How Would You Build Your Cellar: A Timing Question?

[Frozenoak]

I didn't start cellaring until recently. It use to be buy a bag of bulk, smoke a bag of bulk, rinse and repeat. Then I decided to buy a tin of "something new" which opened up a window into a much bigger world of online shopping.

For some bizarre reason, I never thought to shop online for tobacco until I joined this forum, looking for advice on tobacco blends available at my local B&M. I now buy 2 tins expecting to smoke one and cellar the other, this gives me a wide cellar as I am still experimenting with tinned tobaccos. If I like a tobacco enough to buy more, I buy 5 or so. I haven't started cellaring bulk tobaccos yet but I did buy some mason jars with this in mind.

My biggest concern is that tobacco will eventually go away and I don't like being told I can't have something.

 

[cigrmaster]

I have 40 Va,Vaper,Vabur flakes, plugs, and rope in my cellar. I also have two aromatics. I built most of my cellar in 2012 and 2013. I have added a few blends over the years and now I am totally done buying any new tobacco. I will still buy aged tins here or there from pipestud when he has something I like.

I built my cellar fast as I knew it never be cheaper and the availability back then was so much better than today. I could buy my favorite flakes and plugs with no limits. If I wanted 50 tins, I was able to order them. If I had to do it today it would be a nightmare with 2 tin limits.

I also was concerned with blends getting discontinued. Two of my favorites are now gone and I added one McClelland blend before they went out of business. In today's climate anyone can go out of business and plus there are the deeming laws down the road.

 

[cshubhra]

It has reduced a bit, but not enough to be noticeable (From 22/23 cigarettes a day to 16/17 cigarettes a day). It is extremely hard to give up cigarettes, but I am not rushing it, but making small progress. The number of cigarettes in the evening, weekends have reduced due to the pipe. Even afternoons are manageable. Morning cigarettes are hardest to stop.

I still expect it to reduce gradually but forcing reduction has generally not worked before

Wow, so you still smoke cigarettes heavily and add pipes on top of that? That's pretty hardcore.
If it helps you decide to quit the sticks, I can tell you that pipes and cigars will taste so much better to you if you aren't smoking cigs. They really do improve. And, you will taste so much more flavor in tobacco. But, YMMV

 

[cshubhra]

Forcing it has never worked, but I am sure it will gradually go down. I have gone down from 22/23 a day to 16/17 a day. I also try to avoid inhaling cigarettes, which works sometimes. Also, recently the stubs are growing longer - ie I smoke 2/3 instead of a full one.

I quit cigarettes completely in Sept 2007. I had a near 2 pack per day habit so even at the prices back then, it was more than $300 per month. I went to cigars exclusively and then got back into pipes a couple of year ago. I'm not sure how to express my recommendation to get off of the cigarettes completely asap. Learn to do without and enjoy cigars and pipes more.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Forcing it has never worked, but I am sure it will gradually go down. I have gone down from 22/23 a day to 16/17 a day. I also try to avoid inhaling cigarettes, which works sometimes. Also, recently the stubs are growing longer - ie I smoke 2/3 instead of a full one.

Obviously, it's your decision. I unsuccessfully quit cigarettes a number of times until I was absolutely 100% committed. Then it proved to be rather easy. You look like you're younger so I suspect it may be more difficult for you to find the time, during the day, to smoke an entire bowl of tobacco vs a quick cigarette. That makes for one of the big advantages of pipes vs cigars. You can spend 5 minutes smoking a bowl of Virginia, set it down and come back to it later. If anything, it is actually better tasting after sitting for awhile. I can also say that a bowl of sweet Va Flake is 10 x more satisfying in the morning with a cup of coffee than 3 or 4 cigarettes.

 

[olkofri]

@cshubhra: if time is a limitant, why not try a pipe with a 20-minute bowl or "puritos" cigars?

 

[mordy18]

What I did... in leaving cigarettes which was a 1+ pack a day, which is about $300 a month. I just budgeted the money that I was saving by quitting cigarettes into pipe tobacco. Pipes and Cigars was the only online pipe company that offered a real discount on quantity. I mean smokingpipes offers a little, but not anything near the price breaks that P&C does.
So, I pumped $300 a month to them to give me 3 to 10 pounds a month, depending on whether it was bulk or tins.

