Oldest Smoked Tobacco...

[smudgersmissingleg]

I've been wanting to get my hands on vintage cigarettes any pointers ? I've googled till I'm blue in the face , cant seem to find them are there key words I'm missing out on? Feel free to DM me if you have any sources or advice. Thanks in advance.

Sorry mate, I can't help you. The only place I could ever find them was on ebay but they cracked down a few years ago and you don't see them anymore. They did the same thing with pipe tobacco, now you can't buy anything like that. I'm in the UK though and maybe it's different on the USA version of ebay?

The nanny state doesn't seem to have gone as far in the US so perhaps ebay still allow people to sell tobacco products over there. Over here it's got out of control. I bought a Burger King from Uber Eats the other day, and the classic Coca Cola was 15p more than the diet version. I wondered why that was as they always used to be the same price. Then I noticed some text that said it's because of the "sugar tax". Over here they've put a tax on food/drink which is over a certain sugar level.

I wonder how long it'll be before they start doing it with other things. They could do the same thing with fat levels in food. I keep reading that meat is bad for climate change so I could definitely see them putting a tax on that at some point.

 

[sean.]

I have an overabundance of tobaccos, so there are some tins which have been ignored for decades, as I mostly smoke codger blends.
Rummaging through my "cellar", I recently came upon ten unopened 100g tins of assorted McClelland Virgina blends, dated 1986-1993. I am surprised how old they (and I) are -- I bought them all new from various pipe shops -- with $4.90 price tags .
The first two I cracked open had gone bad. Oxygen leakage I suspect. Tobacco was bone dry and inner tin surface heavily corroded.
The third, Mixture No. 1, described as mild; with Virginias, Orientals, and just a smidge of Latakia, was in excellent condition. 33 years in the tin! Sugar crystals and fermentation! Not a hint of the characteristic "vinegar odor" of McClelland blends.
Smoking it now. Brings back fond memories when I formerly smoked such blends regularly.
Excellent smoke but not anything I would buy on today's market for hundreds of dollars.

Are you sure those McClellands are actually bad? Have you tried re-hydrating them?

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

Oldest is probably a tin of Murray's era Dunhill Light Flake from the mid-90s as best I can tell.

I smoke it on very rare occasions and it is phenomenal.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Are you sure those McClellands are actually bad? Have you tried re-hydrating them?

A fair question. I recently re-hydrated an old pouch of dry tobacco. The result was not satisfactory, but the original may have been crap to begin with. If I recall correctly, it was Iwan Ries Three Star Blue.

I am disinclined to re-hydrate the McClellands for two reasons:

1. Carl Ehwa Jr. is the founder of McClelland.

McClelland Tobacco Co. - Pipedia

pipedia.org

Carl wrote "The book of Pipes & Tobacco". On page 200 of the 1974 first printing, he writes, "A dry mixture cannot be brought back to its original state. ... When the moistened mixture is smoked, the smoker will experience a thin, watery taste."

2. Pictured below are three of my opened McClelland cans.
Left to Right:
- 1991 No. 1, fresh tobac (now transferred to an airtight jar), interior clean, note the bone-colored coating which seems to be a thin plastic of some sort
- 1990 No. 6, dry tobac, interior corroded and 'bubbled', greyish color
- 1986 No. 12, dry tobac, interior corroded and 'bubbled', brownish color

My primary concern is that the dry tobaccos have interacted with the plastic coating and underlying metal in some unsavory manner.
The color difference of the corrosion for different blends supports this thesis.

 

[Briar Baron]

A few weeks ago I opened an early 1920s Velvet which I bought about 10 years ago. The tin is very similar to the 1926 tin that ashdigger kindly gave to members here previously, however my tin was series 122 (not 123) and was 1 5/8 oz and not 1 3/4 oz so I think it was from the early 1920s, making it about 100 years old!

Although dry it was not as dry as I expected and smoked mild with lots of subdued nuances which alluded me, however it was a fine smoke .

After reading the reviews of the 1926 version I could probably detect some of the flavours but without those hints I may not have. Now that I know what to look for I will concentrate a bit better in future.

