Cobs don't really ghost but it never hurts for a controlled experiment as it were.
Ageing without hoarding
- Thread starter AimlessWanderer
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- #42
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I thought that was the case, John. I'll keep my two Parker (Dunhill rejects) to hand anyway, as one gets used for English type blends (rustic Cherrywood), and the other gets used for aromatics (smooth Panel). Any that seem noticeably cased might get stuffed in the Panel, as I don't mind that one accumulating flavours. Saves risking any carry over for the plainer/truer blends that follow.
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- #43
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
The ugly buggers are all cleaned out ready, and new filters in the two that take them.
There has been a delay on the order though. I got an email through, saying age verification was needed with it being a new account, but that email went to my spam folder, and I didn't notice it until this morning.
As they're swamped in Covid Chaos like everyone else (more business moving to online, and fewer staff), they're advising that despatches are taking a few days, and orders processed today (which this will be now) are being despatched from Monday. Of course, the postal services are slower than usual too, so I'll be lucky to get this by the end of next week.
There has been a delay on the order though. I got an email through, saying age verification was needed with it being a new account, but that email went to my spam folder, and I didn't notice it until this morning.
As they're swamped in Covid Chaos like everyone else (more business moving to online, and fewer staff), they're advising that despatches are taking a few days, and orders processed today (which this will be now) are being despatched from Monday. Of course, the postal services are slower than usual too, so I'll be lucky to get this by the end of next week.
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- #44
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Pipes and pipe smoking has been afforded a little more brain space than usual recently. As part of getting my head around this project, I've been thinking about what I'm trying to achieve, and why. This had me thinking about what it is about pipe smoking that I enjoy.
As you'll no doubt have already gleaned. "Nice" pipes aren't my thing. I've only ever bought new, and never paid more than £25 for one. I would feel no return or reward for a greater outlay. "Exclusive" tobaccos aren't my thing either, and I want to stick to stuff I know I can easily get again at a standard price. I'm not a collector, not someone that cherishes the trophy smoke after the thrill of the hunt, can be guilty of a little anti-snobbery at times, and haven't tended to be part of the "pipe community".
Yet it isn't just about getting a nic fix either, so why does the pipe tick boxes for me?
I've always liked a fire. I had two solid fuel stoves on the boat a few years back, and staring into one of those, a camp fire, or a chiminea in the garden, has long been a good therapist for me. It's one of the few things that can really make time stop for me, and just allow my head to work things through. I might not even be consciously aware of all the thoughts being processed, more like just hearing the gentle hum of the mental machinery at work.
The pipe is a bonfire in my hand.
It doesn't have flames licking at the air, but calls for the same prep time to work well, and needs a little tending as it goes. Even the primitive urge to be armed with stick (tamp) is satisfied. Plus it's a slow smoke, plus it's nicotine, plus it's just time when everything else can wait.
I don't need fancy kit, or lots of it. I don't need fancy fuels, or lots of that either. I just like a pipe I know will work how I want it to, and a tobacco that I know will be welcome at any time of day or night (I might not do it all in one sitting, and don't like having several on the go at once). That's enough for me. I don't need a whole library to read a book, and the words have no more more meaning if leather clad and not paperback. The simplicity is part of the magic for me, and more would most certainly be less.
Understanding this will hopefully steer me in the right direction as I work through these samples. There may be tobaccos that feel time specific, such as an evening smoke. That's a handicap for me. I might want to finish the bowl in the morning. There may be some that I can't sit with for long enough, and lead me to set the pipe down before the brain has finished cooking. There may be some that I like a bowl of, but wouldn't want to smoke a tin.
Not for me.
I'm looking for simple yet satisfying. A tobacco I can pick up anytime, and keep using till the tin is done (a month or two maybe). Also, something I can enjoy a long smoke of, or short, depending on the whim.
I am confident I'll be able to find three such tobaccos in this pile, and if they age nicely for an even better smoke, all the better.
As you'll no doubt have already gleaned. "Nice" pipes aren't my thing. I've only ever bought new, and never paid more than £25 for one. I would feel no return or reward for a greater outlay. "Exclusive" tobaccos aren't my thing either, and I want to stick to stuff I know I can easily get again at a standard price. I'm not a collector, not someone that cherishes the trophy smoke after the thrill of the hunt, can be guilty of a little anti-snobbery at times, and haven't tended to be part of the "pipe community".
