Rare Tobacco

[krizzose]

Dilligence, tenacity, your cell phone and Google are your friends in a quest for unobtaniums. And a thick wallet. Buy the good and premium stuff now at regular prices, in 5 to 10 years you'll have a cellar full of rare, difficult to find and unobtaniums. You'll have ten times as much and money left over. Then every day can be a special occasion.

Yes indeed!

Apropos for me today because I decided to have some McClelland 2014 Christmas Cheer. I have it because I tried it back then, liked it, and bought a bunch more to put away. I bought the tin for $15 in 2014, but there's no way I would pay $95 for it now. That's easy for me to say being someone who was actively cellaring McClelland blends before they went out of business, but I didn't now that then. All I knew was McClelland made a few blends I really liked so I stocked up on those. If you've got the money and the curiosity to seek out and buy the unicorns, then go for it. But there is a clock ticking on easy online tobacco availability. IMO, if you're not stocked up yet, you are far better off finding some high quality and CURRENTLY AVAILABLE blends that you like, and spend your tobacco budget on those now. The day is coming when ordering [relatively] cheap but still premium pipe tobacco from an online retailer will no longer be possible.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Yes indeed!

Apropos for me today because I decided to have some McClelland 2014 Christmas Cheer. I have it because I tried it back then, liked it, and bought a bunch more to put away. I bought the tin for $15 in 2014, but there's no way I would pay $95 for it now. That's easy for me to say being someone who was actively cellaring McClelland blends before they went out of business, but I didn't now that then. All I knew was McClelland made a few blends I really liked so I stocked up on those. If you've got the money and the curiosity to seek out and buy the unicorns, then go for it. But there is a clock ticking on easy online tobacco availability. IMO, if you're not stocked up yet, you are far better off finding some high quality and CURRENTLY AVAILABLE blends that you like, and spend your tobacco budget on those now. The day is coming when ordering [relatively] cheap but still premium pipe tobacco from an online retailer will no longer be possible.

Good post and nice to see you enjoying the fruits of your labor.

 

[jpberg]

Christ. There’s no holy grail, there’s just what you figure out that you like. And that’s subject to change.
I regularly smoked what are now considered wicked fantastic blends of yore, and still smoke the ones I like that are available.
Going hunting for look at me flavor of the month unicorns is a fools errand unless your only goal is to talk about it ad nauseum on forums.
One tin of Krumble Kake will not change your life, no matter how many likes you get.

 

[SoddenJack]

It is about the limited number of tins and the numbers on the tin. All of mine are the numbers most valued of course.

Tin #0069/8000

 

[mortonbriar]

Yes indeed!

Apropos for me today because I decided to have some McClelland 2014 Christmas Cheer. I have it because I tried it back then, liked it, and bought a bunch more to put away. I bought the tin for $15 in 2014, but there's no way I would pay $95 for it now. That's easy for me to say being someone who was actively cellaring McClelland blends before they went out of business, but I didn't now that then. All I knew was McClelland made a few blends I really liked so I stocked up on those. If you've got the money and the curiosity to seek out and buy the unicorns, then go for it. But there is a clock ticking on easy online tobacco availability. IMO, if you're not stocked up yet, you are far better off finding some high quality and CURRENTLY AVAILABLE blends that you like, and spend your tobacco budget on those now. The day is coming when ordering [relatively] cheap but still premium pipe tobacco from an online retailer will no longer be possible.

Down here in New Zealand, ALL tobacco importation through the regular mail system just became illegal on the 1st of July, and to get it in with a freight forwarder requires a permit which is probably not a feasible application for someone like me. I am glad I have been putting away bits and pieces over the years. You might have a while longer in the northern hemisphere before anything goes away, but it would be a very optimistic assumption to think the industry is just going to plod along without drastic changes in the next few years....

 

[condorlover1]

@ Jpberg : What's Krumble Kake? Forgive my question but I don't think I have ever run into that one in my neck of the swamp!

