First experience with aged tobacco

[papawhisky]

After listening to some of the recent podcasts and learning about pipestud's shop, I surfed over to his site and picked up a few tins of 15 YO tobacco and a lovely Savinelli estate churchwarden. (Great service BTW!) I popped the tin of 2005 Pease Barbary Coast first. Tin note was fantastic, deep rich raisins, slightly winey, and a touch of vinegar. (I knew some magic voodoo had happened as the tin was every so slightly .) The smoke was absolutely sublime. Next I tried a bowl of 2005 Charatan Light Aromatic. Again, a beautiful smoke - tobacco forward with just a touch of vanilla.
All in all a wonderful night. The wife kept commenting on how great everything smelled. I'm a convert ::

 

[ashdigger]

Excellent, now you have to smoke it before the oxygen destroys it. 15 yr old should give you a week or so. I smoked older and it turns to mummy dust as its drying out.

 

[papawhisky]

Challenge accepted! LOL

 

[jeff540]

Maybe it depends on the blend. Coincidentally enough I popped open a 15-year old can of McClelland made Celebrated Sovereign I bought new in 2003 this past September. It was a favorite back in the early 2000s but fell out of favor once I found VA Flakes. Anyway, it's still OK at 15 years but not vastly improved. And being kept in the original now open container for 6 months had brought the moisture level down just so that it's almost smokeable directly from the tin.
On the other hand, I've had the pleasure of smoking very well aged Samuel Gawith Balkan Flake, which was sublime.