What's Your Cellar Age Sweet Spot?

[Singularis]

Yeah, I know that every tobacco blend (or brand, or category of blend) has its own sweet spot, but talking more A) generally and B) specific to your tastes, How long do you prefer to cellar a tin, or jarred bulk, before popping the seal and seeing what Mother Nature hath wrought?

I ask because I've got a number of tins that are getting to the 2-3 year mark (based on production dates, if I can discern them), and lots that are at the 1-year mark. If I were to open one (irrespective of brand or category), what year should I aim for?

 

[jpberg]

I like to smoke my tobacco as soon as I get it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I like to smoke my tobacco as soon as I get it.

Same. The only reason I started putting up tobacco in the '90s was to stay ahead of rising costs and blend discontinuations. Any aging in my cellar is due to not having gotten around to smoking it yet and I've not noticed a big change in blends from aging outside of latakia thankfully beginning to fade around the 10 year mark.

 

[anotherbob]

I feel like 2 years is where it's noticeable. Like that's when I can say there is a change and it's not just me or how I am smoking or the tobacco being drier. Then again I don't really consider it an improvement. Where I consider drier an improvement. It's mellower and sometimes certain aspects jump out more. But frankly I feel like ageing is an over rated thing. I feel like if it wasn't it wouldn't be the big trend of right now.

 

[kcghost]

With Virginia's you can wait until some tin start bulging. With latakia you can try it after three years or so.

 

[verporchting]

I’ve generally been content with the whenever I get to it plan. Liked it when I bought it, realized it would likely change by the time I got to it, it usually has and I usually enjoy it. Might encounter a few disappointments along the way but even so I’ll remember how it was better before so not a bad thing. Have encountered a few 2014-15 tins that have been just absolutely sublime recently, so 7-8 years is pretty good. Not sure there’s any method here but, meh, not gonna complain.

 

[Servant King]

Like Embers, I only cellar to hedge against rising prices, secondarily against discontinuations. After all, both are an inevitability in the pipe tobacco world. Any aging that takes place in the meantime (I'm a very slow smoker) is just an added bonus. I mainly checked out this thread to hear others' take on it, but felt like adding my two cents four cents (again, rising costs).

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I think you get significant change in the first 2 to 3 years with 5 years being as close to the sweet spot as you're going to get.

 

[sablebrush52]

With a few exceptions, like PS-LBF, I don't prefer to cellar the blends I buy, but because I'm stocking up on things that I like before they disappear, or before the quality of the components drops, etc, some of what I buy ends up on the shelf until I get around to smoking it. I'm a bit surprised by the realization that most of my cellar is 8 years old and older, and some of it is well over 20.
I also don't smoke as much as I once did. So stuff that I thought I'd be smoking up is just getting older instead. If aging is your thing, no matter what, then the bulk of what's going to happen will have happened in the first 5 years of aging in the tin, and anything after that is really incremental.

 

[krizzose]

I think you get significant change in the first 2 to 3 years with 5 years being as close to the sweet spot as you're going to get.

I agree. I notice much more difference in 2 y/o vs. fresh than I do with 5 y/o vs. 2 y/o. Obviously, there be will be lots of exceptions.

 

[shane1]

I like fresh and aged tobacco. I cellar as most have said, to hedge pricing and disappearance. Some blends seemed to really improve with age but thinking back, it may have been my tastes changing. More likely a combination of both.

 

[Singularis]

Like many here, I was scared into cellaring by potentially rising tobacco taxes and/or unavailability of blends. But though I have no problem with fresh tobacco, I was also quite curious what X blend would taste like with age on it. And since my purchases have way outstripped my consumption, I continue to stockpile tins and jars. I also realize that my taste and tolerance for latakia (which I like in somewhat moderate amounts) has its limits. So I’m hoping the more full English and Balkan blends cool down a bit after a couple years in the cellar.

 

[cigrmaster]

For my tastes I prefer aged tobacco. Most of my stash is 1998-2012 and 2013. The few blends I have that are 5-6 years old I plan on testing in another couple of years.
I also loaded up on my favorites as some I believed would be discontinued which did happen.

 

[North of the Border Piper]

I recall some C&D with cellar suggestions of 15 years.

 

[boston]

Collected alot in the past 20 years, and only smoked a fraction of it. I used to love strong lat blends but have migrated to lighter Latakia bends and VA blends.

Good news is the VA I purchased that nipped me has aged and improved...less bite, and the Latakia blends softened with their VA components improving. This is generally good for me, and may be less good for folks who really like the strong Latakia punch.

Don't know sweet spots but for for Xmas cheer, Haddo's and Dorisco....the older they are the better. For me, 5 years minimum, 10 years plus is better....no diminished returns for older than that because of my current preferences.

 

[mortonbriar]

Just buy more than you are smoking each year, and within a couple of years most everything you own will have some age on it.

 

[mortonbriar]

And to answer you question a little better, I have enjoyed smokes that are 'green' fresh, (as in I grew them and impatiently smoked them as soon as it cured), and I have enjoyed smoked a bunch of different blends at the 10,8,5 and 2-3 year mark. I think age makes some improvement, I don't really know how to turn it into an exact science, but I will generally ignore a jar/tin if I see it is fresher than two years old. This is also out of a generic cellar responsibility of getting through the old stuff before cracking open something newer. That being said, if I have a sudden desire for Sir Walter Raleigh, I am going to bust it open regardless of who was in front of him in the queue. I highly doubt I could tell aged SWR from fresh in a blind test....

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I've noticed substantial changes with Perique heavy blends after six months, the best strategy to gauge your preferred cellar time is to set aside half a dozen small jars and try some every 3-4 months.

 

[Singularis]

Just buy more than you are smoking each year, and within a couple of years most everything you own will have some age on it.

That’s been my method for about 3 years. I’m trying to slow down because I have a good back supply now and it’s hard justifying additional purchases.

 

[Singularis]

I recall some C&D with cellar suggestions of 15 years.

I have two tins of C&D Bikou that have that suggestion. One is 3 years old, and the other is about a year old, purchased by suggestion from Jeremy Reeves himself on this forum. His thought was “try a fresher tin now so you have a gauge for what kind of difference will happen”. I still haven’t opened it but maybe this summer. I bet i can get the older can to go 10 years.