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Ageing without hoarding

never-stop-learning

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Staff member
Thankfully cigars aren't on the agenda :) As a cigar or two might cost what a tin of pipe tobacco does, I'll be sticking to pipes. :thumbsup: Also, pipes let me choose how much I want to smoke in a sitting, rather than being predetermined like cigars and cigarettes. Even then, I very often leave half the bowl for smoking later.

That is very true and this has me thinking about taking up a pipe. With a cigar, one dedicates that period of time.

Probably why I, for the most part, gravitate to the Corona and Petite Corona vitolas. :)
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
Perhaps a more reasonable approach to my original suggestion is to buy three years worth the first year, two years worth the second and then replace 1:1 as needed.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
Almost all mine are English, Steve. I do have some Super Kailash and Anarkali I think, but the bulk of the bulk are Wilsons, Sam Gawith, and Toque. I think there's about 5kg in jars, and a couple more kilos in tins.
That is one hell of a lot of snuff my friend
I didn’t even know you could buy in such large quantities. 🤩
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
Case in point, I began adding a few tins of Escudo with every order until I had ten tins, as suggested by @Price and others. I waited to try Escudo until I had a tin that was two years old. It was good but it didn't blow me away, but I had never had it fresh and was new to VaPers in general. I had some Dunhill Nightcap that I had jarred and although I liked it fresh, I set it aside and tried it again at 4 years of aging and it was significantly better. While I don't smoke it very often, I did stock up on it, both tins and bulk, enough so that I will never have to buy it again.

I certainly don't want to be putting aside tobaccos that I haven't tried, purely on someone else's preferences.

With that in mind, and with 20 tins as a maximum ceiling, I think a sampler would make most sense, with the medium term intention of putting aside four tins of five favourites, or five tins of four favourites. If a tobacco goes AWOL before I've done that, then it's time for another sampler to find a replacement.

If I only discover three faves, I could do five of each of those, plus five different singles. In fact, I think I like this idea the most! I still have to wrestle with my own mind to decide if it's warranted though.

Perhaps a more reasonable approach to my original suggestion is to buy three years worth the first year, two years worth the second and then replace 1:1 as needed.

I think it's more important for me to decide what, if anything, my stash should look like, with a clear rationale for achieving that. Being disabled and on benefits, accumulation will depend on what other priorities arise on any given month. Particularly as I'll be buying online, and need to consider postal charges too.
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
It does take awhile to decide what to buy and on which to stock up. Buying bulk (loose) samples as litle as an oz. at a time is a good way to sample, but some blends are only available in tins.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
That is one hell of a lot of snuff my friend
I didn’t even know you could buy in such large quantities. 🤩

The bulk were all acquired as 250g/500g drums, 400g bags, or individual tins. There's just a wide array which add up to those totals. Sorry if that wasn't clear, Steve.

Checking my notes, that 5kg is actually slightly more. There's 2.5kg of Sam Gawith (500g each of 5 sorts), 800g of Toque (split between 2 sorts), 1.5kg of Wilsons (made up of 6 sorts), and just over a kilo of other assorted stuff in 50g+ quantities. Then there's a couple of boxes of tins of assorted stuff. Mainly one or two tins of each, but a couple of flavours might have more than two tins. There's probably upwards of 50 flavours in total, several of which are now discontinued, although a lot of them I might only have 5 or 10 grams left. Just what happens to be left of a few flavours that I didn't stock up on.
 
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AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
It does take awhile to decide what to buy and on which to stock up. Buying bulk (loose) samples as litle as an oz. at a time is a good way to sample, but some blends are only available in tins.

Over here, some of the tobacconists split things up, so one sampler might be 10 x 10g samples for example. If I were trying full tins, it would take way too much time, and way too much money.

I also don't feel compelled to try everything. If I find four tobaccos I like in the first sampler or two, that's me done. I'll base any plans for putting some aside based on those. Trying more stuff, just means wanting more stuff, which potentially means ending up in the same territory as my snuff stash. No thanks.