Yet it isn't just about getting a nic fix either, so why does the pipe tick boxes for me?
I've always liked a fire. I had two solid fuel stoves on the boat a few years back, and staring into one of those, a camp fire, or a chiminea in the garden, has long been a good therapist for me. It's one of the few things that can really make time stop for me, and just allow my head to work things through. I might not even be consciously aware of all the thoughts being processed, more like just hearing the gentle hum of the mental machinery at work.
The pipe is a bonfire in my hand.
It doesn't have flames licking at the air, but calls for the same prep time to work well, and needs a little tending as it goes. Even the primitive urge to be armed with stick (tamp) is satisfied. Plus it's a slow smoke, plus it's nicotine, plus it's just time when everything else can wait.
I don't need fancy kit, or lots of it. I don't need fancy fuels, or lots of that either. I just like a pipe I know will work how I want it to, and a tobacco that I know will be welcome at any time of day or night (I might not do it all in one sitting, and don't like having several on the go at once). That's enough for me. I don't need a whole library to read a book, and the words have no more more meaning if leather clad and not paperback. The simplicity is part of the magic for me, and more would most certainly be less.
Understanding this will hopefully steer me in the right direction as I work through these samples. There may be tobaccos that feel time specific, such as an evening smoke. That's a handicap for me. I might want to finish the bowl in the morning. There may be some that I can't sit with for long enough, and lead me to set the pipe down before the brain has finished cooking. There may be some that I like a bowl of, but wouldn't want to smoke a tin.
Not for me.
I'm looking for simple yet satisfying. A tobacco I can pick up anytime, and keep using till the tin is done (a month or two maybe). Also, something I can enjoy a long smoke of, or short, depending on the whim.
I am confident I'll be able to find three such tobaccos in this pile, and if they age nicely for an even better smoke, all the better.
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- #45
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I have considered this, but I've decided it's not for me. The purchases made in 2021 (second year) would be for something that isn't intended to be smoked until 2029/2030. Buying eight or nine years in advance, is well beyond what I want to do, and straying into what I want to avoid. I just want to try a bit of aged stuff, to see if it's worth it. I actively want to avoid buying more than five years ahead. I'm not preparing for tobaccogeddon, or tabascogeddon, or underpantgeddon, or any other apocalyptic consumer event. It's tobacco, not toilet paper
If there's no reasonable intention of consuming it within five years at my normal consumption rate, then I don't want to be buying it. Ageing without hoarding. No prepper behaviour. Just being a little patient with each tin to see if the taste improves. It might even be that once I crack those first five year old tins, that I decide the improvement isn't worth the wait, and just fade back to "pay as you go". If it does work, then I'll have the next four years rations already cooking.
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- #46
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Still a week or so to go, and getting impatient already. We've enjoyed several years of quickly delivered online shopping, and two weeks now feels like an eternity...
I hope I don't end up enjoying the variety too much. With shaving soaps, I use one for home use, one for travel, and samples for variety. That would get expensive very quickly for tobacco. I don't think I will, as pipe smoking is still a "novelty" for me anyway, with vape and snuff used more.
I'm probably going to have two (maybe three) pipe days a week (weather permitting) for working through these samples, so they'll take a good while to work through. The aim still being to find tobaccos I can happily pick up and smoke at any time, so won't be buying anything I'd only want an occasional bowl of.
I also only need to age part of what I expect to smoke in five years too, as any aromatics I happen to fancy smoking will be bought at the time. Realistically, that means I don't need to buy more than three tins per year for smoking five years later, though four wouldn't particularly mess thing up, I'd just buy less aromatics that year.
C'mon Mr Postie. Get a shift on
I hope I don't end up enjoying the variety too much. With shaving soaps, I use one for home use, one for travel, and samples for variety. That would get expensive very quickly for tobacco. I don't think I will, as pipe smoking is still a "novelty" for me anyway, with vape and snuff used more.
I'm probably going to have two (maybe three) pipe days a week (weather permitting) for working through these samples, so they'll take a good while to work through. The aim still being to find tobaccos I can happily pick up and smoke at any time, so won't be buying anything I'd only want an occasional bowl of.
