Fresh vs Jarred

[elvergun]

I smoked a bowl of Scottish Cake from a jar (2017) I had not touched in ages and I absolutely loved it. It was so good that I told my friend that has 5 tins of the stuff in his cellar (also from 2017). He opened a tin in the morning and I went over to his house in the afternoon to smoke some of it with him. We speculated that it was probably not a good idea to smoke from a tin that had just been opened, but we took a chance.

Man, his Scottish Cake was tasteless. A night and day difference between his and mine. We will try again in a couple of weeks.

Did he just happen to open a crappy tin or does a week or two of resting in a jar really makes such a big difference?

I'm asking because we never smoke from newly opened tins, so I/we don't really know.

 

[ashdigger]

It depends. Which is a terrible answer. Sorry.

Here’s an example I noticed.

Squadron Leader. Out of the tin fresh is fantastic. Aged loses its edge.

Bulk Squadron Leader needs to age for a bit.

Also in my opinion Orientals don’t benefit from aging like Virginias and VaPers do.

But if you ask 20 people you’ll get 32 different answers

 

[didimauw]

I won't touch fresh tobacco. It all tastes hot and gross to me.

Needs dry time

 

[elvergun]

Needs dry time

Dry time or rest time...or both?

 

[didimauw]

Dry time or rest time...or both?

Probably both but mostly dry time. I get much more flavors with dry tobacco.

I am a bit extreme though, as most of my blends have dried out months ago, and I still enjoy them like that. I pre dry them, and then put them in big fancy jars with bad seals.

I've been trying more fresh blends lately, to no avail. I just prefer them dry.

 

[SBC]

Depends on the tobacco.
It's well known that LBF is startlingly better with each year in the jar, up to about 5 years.
Whereas, as I was just telling another forum member the other day, GH No. 7 Broken Flake is amazing fresh, but gets very dull after some time in the jar.

 

[BingBong]

I like FVF or Cabbies either fresh and aged in a jar. Germain's SLF fresh .. meh... after some weeks in a jar, nice, after some years in a jar, jackpot. The C&D blends I've tried get much better once the can has been open a few days. Solani ABF, fresh from the tin please.

So it depends on the blend.

 

[Waning Embers]

Aging ruins tobacco for me as it is no longer as the blender intended but at least I have tobacco now that I can no longer justify the cost.

 

[anotherbob]

I won't touch fresh tobacco. It all tastes hot and gross to me.

Needs dry time

me too almost. I open a tin at least a week before I plan to smoke it. I do have the first bowl which is never full flavored if I am honest. Usually not bad but flat.

 

[andrew]

I find it's a similar analogy as to wine, snuff, whisky, etc, once you crack the tin, just like a bottle, it's exposed to air and it starts to "open up". I find mcclellend Virginia's to be the best example of this personally. A freshly opened tin is dull and flavorless, after 2 weeks it's a tangy wonderful smoke

 

[Oddball]

Like others have said, I have found it depends on the tobacco. Some stuff is dynamite out of the tin, and some stuff has to have a jar nap.

 

[Sparcdude]

I am a bit extreme though, as most of my blends have dried out months ago, and I still enjoy them like that. I pre dry them, and then put them in big fancy jars with bad seals.

I’m in this camp, too. I find the taste more enjoyable when dried out almost to dust. It may smoke a little hotter if you don’t pace yourself, but it’s what I like.

And it’s also why Molto Dolce when into the bin - that stuff NEVER dries out!

 

[Skippy Piper]

It's all rather subjective, but in my personal opinion any tobacco—whether it's a freshly opened tin or a bulk blend—needs at least 2 weeks in a jar to bring out it's full flavor profile and aroma. Whenever I get a new tin or bulk blend in the mail the tobacco gets transferred to a Ball jar immediately upon arrival and I don't touch it until it's sat in the jar for two weeks or more. I've universally found tobacco fresh out of a tin or bulk bag to be much less flavorful than when it's had just a couple weeks to breathe in a jar.

There are some blends that benefit from longer jarring, like bright Virginias where the longer you give them in a jar the more they mellow and smooth out (I like to give them at least 6 months jarred) and weirdly I find Lane's aromatics to have the most intense flavor after about a year in a jar; which is definitely counter to the commonly held belief that aromatics only worsen with age. That's how I like 'em best though!

 

[elvergun]

It's all rather subjective, but in my personal opinion any tobacco—whether it's a freshly opened tin or a bulk blend—needs at least 2 weeks in a jar to bring out it's full flavor profile and aroma.

Well, it seems like the consensus is that we should have waited a week or two. We should have waited after all.

I'll report back in a couple of weeks.