 

[pcfdave]

A few weeks ago I opened an early 1920s Velvet which I bought about 10 years ago. The tin is very similar to the 1926 tin that ashdigger kindly gave to members here previously, however my tin was series 122 (not 123) and was 1 5/8 oz and not 1 3/4 oz so I think it was from the early 1920s, making it about 100 years old!

Although dry it was not as dry as I expected and smoked mild with lots of subdued nuances which alluded me, however it was a fine smoke .

After reading the reviews of the 1926 version I could probably detect some of the flavours but without those hints I may not have. Now that I know what to look for I will concentrate a bit better in future.

Wow I think you have the oldest thus far on this post

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Just got some 30 year old tobacco from a European friend. Will be smoking it soon.

 

[paulfg]

A few years back I bought a cutter top tin of 50 Churchman's No1 cigarettes. I'd say the tin probably dated from about the late 1960's to the early 1970's.

The can was a bit rusty but the cigarettes inside were perfect. Not dry at all. The smell when I opened the can was delicious, very fruity. They were untipped and quite strong but they had a great flavour.

The tin looked just like this:

View attachment 290893

I went into the Churchmans factory several times in the late 1980,s as part of my work for British Telecom.It was producing cigars by then.It had been producing over 1 million cigarettes a day at one time.The factory closed in the 1990s ,the south stand at Ipswich Town FC was and still is known by older supporters as "Churchmans" as the factory backed on to the ground.

 

[renfield]

The oldest I’ve had was some 40 or so year old Sugar Barrel. It had not been well kept and was very dry. I rehydrated it and it smoked OK but was nothing remarkable.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

I currently have some Dunhill - Durbar from August of 2001 that I'm smoking.
About 10 years ago, at a pipe meet up, a guest brought a tin of Mac Baren from the late 70's for all of us to try. I don't recall if it was Mac Baren - Mixture or Mac Baren - Mixture Scottish blend, but it was an interesting smoke. I remember it didn't have any bite like some Mac Baren blends had as this tin had mellowed over the years.
At the Vegas Pipe show several years ago, a person I ran into was sharing some old Balkan Sobranie match from the early 80's. It was a nice smoke.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I currently have some Dunhill - Durbar from August of 2001 that I'm smoking.
About 10 years ago, at a pipe meet up, a guest brought a tin of Mac Baren from the late 70's for all of us to try. I don't recall if it was Mac Baren - Mixture or Mac Baren - Mixture Scottish blend, but it was an interesting smoke. I remember it didn't have any bite like some Mac Baren blends had as this tin had mellowed over the years.
At the Vegas Pipe show several years ago, a person I ran into was sharing some old Balkan Sobranie match from the early 80's. It was a nice smoke.

Balkan Sobranie from the early eighties was a favorite of many smokers, including myself. RIght up there with the Rattray's blends.
I have two tins of Dunhill 965 from late 80's, early 90's. Don't know if they can be dated from the tin nomenclature or tax seal.

 

[pepperandjack]

When I had no more than 2 or 3 years under my belt I smoked some aged tobacco that sent me over the hill and back, and I became an aged tobacco true believer. After that it was all about aging everything. Trouble was that I never struck gold again no matter the tobacco and no matter its age. Even worse, I ended up smoking only a fraction of what I had so carefully aged.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

A fair question. I recently re-hydrated an old pouch of dry tobacco. The result was not satisfactory, but the original may have been crap to begin with. If I recall correctly, it was Iwan Ries Three Star Blue.

I am disinclined to re-hydrate the McClellands for two reasons:

1. Carl Ehwa Jr. is the founder of McClelland.

McClelland Tobacco Co. - Pipedia

pipedia.org

Carl wrote "The book of Pipes & Tobacco". On page 200 of the 1974 first printing, he writes, "A dry mixture cannot be brought back to its original state. ... When the moistened mixture is smoked, the smoker will experience a thin, watery taste."

