How do you choose what to open?

[Claudel Xerxes]

Now that I've gone through almost all of my cigars, I'm jumping back into my pipes. I stocked up heavily during my first couple years of pipe smoking. I'm sitting on a little less than a hundred pounds of pipe tobacco currently. My freshest blends are over a year and a half old; my oldest is a little over twenty five years old. I have dozens of blends that I still haven't tried, and I also have tins that are bulging quite considerably. I'm not sure about even smoking some of them because of the rarity or resale value.

Do any of you Gents with a large or valued cellar ever spend time contemplating on what to open or when to open a tin? Do you plan out when you're going to open certain tins? Do you like have multiple blends open, or work on just a few at a time?

 

[Kentos]

I have at least 50 different blends in jars. Most of them from the early years when I bought 2-4 ounce at a time.

My philosophy is 2 is one and 1 is none, so if I have only one tin I don’t open it till I have another in hand. I don’t have the rare tins like you so I am no help with that. However if I did, I think I would smoke them eventually. My end goal is to have nothing but blends with 10-20+ years of age to smoke in my retirement.

 

[Price]

I don't plan at all. Despite Owen's admonishment that mason jars are cheap, I have well over 100 of them, and have determined that I'm not buying any more. So I don't open any tins until I empty a jar. Lately I've been trying to open storage jars mostly, keeping the tins intact, but when I do decide to open something, I usually just peruse the war chest until something strikes me.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

I have at least 50 different blends in jars. Most of them from the early years when I bought 2-4 ounce at a time.

My philosophy is 2 is one and 1 is none, so if I have only one tin I don’t open it till I have another in hand. I don’t have the rare tins like you so I am no help with that. However if I did, I think I would smoke them eventually. My end goal is to have nothing but blends with 10-20+ years of age to smoke in my retirement.

The key is to stock up now. You have a nice selection on TC though.

I don't plan at all. Despite Owen's admonishment that mason jars are cheap, I have well over 100 of them, and have determined that I'm not buying any more. So I don't open any tins until I empty a jar. Lately I've been trying to open storage jars mostly, keeping the tins intact, but when I do decide to open something, I usually just peruse the war chest until something strikes me.

That's part of my problem. Whenever I look at my stash, everything looks good to me.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I don't plan at all. Despite Owen's admonishment that mason jars are cheap, I have well over 100 of them, and have determined that I'm not buying any more. So I don't open any tins until I empty a jar. Lately I've been trying to open storage jars mostly, keeping the tins intact, but when I do decide to open something, I usually just peruse the war chest until something strikes me.

Most of us here would love to peruse your chest.

 

[Price]

Most of us here would love to peruse your chest.

I get that a lot.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

The key is to stock up now. You have a nice selection on TC though.



That's part of my problem. Whenever I look at my stash, everything looks good to me.

Throw five tins into a pillow case and pull one out. You won't be disappointed. If you have hesitation about throwing one in the pillow case, choose another.

Also inspect the older tins by touch make sure they aren't getting the dreaded rusty soft spots. Open them before they get there! Smoke it all,

 

[Kentos]

As my cellar starts to get larger, and money gets a bit tighter I might start just randomly buying 2 tins of well reviewed blends just to diversify my holdings vs stocking up on the favorites. I dunno.

 

[nortac]

I have too many jars of blends that I've only had a bowl or two of that are at least five years in the jar that I bought when I first started and wanted to "try everything". I have several blends in tins that I've never tried. So when I'm tempted to open a new tin, I remind myself I really need to work on some of those old blends in jars. And then there are all of the small samples drying out in baggies that just don't justify a new mason jar. It's a hopeless dilemma.

 

[pault]

As i showed in the containers pic i have 8-9 varieties open , some of those I have duplicates in mason jars. so when empty Ill just refill. As others empty out Ill just select something I havnt tried that I have tins of. I dont get attached to anything anymore.

 

[KellyG]

I have too many jars of blends that I've only had a bowl or two of that are at least five years in the jar that I bought when I first started and wanted to "try everything". I have several blends in tins that I've never tried. So when I'm tempted to open a new tin, I remind myself I really need to work on some of those old blends in jars. And then there are all of the small samples drying out in baggies that just don't justify a new mason jar. It's a hopeless dilemma.

Well, If you're going to be hopeless about something, tobacco is not a bad one!

 

[KellyG]

During my first year back to pipe smoking I've accumulated around 60 lbs in the cellar and have around 55-60 blends on the smoking shelf, mostly in small jars. I've tried to convince myself that I need to thin down those jars before I open another untried blend or a new/old tin. I've not been all that successful in convincing myself; too many blends to try. Lately I've been more in a mood of "what the heck, are the tobacco police going to search me out; doubtful." Besides, it will give my kids something to talk about when I depart this mortal coil.