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I personally wouldn't pay more than a buck for 2 oz of tobacco. Thanksfully, condorlover1 sells me his dottle for just that price and it has worked out very well for me.

 

[BROBS]

I personally wouldn't pay more than a buck for 2 oz of tobacco. Thanksfully, condorlover1 sells me his dottle for just that price and it has worked out very well for me.

It has to be worth at least $1.50.

 

[jpberg]

@ Jpberg : What's Krumble Kake? Forgive my question but I don't think I have ever run into that one in my neck of the swamp!

Krumble Kake, until ‘09 or ‘10, was a pretty available Smokers Haven blend.
The holy triumvirate was Penzance, Special Latakia Flake, and Krumble Kake.

 

[3rdguy]

@ Jpberg : What's Krumble Kake? Forgive my question but I don't think I have ever run into that one in my neck of the swamp!

 

[jpberg]

I think I got the last few sleeves that came over. Individual tins were around for a bit, but Premal owed me some stuff.

 

[foursidedtriangle]

Christ. There’s no holy grail, there’s just what you figure out that you like. And that’s subject to change.
I regularly smoked what are now considered wicked fantastic blends of yore, and still smoke the ones I like that are available.
Going hunting for look at me flavor of the month unicorns is a fools errand unless your only goal is to talk about it ad nauseum on forums.
One tin of Krumble Kake will not change your life, no matter how many likes you get.

Bragging about hoarding isn’t cool and will never be. Rare tobacco hunting in general is for people who have too much time on their hands.

 

[jpberg]

Bragging about hoarding isn’t cool and will never be. Rare tobacco hunting in general is for people who have too much time on their hands.

Your last sentence may get you excommunicated from the koolkidz club.

 

[Worknman]

IMO, if you're not stocked up yet, you are far better off finding some high quality and CURRENTLY AVAILABLE blends that you like, and spend your tobacco budget on those now. The day is coming when ordering [relatively] cheap but still premium pipe tobacco from an online retailer will no longer be possible.

Probably the best advice people will most regret not following in the future.

 

[The Clay King]

Always strikes me as odd. I have often repeated the story about the tobacconist in Essex that went out of business circa early 1980s that had box loads of 'cutter top' tins for One Pound each. I purchase a few and smoked them and I should have purchased them all but I got talked out of it by my Father! I have often shared older 'cutter tops' with a chum on this forum who in turn shares them with any interested forum members. I have a bunch more that I am in two minds about ever smoking principally because they are probably something I wouldn't enjoy as they are all Rattray's blends from the 1950s or thereabouts. I think Sablebrush summed it up well when he said that 'Mummy dust just doesn't hold any allure for him'.

I'd be interested in trying some in my clay!

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Bragging about hoarding isn’t cool and will never be. Rare tobacco hunting in general is for people who have too much time on their hands.

Mostly agree but it happens with many things and is perfectly harmless. Baseball cards, fishing lures, rare books, knives, you name it. I remember people collecting rare cigars during the cigar boom. Never smoked them. I'm a smoker, never made sense to me but they were happy with their hobby and harmed no one.

 

[sablebrush52]

@ Jpberg : What's Krumble Kake? Forgive my question but I don't think I have ever run into that one in my neck of the swamp!

Krumble Kake is another Germain's catalog blend. Greg Pease, who was one of Steve Richman's taste testers when the Esoterica line was being created, said that it was one of the English options given to Richman. Instead, Richman chose a slightly more Latakia foreward catalog blend, which became Penzance.

 

[fightnhampster]

Dilligence, tenacity, your cell phone and Google are your friends in a quest for unobtaniums. And a thick wallet. Buy the good and premium stuff now at regular prices, in 5 to 10 years you'll have a cellar full of rare, difficult to find and unobtaniums. You'll have ten times as much and money left over. Then every day can be a special occasion.

+1