Should I Buy Aged Tobacco?

[Cyxelsid]

So, in an effort to expand my palate, I have been looking in the tobacco for sale threads and considering buying some tobacco that has been cellared / aged by some of you fine gentlemen.

I am too impatient to wait 10 years to experience that joy!

What should I look for when trying to decide which aged tobacco I should look for?

 

[yanoJL]

2 things come to mind....

First, perhaps start with a blend that is straight Virginia, mostly Virginia, or Virginia-forward, as there seems to be a unique effect age has on leaf with higher concentrations of natural sugars (i.e. Virginias)

Second, I would recommend a product or brand that is still being produced and currently available fresh. Although you might find some truly sublime, aged McClelland blends (as an example), these are no longer being produced. If however, you purchase and enjoy an aged blend in current production, you have the option to buy some tins to cellar/age on your own.

 

[Cyxelsid]

2 things come to mind....

First, perhaps start with a blend that is straight Virginia, mostly Virginia, or Virginia-forward, as there seems to be a unique effect age has on leaf with higher concentrations of natural sugars (i.e. Virginias)

Second, I would recommend a product or brand that is still being produced and currently available fresh. Although you might find some truly sublime, aged McClelland blends (as an example), these are no longer being produced. If however, you purchase and enjoy an aged blend in current production, you have the option to buy some tins to cellar/age on your own.

Great advice! I don't want to spend $100 on a 4 oz tin and then find I don't care for it.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I’d agree with what yanoJL said.

I’ve bought most genres in by small 2-4oz bags from e-tailers to see what I generally like. VaPers are usually ok new, but I’m now trying straighter Virginia varieties so I’ve started looking for smaller aged lots members post. Now I’m finding what Virginia blends I’d like to buy to put some age on myself, but am definitely still open to trying affordable samples as I find them here.

 

[Cyxelsid]

I’d agree with what yanoJL said.

I’ve bought most genres in by small 2-4oz bags from e-tailers to see what I generally like. VaPers are usually ok new, but I’m now trying straighter Virginia varieties so I’ve started looking for smaller aged lots members post. Now I’m finding what Virginia blends I’d like to buy to put some age on myself, but am definitely still open to trying affordable samples as I find them here.

I think this is the approach I want to take, the sample route. I just don't know what to ask...

 

[rmbittner]

So, in an effort to expand my palate, I have been looking in the tobacco for sale threads and considering buying some tobacco that has been cellared / aged by some of you fine gentlemen.

I am too impatient to wait 10 years to experience that joy!

What should I look for when trying to decide which aged tobacco I should look for?

Hmm… How will you know it’s “joy” if you have nothing to compare it with? To that end, I’d suggest buying an aged tin of a blend you already know fresh or can also purchase fresh, so you can be better equipped to try to figure out what age has contributed to—or attenuated in—the blend.

In general, though, I’d recommend a non-aromatic of any variety. Look for a minimum of three years of age. You can go as old as you want, though if you’re looking at blends with significant age—say, 25+ years—you may not have the experience or palate to appreciate them relative to what they’ll cost you. Tins should be sealed and rust-free. I wouldn’t recommend buying any aged blends from open tins (i.e., jarred). (So, no, I don’t personally recommend buying “sample” quantities of an aged blend. That’s just my personal stance. To me, a jarred blend is for personal consumption only; it has zero resale value.)

 

[captpat]

All tobacco changes with age, conventional wisdom is that VA’s show improvement, some say Latakia loses some potency with age. I wouldn’t pay a premium for aged burley or Latakia blends unless they were hard to get or no longer available.

 

[hawky454]

I’d just start aging, I started in 2009 and now I’m worried about all my blends getting too much age on them, time flies and you’ll have aged blends before ya know it. I think it’s more rewarding when you open a blend that you bought and aged yourself. Plus you know it’s been stored properly and all that good stuff. But the decision is yours, if you feel it’s worth it than by all means go buy some aged stuff. From time to time you may find a winner but the majority of times I think you will just end up sorely disappointed.

 

[yanoJL]

Great advice! I don't want to spend $100 on a 4 oz tin and then find I don't care for it.

Of course.

Not to beat the same drum over-and-over, but by starting with tobaccos known to age well (again Virginias) you can mitigate that risk somewhat. Naturally, this assumes you enjoy (and do not have adverse reactions to) Virginia tobacco.

What's more, you need not jump into 4oz purchases right away. You should be able to find 50g (1.75oz) - 2oz tins available.

And even if you do not enjoy your purchase, you should have no trouble trading an aged tin away to another forum member for something else you might prefer.

 

[didimauw]

Buy the blends you know you love. Buy a lot of it. Then after smoking a few tins or oz of the fresh stuff, you automatically have aged tobacco. Then you go back and buy more of that tobacco new, and smoke more of that. Then the aged tobacco is even older. Then ever so casually, you have new tobacco, 6 months, 1 year, 5 year, etc. That's my method.

 

[yanoJL]

... I don't want to spend $100 on a 4 oz tin and then find I don't care for it.