 

[Robbyboxers]

eeny meeny miny moe

 

[KellyG]

Oh, and to answer the original question, it is a spur of the moment thing, not much thinking goes into it; which helps explain my smoking shelf situation.

 

[Hirsute]

As my cellar starts to get larger, and money gets a bit tighter I might start just randomly buying 2 tins of well reviewed blends just to diversify my holdings vs stocking up on the favorites. I dunno.

On the other hand, no one is going to be sad about having 100 tins of escudo in their cellar. Especially when it’s all 10 years old or older.


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[AimlessWanderer]

I thought there might be a thread on this topic somewhere

I always have a head scratching session, and a few mental hoops to jump through, before I rip anything open. I had the drawer rummage decision task earlier today, after finishing off a jar of No.27 Perique Flake.



I limit my open tobacco to ten small (120ml) jars, which comfortably hold 1/4 of a tin, or 1/2 a tin if I really cram it in. That's why so much of my stash is sealed in 10-15g Mylar pouches, they're "dosed" to match the jar size. In them, I like to have at least one of each of the six blend types (as I classify them):

1) Plain Virginia or Virginia Burley (no toppings)
2) Virginia Perique
3) Lakeland
4) Other Aromatics
5) Strong dark tobaccos
6) Anything with Latakia

That leaves me four extra jars to double up on any of those six types. Usually topped or cased blends. I try to smoke more Lakelands and Aromatics anyway, to give the Virginia, Perique and Lakeland longer to age/mellow. The less Latakia taste the better, for me, and I don't want to smoke up all my Virginias too soon, when they're the ones that are supposed to age best. The strong stuff is self moderating, as I only fancy a bowl if that occasionally anyway.

I must have made a misstep at some point though, and have ended up without any plain Virginia open at the moment. Currently my open blends are...

A) Outdoor Reject blend (diluted Latakia concoction)
B) Firedance (topped Virginia)
C) Lakeland Dark (strong)
D) GH Kendal House (topped VaBur)
E) Grousemoor (Lakeland)
F) St James Flake (Perique)
G) Gentleman's Choice (topped Vabur)
H) Coniston Cut Plug (strong)
I) Condor Long Cut (Lakeland-ish)
J) Charatan Victorian Mix (Perique)

I usually have at least one Cavendish aromatic in there too, which again is missing at the moment. The good thing with this system though, is a refill/change is never too far away, so I'll work a plain Virginia and Cav Aro back in there in the next few weeks. I have however managed to keep a nice mix of flake/ribbon in there for planned/later smokes, and spur of the moment stuff and go smokes.

This system works really well for me. It keeps me getting bored of smoking the same blend over and over, and nothing is (normally) open too long to overly dry out either. At the same time, I'm not overwhelmed with choice every time I fancy a smoke.

 

[seabee1999]

Interesting question. I don’t have a large cellar nor do I smoke all that often. 3-5 times a month is my frequency. With that said, the amount I do have should last me a bit of time.

Now, I’m not a planner. My wife is which is why we’re together. When I approach the jars and tins I do have, I look at them and decide what would strike my fancy for that day. Sometimes I want to smoke something I haven’t done so in a bit of time. Sometimes I want to try something new. It really just depends at the moment what my interest would be.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I don’t have a large cellar nor do I smoke all that often. 3-5 times a month is my frequency.

Do you have probs with stuff drying out? That's why I started bagging up smaller amounts, as even if I stuck to one blend, it would be completely dried before I had worked through a tin... and that's at 3 to 4 bowls per week, never mind 3 to 4 bowls per month.

 

[seabee1999]

Do you have probs with stuff drying out? That's why I started bagging up smaller amounts, as even if I stuck to one blend, it would be completely dried before I had worked through a tin... and that's at 3 to 4 bowls per week, never mind 3 to 4 bowls per month.

No, not really. I keep everything in a mason jar. The sad part for me is that jars take up a lot of space. Aside from that, the tobacco keeps very well for me.

 

[nortac]

I've not had problems with tobacco drying out in jars unless I didn't tighten the lid down properly. I have a couple of desktop vintage pipe humidors that don't seal very well and their contents invariably dry out, but I find it's reasonably easy to re-hydrate the contents. I've not encountered any tins that have lost their seals yet, but it probably is inevitable that I will someday. I have too many jars on hand to entertain jarring any more tobacco and too many tins to worry about checking them all periodically, so I'll just take what comes. If I lost 20% of my tobacco to some catastrophe, I'd still have more than I can smoke in a lifetime.