How Much of Your Favorite Blend is Cellared?

[HeavyLeadBelly]

As someone who seemingly has extra TAD as though to make up for a lack of PAD, I knew that I had to draw up a plan in order to build up a cellar I feel confident in, and not leave either my marriage or my bank account with the short end of the stick. It has been a process, but with logic, discipline, and a little bit of help from this thread, I managed to basically accomplish my goal over the course of the last 4+ years (though most seriously within the last year).

Would I like to have more tins of my absolute favorite, Drew Estate Gatsby Luxury Flake? Certainly. But that's a tall order, given that DE only made blends between 2013 and 2017, and I simply don't have the budget for extravagances like that. I built my cellar with a focus on bulk bargains, and secondarily on shrewd trades. I doubt I'll ever be someone who only smokes a couple blends--I love the variety out there way too much for that, at least at this time in my life.

I made sure to get 16 oz. bags of a core group; mostly VAs and VaPers, with a few aromatics and a couple Englishes in there as well. I live in a small house with minimal storage space, so I've learned to favor bulk over either tins or jars, chiefly out of necessity, but it has worked out in a way that I feel good about. My cellar currently would clock in at about two dozen pounds, give or take, and even if I tripled my current 0-5 bowls per week intake, I'd likely be set for life. I plan on using the upcoming holiday sales to round things out a bit more, and then after that, I do think my work would be for the most part done.

Without doing an official weigh-in, the largest amount of any one blend I have is probably Sutliff Balkan Sobranie Original Mix Match, with a 1 lb. bag and perhaps another half pound in a 32 oz. Ball jar. My largest total that is exclusive to tins would probably be Orlik Golden Showers Sliced (sorry Jesse), at three big tins, one small, and a 4 oz. Ball jar with a few flakes still left. I've got lots of blends that I have only one or two tins of, and I'm fine with only that. I'll sprinkle additions in here and there so long as my wallet and the current fascist tendencies within California's public oppression campaign allow me to, but even with the latest STG news making the rounds, I'm not freaked out. I'm simply glad I took the task seriously, and stocked up when I can/could.

Now, so long as I can still get pipe cleaners, I should be set...

I can relate. My cellar, which is around 35lbs, is fairly wider than deep but that’s because I do enjoy many blends and can’t nail down a few I live. I guess I have over 2lbs of Matcha Victorian which I think is one of the better bills out there though admiringly I’m not a huge English smoker.

 

[Pipke]

I've stocked a few pounds of Pegasus and various blending components. I also stock a few tins of more boutique pipe tobacco. These are mainly stocked as a hedge against rising prices. I'll be retiring at the end of the decade, and might not be willing to, or be able to afford to purchase certain tobaccos. It will be nice to pull out a tin of something I laid away years ago. If my favorites disappear and I smoke up my stash, then I will be left with happy memories. Such is the way of all things.

I live in the USA, which produces some of the best tobacco in the world. Blends may disappear, but unless the entire US tobacco farming industry collapses and goes the way of the coal mines it is likely that there will always be excellent tobaccos to be found here. I already enjoy tinkering with making small quantities of my own blends, specializing in spicing ordinary cheap tobacco with components like dark fired or perique to give them some depth, strength, and flavor.

No worries...

 

[jpmcwjr]

A 50g tin only lasts for two smokes with my pipes so tins just aren't economical. Most of my cellar is bulk but I do have a dresser full of tins. I pack one pound into a pint jar with a caulk gun and have hundreds of them. Due to an online stalker incident I seldom do home interior photos but here is some of it.

Damn! Was that stalker a participant here at one time?

How did you get rid of him? At least I hope you did.

 

[sablebrush52]

A 50g tin only lasts for two smokes with my pipes so tins just aren't economical. Most of my cellar is bulk but I do have a dresser full of tins. I pack one pound into a pint jar with a caulk gun and have hundreds of them. Due to an online stalker incident I seldom do home interior photos but here is some of it.

View attachment 347593View attachment 347594View attachment 347595

Help me understand this. You compress a pound of tobacco into a pint jar. How do you get it out? Blasting caps? Diamond tipped drill?

Figuring out a cellar is also a matter of rate of consumption. On average, a 50g tin lasts me about a week, sometimes more. I'm guessing that I have upwards of 120 pounds, though it could be more, which is way more than enough to last me until I fall off the twig.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Damn! Was that stalker a participant here at one time?

How did you get rid of him? At least I hope you did.

It was on an RC (radio control) forum. I got the authorities involved and changed my online identity.

 

[Chasing Embers]

How do you get it out?

Knife blade.

 

[Snook]

As someone who seemingly has extra TAD as though to make up for a lack of PAD, I knew that I had to draw up a plan in order to build up a cellar I feel confident in, and not leave either my marriage or my bank account with the short end of the stick. It has been a process, but with logic, discipline, and a little bit of help from this thread, I managed to basically accomplish my goal over the course of the last 4+ years (though most seriously within the last year).