I also only need to age part of what I expect to smoke in five years too, as any aromatics I happen to fancy smoking will be bought at the time. Realistically, that means I don't need to buy more than three tins per year for smoking five years later, though four wouldn't particularly mess thing up, I'd just buy less aromatics that year.
C'mon Mr Postie. Get a shift on
Been thinking on this.
Have you factored in the possibility you may be enjoying smoking pipes so much you may be up to 5-8 or more bowls a week?
You may need to put away an extra tin or 2 every year just to have your bases covered.
Just so down the road you aren’t kicking yourself.
From what I’ve been reading aging only makes most better so you won’t be wasting money or backy. You just stop purchasing sooner than you anticipated.
I will now return to minding my own business.
Have you factored in the possibility you may be enjoying smoking pipes so much you may be up to 5-8 or more bowls a week?
You may need to put away an extra tin or 2 every year just to have your bases covered.
Just so down the road you aren’t kicking yourself.
From what I’ve been reading aging only makes most better so you won’t be wasting money or backy. You just stop purchasing sooner than you anticipated.
I will now return to minding my own business.
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- #48
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
All input is appreciated. Even if I disagree with it
I currently have a self imposed limit of nominally 25g per month (if I buy any at all). This comes from being a reformed cigarette smoker, and not wanting smoking to become a habit again. Whilst the pipe is less addictive than the cigs, it can (and occasionally does) reawaken the old urges. I then take a month or two off to break the pattern, and reset the system.
With that in mind, I'm not expecting to be smoking more than 6 tins a year (or the equivalent thereof). Three or four of those tins being aged five years, and the rest (stuff that won't benefit from ageing) bought at the time if required. So no, there's no reason to increase what I plan to buy based on smoking more in future
Nice to know you're thinking of me though
You know, it would be really cool way to do it. Buy a couple ounces and jar. Half in the jar, half in the pipe. It would be a forever sampler set! You'd have to buy twice as often, but smaller purchases.
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- #50
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
That's not a dreadful idea
Jars of 25g align better with my monthly rations than a tin of 50g too, so less risk of it drying out before I've finished the tin. Then wash out the jar, and refill with something else, so I only have X amount of tins in the cycle. But what's X? Half smoked, half saved, aromatics along the way, but they could be split too, just not stored as long, 25g could be smoked the year after... definitely food for thought.
If I end up with several favourites from these samples, that is definitely something I would consider.
I recommend wide blue painter's tape and sharpie. Write the date on the tape, peel, stick. Write the blend, peel, stick. Smoke a bowl as reward for your hard work.
At that point, age it as long as you'd like. Find a cheap used bookshelf or dresser and toss half pints in until it's full. Then start looking at what you have. Could be a very interesting collection. I'm not saying 3 years down the road you won't be buying lbs of ___, but you can burn that bridge when you get there.
At that point, age it as long as you'd like. Find a cheap used bookshelf or dresser and toss half pints in until it's full. Then start looking at what you have. Could be a very interesting collection. I'm not saying 3 years down the road you won't be buying lbs of ___, but you can burn that bridge when you get there.
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- #52
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I used self adhesive address labels for the nasal snuff, and/or peeling off the original label, and using that. That worked well.
Err... no!
That's pretty much exactly the kind of behaviour I want to avoid For a start, if I do jar in 25g amounts, I'll stick to Jar A for a month, then Jar B the month after, so I don't lose track of what I'm actually smoking. This reinforces my need to find tobaccos I can smoke anytime, and won't tire of.
Secondly, I want to know when I'm jarring it for (5 years max), and put that on the label too. Bearing in mind that half of what I plan to smoke in a given year, will be bought that year. If I've already bought and stashed the quota (three or four tins) for that fifth year, then no more spending till the year after.
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- #53
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Also... I've kind of got a head start on this, because I've already got three sealed tins.
Best Brown and Full Virginia Flake will both age nicely, I believe. That's two of the tins for 2025 already sorted. Choc Flake is the third, and as I understand it, that casing might fade, so this is the first of next year's quota. If I'm wrong on that, and it will age well, then 2025's quota is already met.
Although, I'm tempted to let that Choc Flake be for next year. I do enjoy that, and don't want to wait five years for it, but I've already got enough with the samples to see me through this year easily.