That's probably why I play so safe with shaving soaps too. One main soap for home, one main soap for travel, and a few samples for a bit of variety along the way. If I found three tobaccos I could happily smoke indefinitely, the way I can happily shave with Mitchell's indefinitely, I wouldn't begrudge myself having five 50g tins of each set aside for future.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I just ordered 4 packs of samples. Each contains 8 x 5g samples under a specific theme. Some I've tried before (but that's the nature of samplers), and the contents might vary according to availability. Here's the supposed contents of each, availability permitting.

Virginia Burley
Gawith Hoggarth - Best Brown Unscented
Gawith Hoggarth - Coniston Cut Plug
Gawith Hoggarth - S Twist RM - Rum (Sweet Twist Rum)
Mac Baren - Old Dark Fired
Ogdens - Original Flake
Peterson - Sherlock Holmes
Peterson - University Flake
Benson & Hedges - Special (Mellow) Virginia

Virginia Perique
Charatan - Victorian Mixture
Charatan - Rolls
Robert McConnell - Glen Piper
Peterson - Irish Oak
Rattray's - Hal O'the Wynd
Rattray's - Old Gowrie
Samuel Gawith - St James Flake
Samuel Gawith - Cabbie's Mixture

English
Charatan - First Bowl
Charatan - Eventide
Comoy's - English Mixture
Mac Baren - HH Latakia Flake
Peterson - Old Dublin
Peterson - Balkan Delight
Planta - Presbyterian Mixture
Samuel Gawith - Squadron leader

Flake, Plug & Twist
Mac Baren - Navy Flake
Gawith Hoggarth - Bobs Choc Flake
Gawith Hoggarth - Sweet Rum Twist
Gawith Hoggarth - (black) Pigtail
Peterson - 3p's Plug
Peterson - Irish Flake
Samuel Gawith - 1792 Flake
Samuel Gawith - Cannon Plug

5g of each, that's what? Two medium sized bowls of each?

Quite a pricey order for 64(?) bowls (each 40g pack costs a bit more than a 50g tin of Sam Gawith), but saves buying tins of stuff and not liking it. I think I've tried about 6 or 7 of them in the past. There's only 1792 flake that I'm really not keen on, but I can dilute that down with something else. I'll likely dilute the twist too. That stuff knocks me sideways.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
Thanks Kent. There's several I've heard of, and several I haven't, though I've tended to make a beeline for one of the Gawiths out of habit. Out of the four packs, there's only one repeated too, which is nice. So 31 different tobaccos to try. With two to three bowls of each (unless I pack it all in the Molin Hobby or Country Gent cob).

The other samplers they have are American and Aromatic (neither of which I looked at), and Virginia Latakia and Best Sellers (which were both out of stock). There are other tobacconists which do samples, but I think they tend to stick to one brand.

I'm pretty sure I should be able to find three favourites in this lot. Well actually, Squadron Leader and Bob's Chocolate Flake are in there, and I think they're both great anyway.
 

brandaves

With a great avatar comes great misidentification
Thanks Kent. There's several I've heard of, and several I haven't, though I've tended to make a beeline for one of the Gawiths out of habit. Out of the four packs, there's only one repeated too, which is nice. So 31 different tobaccos to try. With two to three bowls of each (unless I pack it all in the Molin Hobby or Country Gent cob).

The other samplers they have are American and Aromatic (neither of which I looked at), and Virginia Latakia and Best Sellers (which were both out of stock). There are other tobacconists which do samples, but I think they tend to stick to one brand.