Would I like to have more tins of my absolute favorite, Drew Estate Gatsby Luxury Flake? Certainly. But that's a tall order, given that DE only made blends between 2013 and 2017, and I simply don't have the budget for extravagances like that. I built my cellar with a focus on bulk bargains, and secondarily on shrewd trades. I doubt I'll ever be someone who only smokes a couple blends--I love the variety out there way too much for that, at least at this time in my life.

I made sure to get 16 oz. bags of a core group; mostly VAs and VaPers, with a few aromatics and a couple Englishes in there as well. I live in a small house with minimal storage space, so I've learned to favor bulk over either tins or jars, chiefly out of necessity, but it has worked out in a way that I feel good about. My cellar currently would clock in at about two dozen pounds, give or take, and even if I tripled my current 0-5 bowls per week intake, I'd likely be set for life. I plan on using the upcoming holiday sales to round things out a bit more, and then after that, I do think my work would be for the most part done.

Without doing an official weigh-in, the largest amount of any one blend I have is probably Sutliff Balkan Sobranie Original Mix Match, with a 1 lb. bag and perhaps another half pound in a 32 oz. Ball jar. My largest total that is exclusive to tins would probably be Orlik Golden Showers Sliced (sorry Jesse), at three big tins, one small, and a 4 oz. Ball jar with a few flakes still left. I've got lots of blends that I have only one or two tins of, and I'm fine with only that. I'll sprinkle additions in here and there so long as my wallet and the current fascist tendencies within California's public oppression campaign allow me to, but even with the latest STG news making the rounds, I'm not freaked out. I'm simply glad I took the task seriously, and stocked up when I can/could.

Now, so long as I can still get pipe cleaners, I should be set...

Oh god... is there some news about pipe cleaners that I don't know about?

 

[karam]

A 50g tin only lasts for two smokes with my pipes

Honest question: don't you find that the blend changes a lot through the process of being smoked? If I can tell a difference when smoking a typical bowl (about 2.5-3 grams) then it should for sure happen to you?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Honest question: don't you find that the blend changes a lot through the process of being smoked? If I can tell a difference when smoking a typical bowl (about 2.5-3 grams) then it should for sure happen to you?

Not at all.

 

[Homer]

Currently just over 70 pounds of a favorite in ball jars. I go through around 1-2 pounds of tobacco per month.

Please show us your cellar.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Please show us your cellar.

As I stated in another thread and several times over the many years I've been here, due to an online stalker incident I rarely post photos inside my home. What I can show was already posted earlier in this thread.

Post in thread 'How Much of Your Favorite Blend is Cellared?' How Much of Your Favorite Blend is Cellared? :: Pipe Tobacco Discussion - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/how-much-of-your-favorite-blend-is-cellared.107192/post-37116578

 

[KruegerFlap]

I have just over three pounds of C&D Haunted Bookshop, which is my favorite blend. I will continue to buy it by the pound until I have at least ten pounds on hand. You never know what may happen in the future to cause your favorite blend to disappear; brands are bought like Mac Baren, or more often than that, a component tobacco of the blend becomes unobtainable which causes it's demise or worse, a poor substitute that changes it into something you don't like. Stock up on what you like as you are able because everyday brings a new challenge for we pipe smokers.

 

[Snook]

Yeah, I'm starting to see that. I've never panic-bought tobacco before, and I never gave much thought to how much I had on hand. That's all changed now...

 

[Elric]

I have a pretty wide taste in daily smokes so my "favorite" changes frequently. I have 2-3 lbs in many blends I very much enjoy for a total cellar of 75 lbs. I've been paring back on blends I'm no longer in love with (aka perique blends) and buying others so I don't see total cellar weight changing much.

 

[telescopes]

There are a few blends - mostly experiments - I may consider dumping. this will free up a few jars for proven ones I enjoy.

 

[Michigan_Bill]

Yeah, I'm starting to see that. I've never panic-bought tobacco before, and I never gave much thought to how much I had on hand. That's all changed now...

Yup!

 

[Michigan_Bill]

My total favorite is Orlik Mellow Mixture. I have about 12 tins on hand, which should last a while. I only smoke 4 bowls a week and I have several blends in rotation.
The OMM tins are 10 years old, but if they are good now (they are very good), they should be good in years to come, right? So we will see

 

[bootlegpipes]

I know some people like to cellar for aging but how do you cellar to prevent again? I've had englished that have lost too much flavor after 10 years. And are there blends that will age but not get too flat? Maybe virginias?

 

[fireground_piper]

I know some people like to cellar for aging but how do you cellar to prevent again? I've had englished that have lost too much flavor after 10 years. And are there blends that will age but not get too flat? Maybe virginias?

I just cellar so I have it in the future. If you have nothing, you have 100% chance of having nothing. If you have stuff, you have less than 100% chance of having nothing.

 

[Snook]

If you have nothing, you have 100% chance of having nothing. If you have stuff, you have less than 100% chance of having nothing.

We'll be seeing this as a quote in forum signatures before long, I imagine.