I have reduced the amount budgeted for tobacco down quite a bit, especially since I have topped 400 lbs, but I still buy the new stuff coming out and some things that I want to stock up more of.

$300 a month sounds like a lot, but every other form of tobacco consumption would be close to that. I mean, I could have one good cigar a day for that price. So, it's not really outrageous.

On how and what to stock up on... if you are a newbie, get the things you like now. Sure, some things you will outgrow... for example in the beginning Hobbit Weed seemed like a good idea to my neophyte mind... but, then years later, I end up dumping ten pounds of that shit into the garbage. So, YMMV.

400 pounds of tobacco?? That's the equivalent of over 3000 regular tins. That sounds like something that could get you on a certain TV show.

 

[cshubhra]

These are all good recommendations. I will try them.

Obviously, it's your decision. I unsuccessfully quit cigarettes a number of times until I was absolutely 100% committed. Then it proved to be rather easy. You look like you're younger so I suspect it may be more difficult for you to find the time, during the day, to smoke an entire bowl of tobacco vs a quick cigarette. That makes for one of the big advantages of pipes vs cigars. You can spend 5 minutes smoking a bowl of Virginia, set it down and come back to it later. If anything, it is actually better tasting after sitting for awhile. I can also say that a bowl of sweet Va Flake is 10 x more satisfying in the morning with a cup of coffee than 3 or 4 cigarettes.

 

[cshubhra]

20 minutes is also sometimes too much, but an occasional 20 min session can curb a lot of 5 min sessions. Will try that. Of course as I mentioned... forcing something does not work, but will try gradually

@cshubhra: if time is a limitant, why not try a pipe with a 20-minute bowl or "puritos" cigars?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

@cshubhra The hardest part for me in transitioning to pipes was the lung-feel. In the beginning, I would inhale a tad sip to get by that need for a lung-hit. But, then after months without any cigarettes, I started backing off that.
You will also notice that after being away from cigarettes and only getting quality tobacco, that if you do slip up and smoke a cigarette it will taste horrible. Keep that in mind to keep from slipping. Fire up the up the pipe to help that fleeting need pass.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

20 minutes is also sometimes too much, but an occasional 20 min session can curb a lot of 5 min sessions. Will try that. Of course as I mentioned... forcing something does not work, but will try gradually

Wear a nicotine patch in the morning?

I think @hoosierpipeguy had it about right, when you are really motivated, past the kind of “gee, it would be great if I gave up cigarettes” thoughts that I had for years, you will quit.

 

[geopiper]

Yes, as some of you have pointed out: a complicating factor accelerating the urge to cellar wide, deep and quickly is the looming "tobaccalypse" and the proclamation from the more senior smokers that tobacco will never be cheaper than it is now.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

Yes, as some of you have pointed out: a complicating factor accelerating the urge to cellar wide, deep and quickly is the looming "tobaccalypse" and the proclamation from the more senior smokers that tobacco will never be cheaper than it is now.

Almost a 10% price hike is assured here. The state of Tennessee thought they were doing the right thing when, in anticipation of the recent Supreme Court ruling, they enacted a statute similar to the one at issue in that case. But they put a threshold in so that only retailers who did $500,000 or more annually in Tennessee had to collect it. As of right now, the only tobacco etailers who are over the limit are JR and P&C. But I am told by those I know from my prior productive life that the threshold will be lowered dramatically when the legislature and the various city and county governments who have stakes in how it is done get on the same page. That is expected in 2020.

If you had asked me in 2000 if internet or any form of interstate sales of smokeable product containing nicotine would be allowed in 2020, I would have bet any amount that they would be banned.

 

[tkcolo]

Yeh, I don't really see that with any of the FVF in my cellar.

I bought a 12 year old FVF tin from pipestud, and it was a totally different flake. Super black, dense and full of crystals. It was divine. I cellared some in 2017 and 2018, and the fresh stuff was not nearly as dense, and it was pretty light in color. It was okay, but nothing to write home about.

https://i.redd.it/b1n00lraao5z.jpg

Not my picture, but this explain the color change. My 2007 tin was more dense and probably 30% crystals on the surface. It was the best thing I've ever smoked, and it was nothing like the fresh stuff. I bought a 2004 tin of Marlin Flake, and it was very similar in color and crystals. I've never had that fresh to compare. I am just hoping my cellared stuff gets there over time. Because the fresh FVF was pretty meh to me.

