Got My Cellar, Now What?

[Old_Newby]

I am about 6 months into my journey but taking a week or 2 away from pipe due to some salty mouth causing bad flavors. Believe to be from too much Latakia (See my other post).

During this time off I have cleaned all my pipes, organized, jarred every bulk or open tin, labeled, and have them organized into bins per category.

As far as my cellar and aging it now what do I do? Do I just ignore them until I smoke them, or should I be opening, drying, jarring again, etc. Are there secrets to aging to make them better and if so does work for all blend types? I would love to hear your tips especially if it help improve flavor or sweetness.

 

[seanv]

Leave it alone until you smoke them. In the meantime, keep buying more

 

[Streeper541]

Buy tobacco, date it, and put it away for future use. It's that simple.

You can leave it in the original container or jar it. It's personal choice. Good luck on building up your cellar.

 

[Servant King]

I can't add anything that the two posts above don't completely cover.

There you have it!

 

[verporchting]

And that’s a wrap folks ?

 

[MattRVA]

You might want to start an inventory list if you haven’t already.

 

[seanv]

Also should mention that it is important to keep your cellar in a temperature controlled area of your home that has limited humidity fluctuations. Keep out of direct sunlight as well. Typically your basement is the best location.

 

[JOHN72]

Maybe you need to enlarge the cellar, never say my cellar is finished. Kidding................

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Ignore the jars until you smoke them. Only thing i would do is buy more of your favorite to stock the cellar - especially if your favorites go on sale! Also, I'd entertain the storing thread. I'm stoving some LNF and LTF today myself, first time trying. Many have claimed it adds a sweetness to the Virginias and applaud its results. Figured why not try with a few ounces of each. Lastly, be sure to date any jars or tins in your cellar so you can track the time of age on them.
Enjoy! The TAD is about to get real.

 

[kcghost]

What @senv and @streeper54 said.

 

[clynch]

Sounds more like its the journey, not the destination. Keep buying, enjoying, and cellar after the taste.

 

[Chasing Embers]

You can leave it in the original container

Unless its those decorative 100g tins from Solani or Rattrays.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Got My Cellar, Now What?

Start smoking it.

 

[verporchting]

Start smoking it.

This

 

[logs]

Also should mention that it is important to keep your cellar in a temperature controlled area of your home that has limited humidity fluctuations. Keep out of direct sunlight as well. Typically your basement is the best location.

That's no fun. Interesting things can happen with heat fluctuations. Some guys go with the summer-time garage or hot attic method of accelerating fermentation with VA blends. If you're game for experimenting, a few tins on dashboard of your car is not a bad place to start.

 

[erhardt85]

I try to only open my jars and tins when im ready to smoke severak bowls of that blend, but I dont always succeed. Much of my cellar is untoucyed for several years, and I look forward to digging into those aged blends. Once opened (if aged), I dont really follow those rules anymore and ill dip into it at will.

 

[seanv]

That's no fun. Interesting things can happen with heat fluctuations. Some guys go with the summer-time garage or hot attic method of accelerating fermentation with VA blends. If you're game for experimenting, a few tins on dashboard of your car is not a bad place to start.

I am far from that adventurous

 

[FurCoat]

The first couple of posts basically covered it. That said, I just spent a few hours a day for a week transferring from jars to mylar. Hated opening up those jars, about 100, but it had to be done. The jars are being returned to the food chain. With a possibility of food shortages, I figured the jars would serve me best filled with edible contents.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Most tobacco isn't going to see significant changes until 2 years and 5 years is even better. You're going to end up chatting your tail unless you bite the bullet and let some amount sit.

The math is reasonably simple. If you want to only be smoking 2 year old tobacco at some point, you need to cellar a 2 year supply and then regularly be restocking with new purchases. You want to smoke 5 year old tobacco, same story, build up a 5 year supply and then continuously restock.

From time to time, you'll see members here selling some aged tobacco. You can accelerate your process by purchasing some of that. Or go to places like Pipestud's site where he regularly has aged tobacco to sell.

The good news is that I liked every blend I'm cellaring when it was fresh. I just happen to like the majority of it more when it has age. Point is, you're not suffering tremendously by smoking mostly fresh tobacco while you wait for your cellar to agree.

 

[logs]

I am far from that adventurous

I was like that too. But with a decent surplus of tobacco you get less squeamish. Then once you start experimenting with tins you realize that a lot advice people give about cellaring is terribly fussy. It's actually pretty hard to screw up a tin of tobacco. Play with a few tins, you'll see.