Trying to Start Up a Cellar.

[James84]

Welcome to the forum! Here's my usual welcome picture...

View attachment 51914

Now as for cellaring, don't feel you need to fill a Rubbermaid container just because some guys on here have. Its not a race of a competition. Some guys don't have a cellar at all. I have many 10 or so tins in my crawlspace.

Thank for the welcome. I have a feeling ill be on here alot?. The bug bit me so hard right off thr bat..I am cruising through all thr online stores and reading anything an everything lol I might be the guy filling a crate the way I feel! But im sure it will calm down soon. Thanks for the advice it not being a race..it definitely shouldn't be.

 

[brut666]

So here's a tip I tried when starting out, and still doing now being only a few months in.
Because being new to the hobby, your taste buds ain't what they will be in six months, if you swap from blend to blend, you won't pick the flavours out. So, if you pick a tin, smoke nothing but that for a week then start another tin of another variety of tobacco leaf for a week and so on. This should for now at least, let you know what blends you prefer. This won't help you cellar very quickly but will help you cellar what you like as oppose to just tins of tobacco stored in your home that you really didn't want or like.

 

[James84]

So here's a tip I tried when starting out, and still doing now being only a few months in.
Because being new to the hobby, your taste buds ain't what they will be in six months, if you swap from blend to blend, you won't pick the flavours out. So, if you pick a tin, smoke nothing but that for a week then start another tin of another variety of tobacco leaf for a week and so on. This should for now at least, let you know what blends you prefer. This won't help you cellar very quickly but will help you cellar what you like as oppose to just tins of tobacco stored in your home that you really didn't want or like.

Ahh yes. Thats probably the best way to go about it is doing that way and sticking to one tin at a time. I do want to build my pallet up. Thanks Brut!

 

[pantsBoots]

If I like something, I'll buy extra of it, whether it's a few extra tins on the next order, or 8-16 oz. of bulk. If I like it still the following month, I'll consider adding more to a future order. If tastes change, I buy the extras of a new favorite. After several months, if I'm still Loving a particular blend, I'll start picking up extra extra.

Fortunately, I like tobacco and I like variety, so if I temporarily burn out on a certain blend or type of blend, I break off into others, and then when I return, I discover a new appreciation of it.

 

[stokesdale]

First you have to dig a really deep hole under your house. Then you....

 

[Ahi Ka]

If you like the bookshop then forget all the above advice and go crazy cellaring it!

but in all seriousness, if you find you really like HB then there is nothing wrong with grabbing a pound. Same with OGS - that is a safe blend as it will always hold trade value.

interesting that both those blends have a touch of perique.

i spent 6 months last year just ordering 1oz samples. I recommend this approach. You very quickly build an idea of the variety of tobacco out there and how they relate to each other.

on the otherside it turns out HB is my favourite, as well as Lakeland’s

 

[Magpiety]

I usually smoke 3 bowls per day, and most of my bowls are around 2g each, so that's 227ish bowls per lb which would last me 2/3 of a year smoking nothing but that one blend.

Just thought I should correct my drunk math from last night: My bowls average around 2g of tobacco, and I average 3 bowls per day. This means that I smoke around 2190g per year, or 4.8 - 5lbs per year. So if I was smoking nothing but one blend at a time, I would go through a pound every 2.5ish months. Sober math thus says that a pound of tobacco would last me about 20.8% of the year, not 2/3rds of the year like I said last night.

I was possibly trying to do the math for 5lbs, which would last me around a year smoking nothing but that blend. But if I was doing that I did an equally bad job as doing the math for 1lb.

 

[Magpiety]

First you have to dig a really deep hole under your house. Then you....

...hire a troll to protect your hoard

 

[Ahi Ka]

Just thought I should correct my drunk math from last night: My bowls average around 2g of tobacco, and I average 3 bowls per day. This means that I smoke around 2190g per year, or 4.8 - 5lbs per year. So if I was smoking nothing but one blend at a time, I would go through a pound every 2.5ish months. Sober math thus says that a pound of tobacco would last me about 20.8% of the year, not 2/3rds of the year like I said last night.

I was possibly trying to do the math for 5lbs, which would last me around a year smoking nothing but that blend. But if I was doing that I did an equally bad job as doing the math for 1lb.

Classic drunk maths...the only thing worse than the hangover is realising your cellar is only a third of the size as what you thought last night

 

[Magpiety]

Classic drunk maths...the only thing worse than the hangover is realising your cellar is only a third of the size as what you thought last night

I'll fix it next time by drunk ordering a bunch more.

I am the liquor.