2. Pictured below are three of my opened McClelland cans.
Left to Right:
- 1991 No. 1, fresh tobac (now transferred to an airtight jar), interior clean, note the bone-colored coating which seems to be a thin plastic of some sort
- 1990 No. 6, dry tobac, interior corroded and 'bubbled', greyish color
- 1986 No. 12, dry tobac, interior corroded and 'bubbled', brownish color

My primary concern is that the dry tobaccos have interacted with the plastic coating and underlying metal in some unsavory manner.
The color difference of the corrosion for different blends supports this thesis.


View attachment 291028

NEW INFO
Germany has their beer purity law, and England has (or had) their tobacco purity law. Thus, St. Bruno, a historic Liverpool virginia/kentucky blend, is preserved with natural vinegar. Tins of St. Bruno flake enclose a card to notify the buyer that there may consequently be some corrosion of the tin.

I think McClellands, though an American company, also used vinegar as a preservative--certainly smells like it.
This may be why they coated their cans with a plastic liner--to retard corrosion.
My theory is that, after 3 decades in the tin, the vinegar penetrated the thin plastic coating and reacted with the metal in a big way.
This produced gases which blew the seal from the inside.

The grey vs brown corrosion noted above? Is it because they are different blends and the tobaccos were also involved in the corrosion?

Should I re-hydrate, or no?

 

[Professor Moriarty]

When I had no more than 2 or 3 years under my belt I smoked some aged tobacco that sent me over the hill and back, and I became an aged tobacco true believer. After that it was all about aging everything. Trouble was that I never struck gold again no matter the tobacco and no matter its age. Even worse, I ended up smoking only a fraction of what I had so carefully aged.

Reminds me of an addict always chasing that first high! Thank you for sharing.
I remember when I first experienced chewing tobacco, and chased that sweet nic high for weeks before giving up.

 

[Mike N]

I found a couple sacks of these from an old hardware store in Appalachia. Sent one out to a friend in Colorado. As you can see they are dated 1918. Not sure if they are aged sufficiently, though.

 

[kcghost]

I have had some Briggs that a guy gave me to try and it wasn't too bad. It was from the 1930's.

 

[sean.]

NEW INFO
Germany has their beer purity law, and England has (or had) their tobacco purity law. Thus, St. Bruno, a historic Liverpool virginia/kentucky blend, is preserved with natural vinegar. Tins of St. Bruno flake enclose a card to notify the buyer that there may consequently be some corrosion of the tin.

I think McClellands, though an American company, also used vinegar as a preservative--certainly smells like it.
This may be why they coated their cans with a plastic liner--to retard corrosion.
My theory is that, after 3 decades in the tin, the vinegar penetrated the thin plastic coating and reacted with the metal in a big way.
This produced gases which blew the seal from the inside.

The grey vs brown corrosion noted above? Is it because they are different blends and the tobaccos were also involved in the corrosion?

Should I re-hydrate, or no?

You can rehydrate, and you'll either like it or you won't. What's the worst that can happen!

 

[filmguerilla]

When my grandfather passed away a few years ago I got his pipe collection. He had a handful of Grabow pipes, a couple Dunhill, and a Kaywoodie. I kept one of the Dunhills and one of the Grabows. I also got a small pipe rack/jar combo and a large, unopened container of Velvet from (at best guess from the label, etc) the 1980's. Velvet was his main brand of tobacco and I was quite familiar with seeing him smoke it. I'm ok with Velvet and have smoked it a few times over the years, mostly for nostalgia reasons, so it wasn't an unfamiliar smoke when I opened the old container of it. The tobacco inside was perfectly fine, not dry at all, and the taste was pretty much the same (this surprised me as Velvet has, apparently, changed hands a few times over the decades).

 

[Professor Moriarty]

You can rehydrate, and you'll either like it or you won't. What's the worst that can happen!

Something nasty from the corroded plastic liner?

 

[rmcnabb]

I have open now a 25 year old tin of Royal Yacht that is great - it's a real nicotine bomb though, best smoked lying on the ground. Also working on a 24 year old tin of Escudo that is just amazing. The Virginias have turned in to something really special.

One of the great joys of old tobacco is the lovely tins uncorrupted with warnings of death, usually in German, which makes the death seem even more grisly somehow.