I Would Like To Defer To The Vast Experience Of This Group

[Beowoulf]

I'm thinking of cracking open a new tin and adding it to my rotation. All of them are at least 10 years old. But! How to decide which one! Perhaps you could comment if you have had experience with one or more of these. They are all completely unknown to me.

Mac Baren's Roll Cake (Spun cut)
Mac Baren's HH Vintage Syrian
Mac Baren's Club Blend (Roll Cake)
Mac Baren's The Solent Mixture (English Mixture)
Mac Baren's Plumcake (Navy Blend)
Mac Baren's Burley (London Blend)
C&D's Briar Fox
McLintock's Syrian Latakia Blend
Gawith's Golden Glow

Or ... I have 15 blends in rotation now. Maybe that's enough? Should I wait a while? How many in your rotation?

Thanks for your patience!

 

[Grangerous]

Should you wait awhile? Some of us are ill-advised to buy green bananas. No, Sir. I say live it up

As for your MacBarren tins, I am familiar with Burley London Blend. If as you say, it’s in a nondescript painted white tin. That’s a beautifully, clean and nutty burley with developing cocoa notes. Today’s special runs of BLB ring hollow to me of artificial chocolate. But the tin you describe is an old friend of mine. I have one left dated 2010. I need to open it.

As for Briar Fox. I just smoked a bowl last week. Tasty blend. Some say it’s cigarette-like. It is very mild. If you have no experience with it, you’ll discover it’s a crumble-cake, pressed into a perfect brownie sized square. Easy to pull alert and rub out to your liking.

Unfortunately, those are the only two blends that I can comment upon.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

There are many approaches with regard to opening tins. Some people open a tin and finish it before opening another; some open tins and let them sit for weeks or months; others open and jar right away. In theory, you could open all of those and jar them, then just take out what you want, when you want—if you jar them in smaller jars, you can open one and let the others age. There are no guarantees that we'll wake up tomorrow—enjoy what you can now.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Golden Glow. It’s a mild blend to start with, I don’t see more age will favor it. Great morning smoke, enjoy it with coffee over the holidays.

 

[Kingsley]

The only order I personally would go in would be to go for the Latakia-based blends first. Sure, there must be older Latakia blends that are still stand-up blends, but your blends have had a nice long wait, and with something as special as Syrian is now, I’d tuck into them to see what I could enjoy before they could have any more of a chance to flatten. Not that they have, nor that they will tomorrow if they haven’t yet, more of just getting to it sooner than later.

 

[Servant King]

The only one I've tried there is the London Blend, and it's a real good one in my book. So that gets my vote.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

I like Burley London blend.

 

[Jwebb90]

Briar Fox.

 

[verporchting]

I’m with @TheIronMonkey and say open them all and peck away at them after transferring to glass jars

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

Golden Glow. It’s a mild blend to start with, I don’t see more age will favor it. Great morning smoke, enjoy it with coffee over the holidays.

I've got a few tins of Golden Glow that are 5 years old and it's pretty tasty. When I tried it fresh I didn't like it that much.

 

[simong]

15 blends not enough?? Guess not. lol

Smoke Solent if you’re feeling cold & smoke the Glow when you’re feeling hot.
Smoke the Plum Cake if you’re feeling ‘fruity’ & smoke the Fox, when you’re not.

I don’t know, I only really smoke 3 blends so don’t listen to me .

 

[simong]

I've got a few tins of Golden Glow that are 5 years old and it's pretty tasty. When I tried it fresh I didn't like it that much.

Same here. Ages very well I think.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Or ... I have 15 blends in rotation now. Maybe that's enough? Should I wait a while? How many in your rotation?

What all do you have open now? If I were to open one more tin, I'd try to pick something that was different in style or composition than what I already have open.

Personally, I like the idea of only having 3 or 4 jars open at a time, one for each genre I like (English/Balkan, straight Virginia, VaPer) plus a wildcard or two. Someone deep into Lakelands or aromatics might want to have a lot more options at a given time, though!

 

[vosBghos]

A lot of good advice here
I‘d jar the a few that are most dissimilar from your current rotation or if you are getting bored with a certain blend type and want to try a different iteration. Check ‘em out see if they are something you want to continue cellaring.

Personally I’d crack that HH Syrian , that’s just me

I am currently recovering from Covid taste paralysis
so my usual rotation of about 15 is down to 3 , 5 Brothers, Peterson Flake, and Presbyterian, I can’t really taste and nuance so I’m going for single note flavors Presbyterian just taste like musty oriental to me .

But I usually smoke 3 or more from all the families always on the lookout for a good VaBur …

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Golden Glow. It’s a mild blend to start with, I don’t see more age will favor it. Great morning smoke, enjoy it with coffee over the holidays.

I think Golden Glow (Medium Flake) is very tasty, but I've never been able to smoke it without a significant bit of tongue bite. No other Gawith blend does it to me.

I've wondered if age(>10 years) would help with it.

 

[kcghost]

I have on five blends in my rotation, so the question is kind of mute for me.

 

[judcole]

I'd start looking at your Syrian Latakia blends, and open one of those. Latakia does mellow with age.

 

[krizzose]

I’ve got an open 11 y/o tin of Mac Baren Club Blend. The smoky Kentucky is very obvious, but not overwhelming. Sweet Virginias and the Mac Baren maple sugar casing. Result: Roasted marshmallows and a touch of campfire —-> s’mores.