 

[sablebrush52]

Marry in haste, repent at leisure.

The suggestions that you start with sampling small amounts are smart.

When you get a sense of what you like, buy some to put away, and keep sampling.

If you stick with pipe smoking you will find that your tastes change. Blends you liked initially will lose their luster and you will like something different. Then your tastes will change again. That’s pretty common.

So proceed with deliberation, not with speed. You’ll get there faster.

 

[bullet08]

Most blends are ones I smoked before. There are some that I have not tried, but pretty sure I'll like.

 

[3rdguy]

I try to cut corners where I can and put it into tobacco.

 

[James84]

First off, Welcome to the site! I live in Vancouver, Wa, but spent many years in and around Ft. Lewis/ JBLM.

View attachment 51906

With regards to cellars, as soon as I came to the realization that I liked smoking a pipe in the autumn of 2012, I sort of went ape-shit. Not exactly the direction most people take. I sampled everything I possibly could. I spent so much time in the Tacoma Tinderbox that I would sell pipes for the girls working there while they were attending to cigar customers.

I tried to get to as many Seattle Pipe club meets as I could so that I could meet fellow smokers and share/trade tobaccos.

I bought everything I could find under the sun when it was on sale. I cellared very wide for fear I would miss out on things as my flavor profile matured. There are many here with larger cellars than I have, but most of them make a lot more money that I do, lol.

This topic came up on another thread and Cosmic said he spent $300/mo for 5 years. I have spent a lot more than that total. One of the benefits of a large cellar, as alluded to by hoosier is that the cellar feeds itself. If you can spend ahead of your consumption, you should be able to sell of a lot of your 5 year aged stuff to buy a ton of newer stuff. There were several years where investment in A&C years Escudo outpaced the stock market, but alas, I missed that.

I don't know where you live in Washington, but you need a friend in Oregon. There is no steady stream of tobacco/ nor can you adequately take advantage of sales with a Washington address. The tobacco laws here are f'ing ludicrous.

If you are ever in Vancouver, hit me up, I will let you sample a ton of tobaccos. My cellar is about 95% input, but the 84 jelly jars I have with 1oz or less have not been input yet.

Tobacco Cellar Wyfbane's summary pipe tobacco aging cellar - http://tobaccocellar.com/Wyfbane

Hello fellow Washingtonian. Thanks for the input! I'm puyallup wa. I do have a friend in Oregon that I will be using in the future to get some tobacco. Thats my goal is to try anything and everything. I seem to be heading toward burley and va/per blends. Love latakia but I know that will fizzle out later.

 

[James84]

If I like something, I'll buy extra of it, whether it's a few extra tins on the next order, or 8-16 oz. of bulk. If I like it still the following month, I'll consider adding more to a future order. If tastes change, I buy the extras of a new favorite. After several months, if I'm still Loving a particular blend, I'll start picking up extra extra.

Fortunately, I like tobacco and I like variety, so if I temporarily burn out on a certain blend or type of blend, I break off into others, and then when I return, I discover a new appreciation of it.

I do seem to be a person to hop around alot. This makes sense. Thank you!

 

[James84]

First you have to dig a really deep hole under your house. Then you....

? seems about right.

 

[James84]

If you like the bookshop then forget all the above advice and go crazy cellaring it!

but in all seriousness, if you find you really like HB then there is nothing wrong with grabbing a pound. Same with OGS - that is a safe blend as it will always hold trade value.

interesting that both those blends have a touch of perique.

i spent 6 months last year just ordering 1oz samples. I recommend this approach. You very quickly build an idea of the variety of tobacco out there and how they relate to each other.

on the otherside it turns out HB is my favourite, as well as Lakeland’s

Sorry whats is OGS? I'd love to know what is close to haunted book shop. Thanks for all thr input! ?

 

[James84]

Marry in haste, repent at leisure.

The suggestions that you start with sampling small amounts are smart.

When you get a sense of what you like, buy some to put away, and keep sampling.

If you stick with pipe smoking you will find that your tastes change. Blends you liked initially will lose their luster and you will like something different. Then your tastes will change again. That’s pretty common.

So proceed with deliberation, not with speed. You’ll get there faster.

Thank you! I'll take all that info for sure.

 

[James84]

I try to cut corners where I can and put it into tobacco.

View attachment 51969

?? I gotta start taking notes here.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Sorry whats is OGS? I'd love to know what is close to haunted book shop. Thanks for all thr input! ?

Orlik golden slices...maybe check out old joe krantz? I never got to try it as I got hooked on bookshop and then imports were banned. I’ve heard good things.