Found Some Crispy Survivors

[LotusEater]

Do you smoke the orientals straight? I'd just mix it with other tobacco and call it good.

I haven’t tried Drama Reserve or Samsun and probably won’t have another opportunity so I’d prefer to sample them as the blender intended

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Do you smoke the orientals straight? I'd just mix it with other tobacco and call it good.

I smoke them straight on occasion.

 

[LotusEater]

I smoke them straight on occasion.

I want to at least know what they taste like before mixing them. To be clear - I really enjoy oriental blends and oriental forward English blends but I couldn’t tell you the difference between Izmir and Samsun or any other varietal.

 

[craig61a]

I’ve heard breathing through the pipe for a while before lighting it will help moisten the tobacco, too.

Yes, blowing a few breaths through the bowl will rehydrate the tobacco if it’s a bit on the dry side.

But if it has been sitting for years in a tin that isn’t airtight it will dry thoroughly, and taste harsh.

Even though leaf feels crispy to the touch on the outside, the leaf can retain some moisture internally.

The oils in tobacco can remain in good condition for quite a while longer. Provided the tobacco is stored in proper conditions. Heat, overly dry conditions, exposure to the sun, will accelerate the drying of the oils. Once that happens, you have mummy dust.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I’ve heard breathing through the pipe for a while before lighting it will help moisten the tobacco, too.

It will help, but doing it right can be nasty- you have to breathe down the bowl not the stem.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

It will help, but doing it right can be nasty- you have to breathe down the bowl not the stem.

Gotcha.

 

[krizzose]

I recently rehydrated some Yenidje Supreme that I very carelessly let dry out. It's smoking just fine now.

Classic Samsun is by far my favorite of the Grand Oriental series, and my favorite VaOr for that matter. Superb stuff

 

[LotusEater]

Update - I ended up rehydrating them with the damp paper towel method and all three came back to life. The EMP was really dried out and probably lost a little something but the Grand Orientals came back really nicely. @ krizzose Now I’m wishing I had a few more tins of the Classic Samsun - it is as you said, “superb”