Me and my pipe dreams

[Walter MItty]

I was looking through some of the listings of the cellars of members here, and could not help but imagine myself curled up in a little ball with a couple of good pipes in the darkest corner of the dungeon gleefully opening tin after tin and enjoying the results. Better take a good stiff Thermos of coffee and some sandwiches, as I would surely be there awhile. Some of you guys have developed some seriously beautiful collections of tobacco. The one thing I have yet to enjoy is cellar aged tobacco. I have some tins which have had as much as 9-10 months on them, but I cannot help but wonder what a properly aged FVF must be like.

The problem for me is keeping my ever loving mitts off of them. I need to start paying more attention to my volumes when I order, and get some hard storage going. Could make for a good fall and winter in 2014.

I am envious guys. But I am going to do something about it for myself.

[MarkC]

I know exactly how you feel. I've started trying to build up my cellar as well. I figure if I just spend what my cigarette smoking friends spend on their tobacco fix for a few years, I should have a nice stash!

[Mad Hatter]

Yeah, I've been working on mine this year too

[dmkerr]

I've been emptying my cellar faster than filling it. Gotta remedy that!

[RJpuffs]

To successfully "fill up" a baccy cellar, the first rule is buy 3x as much as you think you can smoke (in whatever time frame). 1x you will actually smoke as anticipated, the second 1x you will inadvertently smoke as you run out or trade, and hide the last third - and I mean HIDE it. I keep my long term investments in cardboard boxes mixed in with old tax statements. Keeps the spouse out of them, for one thing, and I get sick to the stomach if I ever look inside - therefore keeping me away too

[MarkC]

Originally Posted by RJpuffs

the second 1x you will inadvertently smoke as you run out or trade...

How depressing; a realist!

[Walter MItty]

I think I will definitely start ordering absurd volumes of what I like. IF I find my tastes change I cna always put it on the market or trade with others. If I don't change, I can gleefully open a mason jar every 6 months or so for several years and enjoy the fruits of my patience. Not to mention the joy of sharing a pipe with friends when it has aged and mellowed into a grand smoke.

I guess my stairwell storage will begin looking like a tobacco barn. Oh well, it will be a LONG time before I catch my wife and her fabric collection. Between that and her Emelda Marcos like shoe collection (what is it with women and shoes?) I doubt I will ever catch up.

[Mister Moo]

Yo, Walter. Consider -

1. pipe tobak removed from an airtight package and put in a Mason jar may not be getting better - it may be deteriorating or holding its own. Look into the "how to" of moving tobak from factory sealed containers to storage jars;

2. some pipe tobaks in factory sealed packages improve over time and some (many? most?) don't. Beware what you're buying into if you expect to be accruing quality benefits from aging.

3. speculation: many of us cellar tobak 'cause we're scared snorkless our fave will be discontinued. Then? Then we're screwed forever, that's what. Facts are facts... there are thousands of hapless Dunhill Royal Yacht smokers sitting up nights pacing the floors and wondering what to do next. Without Escudo for example life simply could not continue. So we buy defensively and cellar. Maybe it gets better and maybe it doesn't but, either way, that's not why we store it. We store it because Balkan Sobranie used to be as cheap and plentiful as, uh... Royal Yacht?

[Walter MItty]

I am primarily a VA junky, but I enjoy the pipe in my hand pretty much regardless of the charge. Each is different. But given my druthers I would prefer some form of VA based straight or blend.

My great grandpa grew tobacco as a cash crop in the hills of Kentucky, and I cannot help but think of him when I smoke a pipe of VA. He used to walk out to the tobacco barn and fetch his own tobacco to chew or smoke as he wished. There was no such luxury purchases as store bought tobacco for him. That was much to extravagant for his beliefs. I suspect that the boys (he had 14 children) probably brought tobacco in but my memories of him are of the walks out to the barn. I remember him studying the leaf carefully. I had no understanding of why at the time.

I think for me, cellaring would be a mix of aging bulk VA flake, and hedging my bets against something good disappearing as you pointed out.

But I do most definitely love to smoke it. I think I will step out to the porch an have a bowl. Where's that Black Woods Flake....

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Walter MItty

... I remember him studying the leaf carefully. I had no understanding of why at the time.

I think for me, cellaring would be a mix of aging bulk VA flake, and hedging my bets against something good disappearing as you pointed out.

I think he was inspecting for mold. Hope he never found it.

I like the way virginia blends age, exchanging sharpness and clarity with he smoothing/blending.

[indigosmoke]

Check out this thread for some online tobacco voyeurism I think you'll enjoy.

Take a Picture of Your Tobacco Thread

Originally Posted by Walter MItty

I was looking through some of the listings of the cellars of members here, and could not help but imagine myself curled up in a little ball with a couple of good pipes in the darkest corner of the dungeon gleefully opening tin after tin and enjoying the results.

[MarkC]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

speculation: many of us cellar tobak 'cause we're scared snorkless our fave will be discontinued. Then? Then we're screwed forever, that's what.

Or, for the uberparanoid like me, that all tobacco will be discontinued. Funny, I always laughed at survivalists, thought the Y2K panic was absolutely hilarious, and here I am squirreling away tins of tobacco like a loon...

[Walter MItty]

That is the kind of hobby I can dedicate myself to. I am a semi pro photographer as well, and had not considered shooting any macro of tobacco YET.

Oh boy, another can of worms unearthed in the dank corners of my mind. Looks like a good hobby for me and my daughter to start playing with.

[Kayak_Rat]

RJ and Moo covered my thoughts on it. Buy three tins at a time. Leave sealed if possible.

The other end of the spectrum.......an $8 tin of Dunhill from 10 years ago or so is going for upwards of $40. One helluva solid investment.