I'm pretty sure I should be able to find three favourites in this lot. Well actually, Squadron Leader and Bob's Chocolate Flake are in there, and I think they're both great anyway.
A very wise way to narrow down a handful of favorites...although at that rate it may take you three months to get through your samples. Not necessarily a bad thing though. I would take meticulous notes on each one. Otherwise I think it would be very difficult to remember what you liked/didn't like about each one. Should be really fun! Please keep us in the loop on your process. This has been a very interesting read and a novel approach. I think you're right, although the initial investment seems large it will help keep you from wasting money in the long run.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
A very wise way to narrow down a handful of favorites...although at that rate it may take you three months to get through your samples. Not necessarily a bad thing though. I would take meticulous notes on each one. Otherwise I think it would be very difficult to remember what you liked/didn't like about each one. Should be really fun! Please keep us in the loop on your process. This has been a very interesting read and a novel approach. I think you're right, although the initial investment seems large it will help keep you from wasting money in the long run.

Thanks Brandon. Why don't I just make those notes directly in this thread? :thumbsup: I'll probably try two or three a week, depending on whether I make a decision on the first bowl of each. So yeah, three months sounds about right.

I do find it amusing that not hoarding is considered a novel approach :biggrin1: But you're quite right, ageing is usually another justification for buying more and more. I want the reward from ageing, but with what I consider to be a small sensible stash.

I still have a tin of Squadron Leader open, and a tub of Bayside shag. That'll both keep me ticking over till this order arrives, plus give me something to thin out any overpowering tobaccos. I've probably cycle between the four genres, rather than stick to just one type, although that might make comparisons more tricky...

As for the three sealed tins that's here, the Best Brown will stay sealed, as there's a sampler of that in this order. That's probably the first tin that should wait five years. There's also a sampler of the Bob's Chocolate Flake too, which is another of the sealed tins, but I think that's classed as an Aromatic, and not for ageing - is that right? Finally, there's a tin of Full Virginia Flake, which I believe is one of the classic ageing tobaccos. There's no sample of that in this order, but probably ought to be saved for later too.

In other words, they'll stay sealed until I've worked my way through the samples, and made some decisions.

I think the samples I've got coming are a very good spread, but a question for all the cellar aficionados here, is there anything that's not on the list, which in your opinion is:

A) available (in the UK) in 50g sealed tins or similar,
B) readily available all year round from several outlets, (no waiting lists or hoops to jump through) and
C) an absolute "must have" for ageing.

Again for reference, I like Virginia shag tobaccos, Squadron Leader, Bob's Choc Flake, Condor Long Cut, Palace Gate and No.7 Broken Flake (pretty sure it was something else that I though was "raw", but can't remember what)
 

Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
Thanks Erik. You've now got me thinking three tins per year might be a sensible amount for me to set aside. That still leaves me thinking about which, for how long, and when, but it's a decisive step forward.

My pleasure, Al. As others have mentioned , VAs will benefit the most from aging. Your Samuel Gawith blends will age well.

Nice move with the samples. Those should give you a good idea of what you're into and want to cellar.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
My pleasure, Al. As others have mentioned , VAs will benefit the most from aging. Your Samuel Gawith blends will age well.

Nice move with the samples. Those should give you a good idea of what you're into and want to cellar.

Glad you agree. :thumbup:

I've had my eye on those sample packs for a while, but was always put off by the price (£17 for 40g). It was only this "project" if I can call it that, which tipped me over the edge. Probably worth paying that little extra, to avoid buying tobaccos I don't like in future. One "bad" tin would cost more than the extra I paid for all four packs.

Now, pipes. General question for all. For samples, I'm better off sticking with cobs, correct? I don't know how much ghosting these tobaccos are likely to do.

I have three cobs. A Mizzou (one of my main go to pipes), a Washington, and a County Gentleman with a somewhat wonky bore (I managed to burn it a bit oval when I was first wrestling with pipes). Should I just stick with one pipe for them all for best comparison, or would I be better picking a wider bowl for some, and narrow for others?