Ironically, I love LBF fresh, but not as much with 3 years in the cellar. Mine got very buttery, and a little too mellow.

 

[stbruno70]

This thread is full of good ideas. To me, the main point is to keep cellaring regardless.

One gradual system is to buy a tin (or two ounces bulk) and sample it at once. If you like it, order two more. The next time you smoke a tin of that blend, buy yet two more. That way your cellar grows.

It is true that tastes change over time. If in future you find you no longer like a blend, you can always sell it.

Buyer's remorse can happen, yet that pales by comparison to the bitterness of seeing blends grow dear due to taxation, or internet hoarding mania (remember when the tribes of Gawith were abundant and nobody thought twice about it?). Not to mention recipes changing due to corporate bolloxing (Dunhill int al) or supplies of a crucial leaf disappearing (RIP Greg's Bohemian Scandal and Syrian Latakia). Worst of all are shipping restrictions, outright bans or producers suddenly closing their doors forever (Washington state, parts of California, Scandinavia some day, McClelland).

Ultimately It matters not why or how often or what you cellar. Just do it.

 

[ram74]

Since McClelland closed I cellar wide and deep. Pipe tobacco is dirt cheap compared to my previous hobby, cigars. I never buy just one tin, I buy at a minimum 2. If I like the blend I buy 6-10 tins, if I love it and it among my top 10 I buy pounds. Tobacco will never be cheaper than it is is now. That is a fact. I am a rookie compared to the many old timers on this forum having only started pipe smoking in early 2012. But since I started I have seen some blends get harder and harder to get and some like McClelland have disappeared. I have never lost money on tins I have bought, that I ended up not liking. I always have traded them or sold them for more than I purchased after aging them for several years.

Tastes change too, many blends I did not like when I was starting out I now like. Also for me aging does improve tobacco, it improves cigars and it improves most pipe tobacco. I recently tried a jar I have of Peretti Royal Blend from 2012. When I tried it fresh it was good but not spectacular. I jarred half of it and smoked the other half. I opened that other half from 2012 last week and I could not believe how much more fragrant and flavorful it was. It had a yogurt dairy sourness that the fresh blend did not and the Latakia was not just smoky but like pure incense. It was the second best tobacco I have smoked all year. The first being a 2012 jar of Great Hiatus I also opened last week. It was freaking amazing and when new was just ok. Now I also opened 2013 jar of Gaslight and it tasted just like it did when fresh: like ass! I hate that blend! So not everything ages better. Now that my cellar is deep I mostly only purchase aged tins or tobacco not easily available in the US like HU tobaccos. I prefer smoking aged tobacco but that is just me. Everyone has their own tastes.

 

[ram74]

By the way I would start cellaring right away because if this bill passes all internet sales will go away: Today in Washington, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee passed H.R. 2339, a legislative bill that, if passed into law, would ban all catalog and internet sales for tobacco products, including premium cigars.

Anti-Smoking Bill That Would Ban Catalog and Internet Sales of Tobacco Passes Subcommittee | Cigar Aficionado

Today in Washington, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee passed H.R. 2339, a legislative bill that, if passed into law, would ban all catalog and internet sales for tobacco products, including premium cigars. | Cigar Aficionado

www.cigaraficionado.com

 

[smokiespipesmoker123]

I wont go anywhere. All bills not taken up in the Senate will die when this Congress expires, best thing about divided government, they dont actually do anything.

 

[olkofri]

I wont go anywhere. All bills not taken up in the Senate will die when this Congress expires, best thing about divided government, they dont actually do anything.

Let's hope; because I was thinking actually the opposite: on things both sides kinda agree, they might just pass ram bills through, whilst the public attention is focused on the ongoing circus.

 

[spugni]

I let sales dictate how I cellar. When there is a sale on a favorite blend , I stockpile. I can usually snag one of my favorites for between $6-$7 per tin. About a year ago I got a lot of Orlik for about $5 a tin. That's my general strategy at this point.