TAD For Your Future Self?

[btp79]

Does anyone else purchase tobaccos/blends they don't particularly care for now anticipating their tastes and likes may change?
I personally like English and other latakia forward blends as well as the occasional brown bogie. I've been cellaring a good amount of vaper's, navy flake, and virginia's lately even though I don't really smoke any of them. I'm banking that my palate will develop in the future and I'll be able to discern more flavors and appreciate these blends.
Am I crazy or is this something others do, and if so. what do you cellar that you don't currently smoke?
-Billy

 

[cosmicfolklore]

There are very few tobaccos that I have come across that have repulsed me to the point of making a mental not never to buy them again. Maybe five blends that made such a negative impression on me. That doesn't mean that I just loved every single blend I have tried, but I could at least find some redeeming quality about blends.
So, it's not much of a risk for me to buy a pound of something in bulk, just to try it. The chances that it will be repulsive are very slim, and even if I end up not crazy about the blend, I can come back to it at some point, and give it another whirl.
C&D's Virginia Gentleman was like this for me. I bought a pound to just try it. Fresh, the Virginias tasted air cured (not sweet, hurting the back of my throat) and the burley was just blasé, but the Turkish was nice and spicy. Needless to say, I just jarred it up. I pulled out one of those jars from five years ago recently, and found the Virginia to have sweetened up a little and the burley to start to nutty up a tad. Smoking that 3oz's wasn't nearly as much of a chore as the first couple of oz's. And, in a year or so, I will check the next jar, and so on and so on.
Yeh, just ordering a couple of oz's of something just seems like such a waste of box space. It just makes so much more sense to me to go ahead and commit. Sometimes it just might take me a pound smoked over the course of ten yours to decide if I like something or not. ::

 

[npod]

Yes! I have cellared at least 3 blends fairly deep, even though I had little exposure prior. They are mostly stuff Harris or JimInks raved about and I trust their pallets, similar to my own, and I am beginning to change from English to Virginia/VaPers and I am confident I will be happy that I hedged when I did.
But, it is kind of odd to spend cash now on something you have not had yet.

 

[mso489]

I didn't think about it in the organized way you have, anticipating my future tastes. However I have on hand a number of Va/Per blends and I'm not smoking any right now, though I have in the past, just because it's not what I crave. I always seem to enjoy some English blends, burley blends and single leaf, and a few tobacco forward aromatics. I get some Virginia and some Perique in various blends. I wouldn't anticipate my tastes because I never know where they're going.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Someone has, but I do not buy or store that which I do not like. I have some that are "eeeeh" but will age nicely I think.

 

[pianopuffer]

Yep, but my living space and wallet don’t allow for deep storage. I took a gamble on other Syrian lat blends once I tried HH, if only because the leaf itself is unavailable.

I also am a firm believer in a blending house’s brand, or flavor profile if you will.
As I lean more towards European blends than American, I’ve taken chances on a few different makers based on what I smoke now and other’s reviews from this site and elsewhere.

It will never be as cheap or available, so take the plunge! (You can always sell or trade if your tastes change)

 

[npod]

I also am a firm believer in a blending house’s brand, or flavor profile if you will.

That's a great point, and something not talked about much. Blending houses do have similar flavor profiles due to the bulk tobaccos they use.
For example, I stalked up on Hado's Delight having only smoked a few bowls. This was based on many reviews I trusted and also my prior knowledge with GL Pease tobaccos in general.

 

[saltedplug]

The problem with futuring is that as the future has not arrived, we cannot predict the manner of its unfolding; but we can extrapolate based on the past and present. But to spend money cellaring blends that you haven't smoked based upon the assumption that they will be, in the future, what you like to smoke, is at best, tenuous logic. If on the other hand you cellar what you like at present you have a much better chance of liking the tobacco from your cellar in future.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The problem, Salted, is that if I like them now, I most likely won't like them after they change, because I already like them the way they are. No, the best gamble is that one that I am fairly ok with it now, it has at worst a 50/50 chance of being worse. I'll take them odds to the bank. ::

 

[robcapp]

I think about it like wine... If I like a particular variety, and it's from a vineyard that is known for making stuff I like.... Then I'm happy to speculate and buy for the future. And taking it further, if someone I trust (based on past experience) makes a strong recommendation - I'm happy to roll with that and purchase to cellar.

