Rate of Value-Growth as Tins Age?

[SBC]

Is there a generally accepted rate of increase in value as tobaccos age?

For instance, "High quality tins increase in monetary value by approximately 10% (relative to MSRP) per year cellared, beginning at year three..." or anything remotely like that?

I've never aged tobacco long (unless you count 1 oz. sample baggies from a decade ago, which apparently I didn't love...), but I just wound up with 3 tins of 2009 Escudo, and it has me wondering if there's a way of estimating the value of what I was given.

Or is the value of cellared tobacco the personal sort which does not have monetary expression?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I haven't noticed any kind of fixed rate. In general, with most blends, there's not much of a premium paid for aging. If I had to place a number, seems like price doubles with 5 years of age, perhaps a bit more.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Or is the value of cellared tobacco the personal sort which does not have monetary expression?

This

I can't justify paying more than retail for anything I'm going to put fire to, and never more than $5/ounce but some will. As for aged blends, I haven't found enough of a change in them even at 20 years that would make me pay any more for them.

 

[prairiedruid]

I find some blends taste better with some age on them. I buy them fresh and cellar them.

Others are willing to pay a premium to buy it aged already. For some it seems to be a status symbol to say your smoking a cutter tin from 1950 that most likely tastes like mammoth dandruff. To each their own.

 

[jaytex1969]

When you first join the forum, tins are worth retail price.

Once you've been around a few weeks and make your first bulk purchase, the value of tobacco should then be free or below wholesale until your cellar is built.

Once you've been here 4 months and have over 100 posts (qualifying you to use the "for sale" space), the value of your tins then rises mercurially to about $30 per ounce.



Just having fun. Welcome to the forum!

 

[mso489]

I think the appreciation of blends with time is minimal, except for certain beloved blends that are discontinued, and that market is limited and fickle. Most pipe smokers end up losing money. By the time you make any money with it, you are investing a lot of time and labor in retailing pipes and tobacco, and you have to work very hard to make a living at it, or any appreciable supplemental income. As with anything else, if you start with a lot of money to invest, and you work very hard at it, you might make money, but for the same investment, you might make more doing something else. I think Kevin, the landlord here, makes money, but he works very hard at it. I only say he makes money because otherwise we wouldn't all be here on a Forums.

 

[sablebrush52]

There is a theoretical equation which states that the value of a tin of tobacco rises in inverse proportion to the IQ of the purchaser.

But I believe that the reality is a bit more complicated. Certain blends, or manufacturers, that have achieved star status, sell for much more than relatively unknown blends. The tins of 2017 McClelland 40th Anniversary that I bought for $16 a tin are fetching about $100 a tin on average, and I've seen listings for as much as $280.
Stick another label on that tin, say, H&H, and it might fetch $30.

Go forward a decade and it could be fetching 30¢. Pipes and tobaccos as an investment vehicle are on par with tulips.

 

[beefeater33]

Go to Pipestud.com.........
That's kinda the going rate.........

 

[jewman22]

As it is with anything, it is worth whatever some dummy is willing to pay for it.
Some tins are expensive because you cant get them anymore, but this dummy won't pay more than 20$ for a tin.
I traded a lb of Hodgdon Longshot for 2 tins of Frog on a Log, I'd say that's a solid trade.

 

[didimauw]

I don't like to pay more than 1.31 per oz these days! Man I'm cheap. But I buy it cause I like it. Not cause I can't afford more expensive blends. Those just taste gross to me. It's a blessing and a curse.

 

[Worknman]

If anything its a good hedge against inflation. So the next time your wife complains about the packages coming in every week tell her its an investment ?

 

[fireground_piper]

As stated, all depends on the buyer. Though I never have paid more than retail, I’d be inclined to do so to try a blend no longer produced. Besides that, I wouldn’t pay more strictly for age. I can age at retail pricing.

 

[logs]

Pipestud is the usual measure of value for tins of a certain age. He doesn't sell anything under $30 or with less than five years of age.

Here on the forum it's much more variable regarding age/price and is often skewed towards whichever out-of-stock or limited edition blends are in style at the moment.

 

[kcghost]

Some blends have went up tremendously (Original Balkan Sobranie, original Drucquers, certain McClellands, so on) while most have crept up very slowly if at all.

 

[wyfbane]

Pipestud + the flavor of the week factor/hype here on PMF + Any shipping or production delay that could be interpreted as making it rare = the going rate.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Anyone else remember when ebay sellers were trying to peddle 40th Anniversary for $100/tin when it was still available at online vendors??