Left to my own devices, I'd probably try the first bowl of anything with the Mizzou (roughly 16mm or 5/8" dia x 30mm or 1.1/4" deep), and bump it up to one of the larger ones for the next bowl, if it was a bit bland in the narrow bowl.
 

brandaves

With a great avatar comes great misidentification
Thanks Brandon. Why don't I just make those notes directly in this thread? :thumbsup: I'll probably try two or three a week, depending on whether I make a decision on the first bowl of each. So yeah, three months sounds about right.

I do find it amusing that not hoarding is considered a novel approach :biggrin1: But you're quite right, ageing is usually another justification for buying more and more. I want the reward from ageing, but with what I consider to be a small sensible stash.

I still have a tin of Squadron Leader open, and a tub of Bayside shag. That'll both keep me ticking over till this order arrives, plus give me something to thin out any overpowering tobaccos. I've probably cycle between the four genres, rather than stick to just one type, although that might make comparisons more tricky...

As for the three sealed tins that's here, the Best Brown will stay sealed, as there's a sampler of that in this order. That's probably the first tin that should wait five years. There's also a sampler of the Bob's Chocolate Flake too, which is another of the sealed tins, but I think that's classed as an Aromatic, and not for ageing - is that right? Finally, there's a tin of Full Virginia Flake, which I believe is one of the classic ageing tobaccos. There's no sample of that in this order, but probably ought to be saved for later too.

In other words, they'll stay sealed until I've worked my way through the samples, and made some decisions.

I think the samples I've got coming are a very good spread, but a question for all the cellar aficionados here, is there anything that's not on the list, which in your opinion is:

A) available (in the UK) in 50g sealed tins or similar,
B) readily available all year round from several outlets, (no waiting lists or hoops to jump through) and
C) an absolute "must have" for ageing.

Again for reference, I like Virginia shag tobaccos, Squadron Leader, Bob's Choc Flake, Condor Long Cut, Palace Gate and No.7 Broken Flake (pretty sure it was something else that I though was "raw", but can't remember what)
I'd love to get a window into your process as you move through it...not to mention I'd really enjoy an opinion on several of the tobaccos your smoking. Excited to be a fly on the wall for this one!
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
I thinks you've hit a home run with your sampler selection. Many of those are not normally available in such small quantities, that I know of here in the states, and would require purchasing a whole tin. It would be good if you could dedicate a cob to each of your groups to avoid confusion by ghosting, particularly since you are using such small samples. I think you have a very solid plan. Good luck and we look forward to hearing about your progress/reviews !
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I thinks you've hit a home run with your sampler selection. Many of those are not normally available in such small quantities, that I know of here in the states, and would require purchasing a whole tin. It would be good if you could dedicate a cob to each of your groups to avoid confusion by ghosting, particularly since you are using such small samples. I think you have a very solid plan. Good luck and we look forward to hearing about your progress/reviews !

Hmmm... I can dedicate a pipe to each group, but only have three cobs. I really don't want to get more pipes if I can help it. Yes, I'm like that with pipes too :biggrin1: I have three cobs, two MM hardwoods, and four briar. One of the hardwoods is left unsmoked, to remind me I already have too many. :wink:

That said, one of my briars, a Parker Cherrywood, tended to get used for English type blends anyway, so that's that grouping taken care of. :thumbup1: I'll also switch to my MM Ozark Cherry for daily smokes to let the Mizzou fully dry, so I have all three cobs available.

Parker Cherrywood - English
Mizzou - Virginia Perique
Washington Cob - Virginia Burley
Country Gentleman - Flake, plug etc
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I'd love to get a window into your process as you move through it...not to mention I'd really enjoy an opinion on several of the tobaccos your smoking. Excited to be a fly on the wall for this one!

Do bear in mind, they'll be the opinions of clueless muppet :biggrin1: I've smoked a pipe on and off for a few years, but only a fairly narrow assortment. I'm a very long way from being a connoisseur, and not the greatest at identifying and describing scents and tastes. I'm more of a glorified hand-rolled cigarette smoker, who now uses wooden everlasting-Rizlas :001_tongu I will however share whatever I can discern :thumbsup:
 
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