Woohoo! 2005 Christmas Cheer and 25th Anniversary

[uvacom]

I scored a tin of each of these at my local B&M. Apparently they have just been sitting there since they were originally purchased about 4 years ago. They still have another tin of 05 Cheer too, but apparently, there's no rush.

I bet this is far from the best score around though - what's the most aged new stock (i.e. not sold as an aged or antique, etc.) tobacco you've ever scored?

[dmkerr]

Nothing recently. The last "big strike" I found was in 1994 when I found a tin of Drucquer & Sons that the tobacconist had since 1977. I think it was Matured # 3 or St James. It was absolutely sublime, and of course out of production. Nowadays if you can find any Drucquers on Ebay, the 4 oz tins run well into the hundreds of dollars. Drucquers was a tobacco shop in Berkeley and I believe Greg Pease used to blend for them but that was a little after 1977.

These types of finds are much cooler these days. Hell, when I stopped smoking in 1995 (before starting again in 2007) blends like Sobranie White and 759, 3 Nuns and St Bruno were as common as Lane's 1Q. Any well stocked tobacco shop had Momoyama and Lane's Crown Achievement. Even 10 year old Drucquers was somewhat abundant. Rattrays had only just begun to be blended in East Germany and there were plenty of tins of the original around that were no more expensive than a half pound of your local B&M's Granny's Pecan Pie Blend.

But as blends go, new ones come out. This is still a good time to be a pipe smoker, and so I don't succeed in jacking this thread, this is a GREAT time to find long, forgotten blends with some digging.

[uvacom]

Wow...it's hard to imagine finding anything over 10 years old here. Actually there are only 3 real tobacconists in Omaha that I know of, and I am systematically exhausting the stock of everything good at two of them - the other one is downtown and I'm not optimistic about finding anything old.

When you were finding this good old stock, were you traveling? It seems like that kind of proverbial "good stuff" could only be found smaller towns or out of the way shops...

[dogsplayinpoker]

I probably shouldn't push you down the slope but....

McClelland Vintage Pipe Tobacco

I was gifted some CC from 2002 which is '96 crop. The 2005 is from '97.
Mine is waiting to be opened on some special day, a herf would be great.

[dmkerr]

Originally Posted by uvacom

Wow...it's hard to imagine finding anything over 10 years old here. Actually there are only 3 real tobacconists in Omaha that I know of, and I am systematically exhausting the stock of everything good at two of them - the other one is downtown and I'm not optimistic about finding anything old.

When you were finding this good old stock, were you traveling? It seems like that kind of proverbial "good stuff" could only be found smaller towns or out of the way shops...

I guess I typed the premises but not the whole conclusion.

A dozen years ago the pipe tobacco we're all seeking was plentiful. Then some blends died and some just stopped being imported into the U.S. Blame the anti-smoking zealots. So when the pipesmoking public saw this phenomena begin and became more sophisticated, they started hoarding, much like you're doing in Omaha. So it's a great time to find old blends because there are more out of production blends to find. But it's also NOT a good time because sophisticated smokers like yourself are finding and buying up the goodies.

But hell, the search is half the fun!

[uvacom]

Originally Posted by dogsplayinpoker

I probably shouldn't push you down the slope but....

McClelland Vintage Pipe Tobacco

I was gifted some CC from 2002 which is '96 crop. The 2005 is from '97.
Mine is waiting to be opened on some special day, a herf would be great.

Oh, cool! Although I don't think I'd buy anything aged like that, it does present the impetus to start cellaring like crazy. Mcclelland seems to be an especially desirable aging tobacco, both because they specialize in virginias (which supposedly have the greatest aging potential) and because they date stamp their tins.