a cheap oriental/va blend. The only Russ VA I have experienced is Firestorm and found it to be too deep and cinnamony for my taste buds, which is a problem I have found with Sutliff vas in general.
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