How long should I cellar?

[jjarrett88]

Fairly new to pipe smoking here. Been a cigar guy most of my life, but have recently made the jump to pipe, and I love it. I’ve been staying away from aromatics for the most part because I don’t find the flavor to be as pure. I’m looking to start cellaring, but I don’t know how long I should leave the tobacco before I smoke it. I would hate to waste my stash by smoking it too early. Any pointers?

 

[homeatsea]

I think you’ll find many here smoke straight away, others cellar for years, and most fall somewhere in between. It all really comes down to your preference. Personally, I smoke at least a couple of bowls from a tin or bulk straight away and then usually cellar it for some undetermined amount of time until I decide to come back to it. I find I like most of my tobaccos more after a month or two stashed, but the “improvement” to me is so slight that I don’t keep track of it or particularly care. I just don’t like to exclusively smoke one blend straight through as all of my tobacco orders contain more than a singular blend and I’m always chomping at the bit to try them all! And suddenly I have a small cellar of tobaccos that all have been sampled at some point in time and will be smoked to completion at some other point in time.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

When cellaring a certain blend, buy one to smoke and others to cellar. Keep the cellared blends in a different location than the ready to smoke blends.

 

[mikefu]

As a general rule, aromatics don’t age, they keep. English blends age for 3-5 years and then decline in flavor nuance. Oriental blends age well, and typically improve. Burley blends keep well and some improve, some just mellow. Virginia and VaPer blends age wonderfully, getting richer, darker, and sweeter in time. Anywhere from a few months to a few decades is doable with them. But as homeatsea and Anthony said, try some now, in a while, in a while longer, etc. Your palate is your only true guide to your preferences in taste, and what some consider improvement others consider undesirable change.

 

[haparnold]

Any blend is worth smoking fresh. Many or most will improve with a little age, but you won't be 'wasting' a blend to enjoy it fresh; you're simply trading off the possibility of a different experience smoking it with some age for the pleasure of smoking it relatively fresh today.

 

[ray47]

I don't intentionally age. I put blends in half pint mason jars and I use an apothecary jar for daily smoking. When the daily jar empties I open one of the mason jars and refill my daily jar. If I don't smoke a lot of a blend I guess you could say the mason jars are aging.

 

[bnichols23]

If there's a consensus to it, jj (not sure there is), it'd probably be Anthony's take on it. I don't cellar myself. Mike Thompson will tell you it's because my house is built on a slab, but....
Welcome, BTW! Glad to have you with us!
Bill

 

[jjarrett88]

You guys are awesome. I appreciate all of the input. I guess it’s safe to say that if you are jarring it, it won’t hurt it to open and check the flavor?

 

[haparnold]

Well, that depends. Let me let the great Greg Pease take it away:

Once the seal of the tin is broken, the delicate balance present in that little ecosystem is permanently altered. You can't go back! So, once that tin is open, either smoke its contents fairly quickly, or transfer it to air-tight containers, like bail-top canning jars. The aging process from this point on will be different, but the tobacco will remain in fine condition for your enjoyment as long as it's kept in good condition. (The plastic lids on my tins will keep the tobacco in find shape for anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months, depending on the ambient temperature and humidity. Just keep an eye on it!) This is the reason, by the way, that I cellar 2-oz tins, rather than the 8-oz ones. Once I open that tin, I want to smoke its contents as quickly as possible to get the maximum enjoyment from my years of patience. It's like a fine wine - cellar it for a long time, but drink it fairly quickly.

Source

 

[seanv]

Treat it like wine. Find some blends you enjoy and buy a handful of tins. Open at least one at least every year and take notes. By tasting the blends along the way you will have an idea of your preferred age for each specific blend you enjoy.

Don't stress about ageing or wasting certain blends. Just enjoy yourself.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes, stress is to be minimized!
And, note: Aging a blend will make it different. Not necessarily better, nor worse, but certainly different.
Enjoy!

 

[sablebrush52]

I guess it’s safe to say that if you are jarring it, it won’t hurt it to open and check the flavor?