 

[saltedplug]

Aging's effects do not change a blend's characteristics but only melds and smooths. If one likes a blend for those characteristics they will still be available in the future. I opened a jar of semois that had 2 or 3 years and didn't like how much it's exuberance had been tamed by age. But the loss of that liveliness didn't make me say that I no longer liked the blend. I wanted semois and I got it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Aging's effects do not change a blend's characteristics but only melds and smooths

Of course... I was using Lewis Carrol-inian Logic.

 

[jaytex1969]

Well over 80% of my cellar is stuff I have never tasted. I've enjoyed examples from every (mostly non-aro) category and expect to enjoy them all.
I'm fairly easy to please. In the last 10 months, I've found exactly one blend I don't like at all.
I'm certain that, should I possess intolerable blends in the future, I can trade for desirable ones.
To me, getting ahead of Deeming Apocalypse is first priority. I will still have great things to discover in my war chest, even if the entire industry implodes.
That said, I am favoring some genres in my cellaring choices.
As I learned in the surplus ammo world, "Buy 'em cheap and stack 'em deep!"

 

[curl]

Most of what’s in my cellar I haven’t smoked yet, including...

Most of the Grand Orientals

All the McClelland VAs

ThenSavinelli VaPer

The Davidoff VaPer

Opening Night

Telegraph Hill

Stone haven

Union Square

Comeys Va and VaPer

Temple Bar
I figure these are all good, but will be better in a few years.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Seems like you have 2 choices, cellar or don't cellar. Any way you cut it, given the existing circumstances, the risk involved with not cellaring seems significantly higher. So the initial part of the equation seems simple to me. Now you're on to the choices.
No question, your tastes could change from Virginia dominant to Latakia dominant or vice versa. I'm sure there's no shortage of folks who have seen a significant shift in their preferences. Seems to me the safe bet then is to cellar products you presently like that also are mainstream products. If you cellar popular products and your tastes change 5 years or longer down the road, you should be able to easily sell that aged product for more than you purchased it, and now buy what you like, or trade it for aged product you then like.
Of course, if you have very deep pockets, cellar a lot across the blend choices and cover all your bases. If you do have a budget, it seems rather senseless to try to hedge your bets on a possibility that seems less likely to occur than continuing to like what presently do. Kind of like being blind folded, led to a firing range, handed a gun and told to shoot the target.

 

[johnbarleycorn]

Why don’t you try them and see if you like them? Not that your palate may not change but who knows you may grow to love them. And if not.... you can leave them for those of us who do. Just saying. Personally I am cellaring the blends I love. Mostly. Va’s and VaPers. But I’ve been drinking so take my input with a grain of salt.

 

[npod]

But I’ve been drinking so take my input with a grain of salt.

Love the honesty Johnbarleycorn.

 

[dottiewarden]

The fact that so many rave about how well Virginia ages leaves me no choice but to stash some tins of it away. Besides, there's much less temptation to crack a tin early, as happens to me with so many of the ones I know I already like. And when I'm finally ready to delve into the VA it will be sweet and mellow.

 

[jamban]

I cellar 3 tins of a blend at each time. If i really like something, i buy another 3 tins. If i find a blend to be truly magnificent, then i double it up. Well, i make it a baker's dozen actually.
My tastes don't necessarily change, but i go through seasons. Some short, some long. But i enjoy and appreciate all the genres. Also, i personally prefer blends in their aged form. Not that i've tried that many since i am still at the beginning of this journey. But so far, it seems worth it to cellar when you are able to. That being said, my cellar is meager and minuscule compared to some of our more experienced fellow members here! You could call it a baby cellar. Hahaha!