How Are Your Cellared Aromatics Holding Up?

[rmbittner]

For those of you who enjoy aromatics enough to cellar them, I’m curious how they are faring for you over time. I realize that aromatics don’t typically improve with age, due to the added flavorings/sauces. But I’m wondering how they change. How does your favorite blend taste to you after five years, ten years in the cellar? Is it less flavorful? Is it more tobacco-forward, less “aromatic”-forward? Or does it taste the same to you across the years?

I’m not much of an aromatic smoker; out of 50+ cellared blends, I don’t have a single aromatic put away at this point. (So far, the only one I’d want to always keep on hand is gone: Erik Nording’s Hunter’s Blend: Labrador, which had been distributed by McClelland.)

To be clear: I’m not talking about aging aromatics, per se. I’m just talking about cellaring them so that you are ensured a supply for years to come. Ten years on, is a cellared aromatic the same blend to you…or does time take a toll?

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Mine are no more than 2.5 years so can't comment on my cellar. I've had good luck with aged aros I've purchased, but not enough experience to suggest any advice.

Just dropped in to say I really enjoy the Nording blends - Pointer, Retriever and Beagle my favorites, maybe because they describe all of the dogs I've had, lol, but very nice and easy going blends.

 

[mso489]

The flavoring in aromatic blends does fade over time, leaving whatever quality there is in the base tobacco. If this is a good Virginia or burley, the fading flavoring may actually improve the blend if you prefer tobacco forward flavor anyway. But in my experience, for the full aromatic experience, smoking it fairly fresh gives you the full taste of the blend.

 

[rmbittner]

The flavoring in aromatic blends does fade over time, leaving whatever quality there is in the base tobacco. If this is a good Virginia or burley, the fading flavoring may actually improve the blend if you prefer tobacco forward flavor anyway.

That would have been my expectation… Which suggests that the best compromise—if you’d like to have a guaranteed supply of enjoyable blends—would be to focus on storing up more expensive aromatics, rather than less-expensive bulks.

My thinking is that a more expensive blend should have better-quality leaf in it. So if the aromatic elements do fade a bit with time, you’ll at least still have a solid foundation of quality, softer-flavored tobaccos to enjoy, while a cheaper blend might just fade into flavorlessness.

 

[telescopes]

My dad's aromatic blend is primarily Sutliff Virginia Slices, some Maryland and some Turkish leaf mixed in with a bit of Sutliff Dark Cherry. Three of the components definitely get better or hold up with age.

 

[5star]

I vacuum seal my aromatics. I have some 7yr old Lane BCA that hasn’t changed from what it was when first vac sealed in a mason jar.

Mac

 

[trudger]

Mac Baren Vanilla Flake (2017+) and Peterson University Flake (square tins) continue to improve greatly. Really the only true aro’s I have cellared, unless you want to start the whole “is it an aromatic”.

 

[telescopes]

I am in a bit of a bind because I have many aromatics that I do enjoy -preferably my own blend to say the least - and I celler for the time when getting tobacco will be expensive or impossible. I celler them with 12 years in mind. The other tobaccos that age better I have a shelf life expectation of about 15-20 years. Of course, we will see. That shelf life expectation might need to be more like Rocky and exceed its fighting expectations, LOL.

 

[Peterson314]

The only aromatic I cellar on purpose is BCA, and that’s because I came across an old forgotten jar of the stuff and it was just sublime.

Others age because I keep them in the jar and skip over them. I generally like my aromatics on the fresher side.

However, when I tried Autumn Evening for the first time, I was overwhelmed by it. It was like smoking straight pancake syrup. I jarred it up and tried it 3 years later and I was at least able to see what people liked about it. But, it wasn’t for me.

 

[rmbittner]

When I tried Autumn Evening for the first time… it was like smoking straight pancake syrup.

You say this as if it‘s a bad thing…

 

[fireground_piper]

I have some from 2018 and 2019 that are all fine. They either come from the house of Mac Baren or the house of C&D and they’ve mostly been jarred. A few linger in tins.

I finished 2019 English chocolate and 2018 jolly old st. Nicholas late last year, both still good.

 

[Peter Turbo]

I have some Peterson Founders Choice from 2015 and Rattray's Bag Pipers Dream from 2017, for both the toppings are still very much there and in your face. On the nose when getting the aroma from the tin and in the smoke.

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

I've got an almost two year old 8oz Ball jar of Devil's Holiday that I, much to my shame, pop open and just take a big whiff of every once in a while. When I smoke it rather than just huffing it it's just as good as it's always been.

 

[kcghost]

The last aromatic I have bought was before cellaring was even a twinkle in you daddy's eye.

 

[sablebrush52]

This reminds me that I have a jar of Danish Delight, an aromatic that was supposedly produced by McClelland for tobacconists bulk sales, that's over 10 years old. I'll dig it out and see how it's fared. It was, for years, one of the few tobaccos I smoked.

 

[anotherbob]

terribly they keep getting burnt away.

 

[Scully]

I've mainly smoked aromatics over forty years or so, and I find that unless you have them "sealed up like a frog's a** underwater", they will begin to lose the infused flavors after about 5 years.

 

[NomadOrb]

In my experience, the tobacco forward blends cellar best. Firedance Flake is great fresh, but I have some with 6 years age that is amazing.

 

[shermnatman]

I vacuum seal my aromatics. I have some 7yr old Lane BCA that hasn’t changed from what it was when first vac sealed in a mason jar.

Mac

I had the exact opposite experience with Lane Ltd. BCA left for years in a sealed Mason jar.

It wasn't 'cellared' for the purpose of ensuring supply nor for aging; but rather, it simply migrated to the way back of my tabaks which were long out-of-rotation.

When I open this jar up - to a very satisfying unsealing hiss and pop with the removal of the flat disc part of the lid - I discovered the BCA had turned into a blob of weird gelatinous goop!

It was fairly disturbing to ponder what that was all about. - Sherm Natman

 

[Briar Tuck]

I sure hope they hold up well, because I'm pretty much forced to cellar now with the impending ban on all flavored tobacco here in Oregon.