Well, if you do, you'll interfere with the aging process, stop it dead in its tracks. It will start aging again, but the results won't be the same as if you left the jar alone.
Aging changes blends and whether that change is beneficial is up to the individual smoker to decide.
Some of the more traditional blenders, like Germain's or Samuel Gawith, or Gawith and Hoggarth perform considerable aging before their blends are released for consumption and they believe that their blends are ready to be smoked upon release.
Greg Pease says that the most profound effects of aging happen in the first two to five years. But many blends really don't change all that much. It just depends on the blend.

 

[alexnc]

Yes, treat it like wine. Cellar at least 20 minutes and then consume completely. If it’s something I know I like I buy a few to age. I only started cellaring recently, but have lots of 2 year old blends already that are improved over fresh.

 

[cigrmaster]

jjarrett88, concentrate on the following blends, learn to cube cut and fold and stuff flakes. Mac Baren Old Dark Fired, Capstan Blue Flake, Escudo and Savinelli Doblone d'Oro. Give it a few moths and you will be an official flake lover. Read up on cube cut and fold and stuff flakes.

 

[foggymountain]

Depends on the tobacco. English type blends are best at 7 years. Virginias just a little while.

 

[deckpiper]

Well, that depends. Let me let the great Greg Pease take it away:

...This is the reason, by the way, that I cellar 2-oz tins, rather than the 8-oz ones. Once I open that tin, I want to smoke its contents as quickly as possible to get the maximum enjoyment from my years of patience. It's like a fine wine - cellar it for a long time, but drink it fairly quickly.

Aw, crap. I just ordered my first 8 oz. containers ever, thinking I could cellar them in jars without affecting them. I don't smoke quickly, so maybe this was a mistake.

 

[tkcolo]

HERE ARE MY MISTAKES:

1. I jarred up bulk and 8oz in big jars early on a lot. It seemed like a much better deal. It was not, from an aging perspective. I buy only tins now.
2. I bought way too much stuff that doesn't really improve with age.
3. I also bought a guys cellar that was a bunch of open jars from 5-7 years ago. It was definitely not aged. It was just dull. Not bad, but not like a fresh cracked 7 year old tin of FVF. THAT was freaking divine!
4. I opened way too many jars trying new stuff. It is inevitable figuring out what you like, and what you need to buy more of. So now, I feel like I need to get through it before I open new stuff. But I moved on too quickly from stuff I really liked at the time. Once I moved on, that stuff was not as good. I think the joy is just in a new blend for me. I say this like I should have just smoke one tin a a time. Had I done that, I wouldn't have ordered a bunch of McClelland favorites just before they crapped out.
My advise to seek out the average favorites of respected members and stock up on tins. If you end up opening one and not liking it, someone will trade you for the unopened tins. I don't think I would ever traded for jarred stuff, unless I believe they jarred stuff and didn't touch it. If it is a sealed tin, you are golden!

 

[mso489]

I admire those with well-considered plans on aging blends. Most of my aging of tobacco occurs because I tend to order somewhat more than I smoke. The results understandably are all over the place. What I open but don't smoke right away I usually jar. I do think many blends and single-leaf tobaccos are forgiving. Even a forgotten pouch often is smokable and even apparently improved. Aromatics don't typically improve with age, but sometimes the flavor fading with good base tobacco improves the taste from my point of view. If you can get a plan going and stick with it, that's good. If you don't, you may do fine. Jar what you open and keep for a while; in general that helps. I just had a bowl of some tobacco I rubbed out in a crockery bowl a month or more ago and it was excellent, really.

 

[youdancer]

I really love the alchemical aspect of these aging questions...
So judging from the GL Pease quote above, there is a 'different' aging process going on in the original tin from any aging that occurs once that tobacco is transferred to a ball jar or other airtight container.

Can anyone elaborate on how it is different.

He almost seems to be suggesting that after you break that initial seal the best you can do is preserve that tobacco in the state it was in when you opened the tin.

I'd love to know more about this because I've made it a habit to open square tins - MacBaren VA, Capstan, St Bruno and jar them up. But maybe I should have been keeping them in their original tins, even though their seals are more questionable than the round tins.
The other side of this is that I have a bunch of Macbaren Syrian and Dunhill BB1938 that I don't really want to mellow any more than they are now. Can I then jar these up and stop any aging?
Any thoughts would be welcome

 

[bradical]

5 years