I think a bigger risk would be to spend $100 on a tin only to find out that you love it. And that your palate can only be satisfied by 10-year old Escudo. That sounds even more expensive.

 

[telescopes]

Here's my simple answer: No.

Why - I think you've read some sound advice above. Second, tobacco IS NOT wine. It is not meant to be aged. Yes, it does age, and sometimes the aging mellows the FLAVORS to make them more even and less harsh. But in the case of tobacco, that doesn't mean better. Many blends are are already aged by the time they are packaged. Second, I have found that 12 months is usually enough time to tell you where the tobacco is headed.

No one - for the most part - is aging our tobacco as a primary function of why we bought it. It is being cellared ONLY for the time when obtaining it would be near impossible. It ages because we can't smoke all of it NOW.

I do let a year pass on some heavy and oily blends such as G&H plugs and ropes because I prefer them to be settled and less likely to cause me to get sick. After a year of being jarred where some air has had an opportunity to tame them, I find them good and ready to go.
Be careful you you aren't getting sucked in to some unintentional seller hype. While it is true that some older blends have certain tastes that are no longer available, that is only because the tobacco is no longer available that gave them those unique tastes. But even then, because they aged, they are no longer the tobaccos they were when new and no longer the tobaccos that people raves about when they were new.

I doubt anything written here will change your mind. Hype is hype. You've been given some great advice by other posters.

 

[rmbittner]

No one - for the most part - is aging our tobacco as a primary function of why we bought it. It is being cellared ONLY for the time when obtaining it would be near impossible. It ages because we can't smoke all of it NOW.

I agree with almost everything you said. I have to add, though, that while I do sometimes smoke fresh tins, I am cellaring to age. My purchases are not driven by “prepper panic.”

 

[Chasing Embers]

Here's my simple answer: No.

Why - I think you've read some sound advice above. Second, tobacco IS NOT wine. It is not meant to be aged. Yes, it does age, and sometimes the aging mellows the FLAVORS to make them more even and less harsh. But in the case of tobacco, that doesn't mean better. Many blends are are already aged by the time they are packaged. Second, I have found that 12 months is usually enough time to tell you where the tobacco is headed.

No one - for the most part - is aging our tobacco as a primary function of why we bought it. It is being cellared ONLY for the time when obtaining it would be near impossible. It ages because we can't smoke all of it NOW.

I do let a year pass on some heavy and oily blends such as G&H plugs and ropes because I prefer them to be settled and less likely to cause me to get sick. After a year of being jarred where some air has had an opportunity to tame them, I find them good and ready to go.
Be careful you you aren't getting sucked in to some unintentional seller hype. While it is true that some older blends have certain tastes that are no longer available, that is only because the tobacco is no longer available that gave them those unique tastes. But even then, because they aged, they are no longer the tobaccos they were when new and no longer the tobaccos that people raves about when they were new.

I doubt anything written here will change your mind. Hype is hype. You've been given some great advice by other posters.

Yep, even a couple of manufacturers have expressed amusement at the idea of cellaring when their products are made for immediate use.

 

[Streeper541]

In general, yes, but beware for those that might try to sell you a well-aged pouch of Captain Black grape.

I hear, that unlike a fine wine, grape flavored tobacco does not get better with age.

 

[sablebrush52]

A lot of good observations here. Definitely stick with aged versions of tobaccos that are in production and available. Most blenders turn out tobaccos that have been aged are are ready to go, but not all blenders do that. I've found Peter Stokkebye blends to need aging before smoking as they are released a bit "young" for my liking, and the same goes with C&D, which is partly why I cellar very little of these blenders. PS-LBF is cardboard when released, but given a minimum of 4 years turns into something amazing.

Aging doesn't necessarily improve blends, it just changes them, and whether the change is an improvement is up to the individual smoker to decide.

Tins with a few years on them, maybe up to a decade are good options. Ancient tins are always a crap shoot and generally an expensive one. If or when you are sufficiently advanced to swim in those waters, go for it.

Buying what's available and putting back enough to have some stock for the future is the best way to eventually enjoy (hopefully) aged tobacco.

The other fly in the ointment is that we're also going through a period of substitution and changes in named blends, such that the tin of aged "whatsis" was significantly different when new, then what's in the tin today.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Look for tobacco 3 to 5 years old. You'll get 80% of the benefit of aging at a much more reasonable price. Virginia dominant blends and VaPers will show the biggest benefit.

 

[samuelgawith01]

I have tobacco stashed away in case it becomes illegal someday or prohibitively expensive to purchase.I don't age tobacco for the sake of aging it.My pallet is so hammered I don't think I could tell the difference, anyway.

 

[anotherbob]

personally I think the aging thing is more hype then anything. The new stuff is great by the way.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If I am going to try an aged blend, I will only buy sealed tins. Jars of bulk have too many variables that could go wrong, plus… a lot of people will removed the tobacco from the jar and put it into baggies to mail it. Plus… how vigilant was the owner to keeping the jar sealed throughout the cellaring process?

If I’m going to spend money on aged, I want to be the one who unseals it for the first time.