Best Brown and Full Virginia Flake will both age nicely, I believe. That's two of the tins for 2025 already sorted. Choc Flake is the third, and as I understand it, that casing might fade, so this is the first of next year's quota. If I'm wrong on that, and it will age well, then 2025's quota is already met.
Although, I'm tempted to let that Choc Flake be for next year. I do enjoy that, and don't want to wait five years for it, but I've already got enough with the samples to see me through this year easily.
They will indeed age nicely.
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- #55
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Splendid! Two down, one (or two) to go
Along with the samples, I also have half a tub of Bayside shag, and most of a tin of Squadron leader. The plan here, is to turn the Bayside into a Franken-smoke. Any tobaccos I don't like (including the 1792 flake sample in one of the packs) will be rubbed out and mixed in. Effectively, I'll have made my own smokeable "Pensioner's Mixture" from all the rejects. That should (fingers crossed) go towards next year, with the Choc Flake.
The rest of the samples (anywhere from 100g to 150g), and the rest of the Squadron Leader (40g ish), should pretty much take care of this year just fine.
So...
2020 - Done!
2021 - reject mix + choc flake +???
2022 - TBA
2023 - TBA
2024 - TBA
2025 - Full Virg. Flake + Best Brown +???
Nearly halfway there already! How's that for efficiency?
Splendid! Two down, one (or two) to go
Along with the samples, I also have half a tub of Bayside shag, and most of a tin of Squadron leader. The plan here, is to turn the Bayside into a Franken-smoke. Any tobaccos I don't like (including the 1792 flake sample in one of the packs) will be rubbed out and mixed in. Effectively, I'll have made my own smokeable "Pensioner's Mixture" from all the rejects. That should (fingers crossed) go towards next year, with the Choc Flake.
The rest of the samples (anywhere from 100g to 150g), and the rest of the Squadron Leader (40g ish), should pretty much take care of this year just fine.
So...
2020 - Done!
2021 - reject mix + choc flake +???
2022 - TBA
2023 - TBA
2024 - TBA
2025 - Full Virg. Flake + Best Brown +???
Nearly halfway there already! How's that for efficiency?
Nice! I've done the same with leftovers or undesirables. I have two half pint jars that contain my "'Baccy Stew." I also have a jar with roughly seven to eight ounces of a mixture of a few dozen blends that's been sealed and aging for a few years now. I was going to press it into a plug when I first blended it, but never ended up pressing it.
I smoked pipes for may years and never aged tobacco. Really never heard of the concept. How plebeian of me I know. When I bought “fine” tobacco, I smoked it and enjoyed it. I’ve made up my mind to start smoking pipes again and at my age, aging tobacco would be a farce. Actually, I enjoy smoking the old “drug store” brands that are still available. The lowly “Prince
Albert” still provides a fine smoke. I do very much enjoy the wonderful English blends but one can derive great pleasure from more “common” stuff. I am. very aware
of the health implications of tobacco but I was born and raised in Virginia so I suppose I’m genetically inclined to use it. Never been satisfied without it for sure.
Albert” still provides a fine smoke. I do very much enjoy the wonderful English blends but one can derive great pleasure from more “common” stuff. I am. very aware
of the health implications of tobacco but I was born and raised in Virginia so I suppose I’m genetically inclined to use it. Never been satisfied without it for sure.
So far I have 6 open in jars(each a different type of blend) and 5 cellared in jars(One empty jar). I’m making a small shelf so that i will have my 12 Tobaccos, and eventually 7 pipes. (I’ve developed a 7 day set acquisition disorder from straight razors) This will be all I need. I print labels out now for the lids and I put a date sticker on the bottoms. I don’t plan on having hundreds at once. I would rather rotate 6 flavors every so often. I plan on smoking the next several after instead of aging them. I figure from there i will have a couple blends I enjoyed that I can cellar for aging. This is my plan to keep from hoarding a dresser of tobacco!
None of the guys posting here are what I would call tobacco snobs...OTC blends like Prince Albert and Sir Walter Raleigh can and do provide excellent smokes. That being said, you don't have to pay much more to experience an entirely different world of flavors which are available on the market today. No one here is going to write you off for enjoying Prince Albert, I still love the stuff.
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- #60
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Nice excuse
I did similar. Sheffield has the oldest continual working snuff mill in the world. It would be rude not to...
