Apparently, the standard answer is to stop when you have too much. Then maybe buy a little more.
When To Stop Adding To Cellar
- Thread starter HitchensDog
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This is my question as well, i don't smoke often, and I go through phases, so based on the amount I've smoked in the last 10 years I wouldn't need much to last me the rest of my life, assuming I live till retirement and I'm only 30. I'd like to have around 30oz in my cellar, it wouldn't be my lifetime but it would be a number of years!
The Forums rule seems to be never stop ordering tobacco. Hence, since I am a moderate smoker, a bowl a day and sometimes none, I just order a few blends at a time, unless I am living large, once a year, and order a pound bag or a tub. Despite myself, it accumulates.
Haha, pretty much. I'll go a few months and maybe smoke weekly, a few times in a week, one time in a week, then I'll go months not smoking at all, heck I probably had 10 bowls in 4 years at one point, before that I smoked much more. I'm inconsistent but am currently in one of my phases of pipe smoking
Coming to the pipe from a couple years of vaping (after decades of cigarettes), I was well versed on the FDA threat. So, I hit the ground running and amassed a sizeable cellar with a quickness.
Now, after 3 years, I feel I have an adequate cellar for my needs. I still grab the occasional "good deal", but I'm now into want, not need.
For the last 2 years, I've not had to pop any tins or jars. I'm still exhausting the various bags of leftovers from jarring up bulk acquisitions and assorted "odd lots" taken in trade.
I'm too lazy to have an inventory or calculated system. I'm relying on instinct and a slight overestimation of my needs. I employ the Pareto Principle ("80/20 rule") to great effect in many aspects of my life.
Now, after 3 years, I feel I have an adequate cellar for my needs. I still grab the occasional "good deal", but I'm now into want, not need.
For the last 2 years, I've not had to pop any tins or jars. I'm still exhausting the various bags of leftovers from jarring up bulk acquisitions and assorted "odd lots" taken in trade.
I'm too lazy to have an inventory or calculated system. I'm relying on instinct and a slight overestimation of my needs. I employ the Pareto Principle ("80/20 rule") to great effect in many aspects of my life.
My cellar is complete as it will last me way past my expiration. With that being said I just bought 23 tins of Hamborger Veermaster yesterday. ??
I've surpassed three times my body weight, now I just buy for fun.
I don't buy tobacco anymore. It can become addictive to want to add new blends, and at a certain point (most people must feel this if they really think hard about why they keep buying more in mass quantities), you're just wasting spending money on a shopping addiction. For some people, if they weren't smoking pipes, it would be some other consumer product. It is just uncomfortable to confront this and get to the reasons why.
Some of the scare about pipe tobacco disappearing because of what the United States is doing is responsible for some of this uptick in buying habits we've seen over the past few years. There should be no doubt about that. But only to a logical point.
Even if the United States banned the sale of tobacco tomorrow, you would still have access to many great blends in quantities and prices where you would have more than enough to smoke in a lifetime. And I don't believe the sky is falling. Even if I'm wrong, I know there are still plenty of places to get tobacco that is very good.
A lot of members here only have exposure to the U.S. market; they don't tend to realize that there is a huge amount of pipe tobacco available in other countries that is largely not even talked about here, aside from a few limited trends that we see with some brands.
To anyone who is not a U.S. member, they know that getting tobacco across international borders is not such a big deal. It's been the norm for well over a decade now.
I think Cosmic nailed it. The whole "cellar" thing is great marketing. I think some people just ran with it, on gut instinct. It sort of made sense on the surface, but really, it's impossible to say what is going to be better, what will be riddled with mold, or what will just flat out taste awful because it is well past the prime. There are few data points available for an objective response. Some swear up and down that it is 10x better at 5 years, 15x better at 10 years, and -1,000 points at 20 years because it's basically sawdust. And still others can't even tell a difference.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've got shit for brains in my gut. The reality is a bit out of line with the perception, in my opinion.
Of course, there will be people who disagree with this. I just have a different experience.
My main blend of choice is Haddo's. I have stockpiled some of this just in case. And it's probably irrational. Still, I find it much better fresh!
It's all a mixed bag. I think the main reason to cellar is because blends may go away. But then I had a look at which blends I smoke the most (aside from Haddo's) and they're not even made in the United States. So what's the point?
Some of the scare about pipe tobacco disappearing because of what the United States is doing is responsible for some of this uptick in buying habits we've seen over the past few years. There should be no doubt about that. But only to a logical point.
Even if the United States banned the sale of tobacco tomorrow, you would still have access to many great blends in quantities and prices where you would have more than enough to smoke in a lifetime. And I don't believe the sky is falling. Even if I'm wrong, I know there are still plenty of places to get tobacco that is very good.
A lot of members here only have exposure to the U.S. market; they don't tend to realize that there is a huge amount of pipe tobacco available in other countries that is largely not even talked about here, aside from a few limited trends that we see with some brands.
