Tobacco Past It's Prime

[greeneyes]

I am leaning away from conditions etc because 3 people all had the same experience at the same time. Although we were all in the same conditions ?

One variable I'd like to account for. Your friends, who had a similar experience: was it their first time trying this tobacco? Or had they had it before, and had a similar experience as yourself?

 

[pantsBoots]

New to pipes, somewhat seasoned with cigars, here. With cigars, there is definitely a peak aging window based upon the blend, which in turn varies according to personal preference. Some cigars appear to get better forever if stored correctly (Fuente Opus, Cuban Ramon Allones Specially Selected), some are good for a specified window (Por Larrañaga PC peak from 5-15 yrs to my taste then fall off precipitously) and some cugars are best with minimal aging (Fuente Hemingway in Cameroon, Cuban Juan Lopez nos 1&2 and Saint Luis Rey Regios).

I can only imagine pipe tobacco blends being the same in that respect.

 

[solideogloria86]

One variable I'd like to account for. Your friends, who had a similar experience: was it their first time trying this tobacco? Or had they had it before, and had a similar experience as yourself?

This was their first experience with the blend, but I never commented on the blend until they mentioned their thoughts on it, and I had already noticed from the start that it wasn't good. I was hoping it was my pipe and didn't want to spoil their experience. I also was hesitant to say a blend I'd talked up so much, was terrible. ?

 

[solideogloria86]

Just to add a bit of clarification to the original post. My question don't center so much around the benefits of aging, because I've had enough excellent experiences with aged tobacco to know I enjoy the results of aging. The question has more to do with the window of time we have to enjoy an aged tobacco after opening, before we end up with something that goes from excellent to sub par or even terrible.

 

[jpberg]

Purposely aging tobacco is (almost) a purely internet created phenomenon.
Tobacco used to be ready to smoke when you bought it - the blending houses didn’t use tobacco until it was ready.
To the OP, I concur with your thoughts that many aged blends have a window once the tobacco is o again brought to atmosphere.

 

[Casual]

I’ve found that the beverage accompaniment can really change the experience. A blend may taste radically different with coffee compared to a sour lager.

 

[pappymac]

It's not uncommon at all in the pipe world for people to smoke very old tins of tobacco. I've read about people smoking the old Balkan Sobranie tins from the 70's and loving it. Of course a certain portion of experiences with old tobacco will not be so good. In any case, I've got quite a few pounds stashed away, spending maybe a few hundred bucks per year building my cellar over about the past five years. In the long run, a few hundred bucks a year isn't that much to lose, even if the whole thing goes to shit, which it probably won't.

I agree. I bought a 14 oz. can of George Washington a couple of years ago that still had the factory seal on the tin. They stopped making George Washington in 1974 so the tobacco was at least 44 years old when I opened it. It was still moist and still had sort of a maplenut tin note. I jarred it all and smoke it occasionally. It still taste pretty decent for a burley blend and makes me wonder why it went out of production.

 

[greeneyes]

Purposely aging tobacco is (almost) a purely internet created phenomenon.
Tobacco used to be ready to smoke when you bought it - the blending houses didn’t use tobacco until it was ready.
To the OP, I concur with your thoughts that many aged blends have a window once the tobacco is o again brought to atmosphere.

Of course it depends on which terms you use for searching, and whether or not you think "aged" and "matured" qualify under the definition, however I think that "vintage" fairly well captures the essence of the meaning without being too subject to interpretation.

Pall Mall Gazette (1922)


United States Tobacco Journal (1916)

*the 'rare old "Vintage"' in question is a Falk's tobacco.

 

[jpberg]

Of course it depends on which terms you use for searching, and whether or not you think "aged" and "matured" qualify under the definition, however I think that "vintage" fairly well captures the essence of the meaning without being too subject to interpretation.

Pall Mall Gazette (1922)
View attachment 40469

United States Tobacco Journal (1916)
View attachment 40471
*the 'rare old "Vintage"' in question is a Falk's tobacco.

But.
The favorite smoke was not laid down by the consumer.

 

[rajangan]

There are three parts to this equation: you, the tobacco and the pipe.

Odds are it's you, and not some radical sudden chemical change with the tobacco. Bad pipe days happen. I have many many stellar tobaccos here and the combination of the pipe I use and my disposition at the time ensure that the experience isn't always consistently .... stellar.

There are 4 parts to the equation: you, the tobacco, the pipe, and the casing.

Tobacco doesn't get harsh over time. But apparently blends can. Maybe it's just the terminology we are used to using, but I find it difficult to blame the tobacco itself.

It's also unfair to gaslight the smoker, blaming them or the pipe, simply because you're confronted with a mystery.