To anyone who is not a U.S. member, they know that getting tobacco across international borders is not such a big deal. It's been the norm for well over a decade now.
I think Cosmic nailed it. The whole "cellar" thing is great marketing. I think some people just ran with it, on gut instinct. It sort of made sense on the surface, but really, it's impossible to say what is going to be better, what will be riddled with mold, or what will just flat out taste awful because it is well past the prime. There are few data points available for an objective response. Some swear up and down that it is 10x better at 5 years, 15x better at 10 years, and -1,000 points at 20 years because it's basically sawdust. And still others can't even tell a difference.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've got shit for brains in my gut. The reality is a bit out of line with the perception, in my opinion.
Of course, there will be people who disagree with this. I just have a different experience.
My main blend of choice is Haddo's. I have stockpiled some of this just in case. And it's probably irrational. Still, I find it much better fresh!
It's all a mixed bag. I think the main reason to cellar is because blends may go away. But then I had a look at which blends I smoke the most (aside from Haddo's) and they're not even made in the United States. So what's the point?
I'm still early in stocking up. In a couple years I expect to slow purchases way down. More wide than deep right now but going deep with several I know I like & that members indicate also age well.
I’m in the same boat. Some days it’s a bowl some days it’s nothing. Some days it’s 3 bowls. I’m not worried about.
At my current burn rate, I have a little over 100 years of tobacco in my cellar. And I just added a kilo of St. James Flake, a kilo of Full Virginia Flake and a kilo of Kendall plug.
Yes, I have a problem...
Yes, I have a problem...
I keep saying I’m done but somehow it keeps growing. Every now and then I discover I don’t have enough of something and I’ll add more to it but as of right now, I have way more tobacco than I can smoke and I’m 40 years old. The best way to stop adding things to your cellar is to stay away from the forums but I enjoy trying new things from time to time so I don’t think I will ever stop adding to my cellar. At this point I’m smoking more than I’m adding.
I mainly try to keep a running supply of those blends I like, while periodically venturing outside the norm to experiment with new blends.
Really depends on the country! It'd be a big undertaking to map what's allowed where, even just in the EU, and what's allowed but prohibitive due to cost/taxes, but the main point is that it IS a big deal for some people.
Personal example: I'm in Greece and used to buy from the UK and Denmark, these countries stopped sending abroad at the same time Dunhill stopped so I was left in pipe tobacco desert.
Now I buy from Germany, and very occasionally from the US, by making orders be delivered to a cousin of mine who lives in NYC. The downside is that he visits Greece once a year or so (even before COVID), and doesn't have endless bag space to carry my tobacco, so orders can't be massive. I've never ordered from the US to be sent to Greece - I've heard from other Greek pipe smokers that while smokingpipes WILL accept and send the order, in the last 2 years or so all packages are stopped by customs so I won't chance it. I used to buy from the UK by working for a UK company, having packages delivered to our HQ and either myself or a colleague picking up my packages in regular business travel, COVID changed that too. Now I could send to friends over there and ask them to send to me, but I don't want to become annoying! Having looked at Dutch and Italian shops I know they'll send pipes (like everyone else), but not tobacco, same for Irish shops (but their prices are extreme). When German shops stop sending to Greece I'll be back in tobacco desert. My current finances can't justify a HUGE order from Germany, and am also afraid if it'd get stopped I'd be out by a lot of money.
My aim is to have a 3-year rolling stock, which is about 35-40 lbs for me. I try to replace stuff I really like as I smoke it up. I'm close to my target now (I think - I have only a very rough estimate), so I've slowed way down and gotten more picky. I only buy blends I'm really curious to try and whatever I need to maintain stock of favorites. The idea is that I'll eventually be smoking aged tobacco whenever I feel like it, and if/when tobaccogeddon arrives, I'll have three years to figure some things out: grow my own, figure out a cost effective way to skirt the laws, or smoke less. Or some combination thereof. That's the plan anyway... We'll see.
Well I and most other New Zealand pipe smokers (and I think Australia is in the same boat) had to stop adding to the cellar as we now need a permit to import. So that means paying extortionate taxes to either import or buy through a local dealer.
Through pure chance I found the YTPC and got interested in pipe smoking and then started importing pipe tobacco through mail order as only a few blends are available here. So over 2 years I managed to collect a modest cellar. I will probably continue to buy a tin here and there through the local dealer.
My only regret is buying too many Latakia blends ?
So I think if you enjoy pipe smoking where ever you are in the world, having at least a small cellar is probably a good investment.
Through pure chance I found the YTPC and got interested in pipe smoking and then started importing pipe tobacco through mail order as only a few blends are available here. So over 2 years I managed to collect a modest cellar. I will probably continue to buy a tin here and there through the local dealer.
My only regret is buying too many Latakia blends ?
So I think if you enjoy pipe smoking where ever you are in the world, having at least a small cellar is probably a good investment.
….I always say that I am going to stop purchasing.... but then along comes a 'sale' and I buy again.....
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