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How long to age?

I know this has probably been asked before, if it has just link me to the right place, but if not...

Whats the consensus on aging? I plan on trying some Rattrays pretty soon, and from what I hear most of the blends I'm interested in trying age quite well.

So I guess I'm wanting to know, how long should a tobacco be aged before it really starts to benefit? Since it is "aging" I figure bare a minimum of 2-3 years. But is there a sweet spot? 5 Years? 7 years? After 10 years plus, can a blend really still be "improving"? Finally, when does the tobacco cease to be "improving with age" and begin to get old and stale?

Just wondering if anyone knows the science/ logic of aging and can help, or is this one of those things where everybody does it a bit differently?
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
Good question. I don't really have any experience with aging as I've only been smoking a pipe for sixteen months, but during that time I've bought many 50 gram tins and after smoking a few bowls I put the remainder in a mason jar and it might be months before I get back to a particular blend. Although I have revisited some of those tobaccos, I can't say for certain that any have improved. That may be due to changing tastes on my part as I mature as a pipe smoker, or that I have mostly English blends that don't improve much with aging. I believe Virginia's age the best and may improve after several months. I suspect you should let most things age at least a year, and there have been reports of 40 year old tobaccos being still fresh and enjoyable assuming that they were stored properly. As for the sweet spot, I'll leave that to someone who actually has experience to reply.
 
GL Pease has great articles on the subject. One of which is here. Long story short, according to Greg, one year is where you will notice the change in the tobaccos. That doesn't mean it needs to be in your cellar for 12 months. Some tobaccos could be 6, 8, or even 12 months in the can before it gets to you. Few, and the number is very few, producers actually put date stamps on their tins as to when they were packaged.

Searching the web on the subject with get you a lot of different answers. I tend to go with the experts in the field, the well regarded blenders and producers.
 
I'll check out the article, thanks Bill!

I have a 2 year old tin of 3 oaks syrian I'm pretty pumped about. It was already over a year old when I got it in the mail. If I like it and order more, maybe I'll get a "fresher" tin to compare to.

Nortac - I'm interested in aging Rattrays virginia based blends, and possibly some other Va/Per blends. Some english blends age moderately well, but that usually involves a maturing of the virginia and a mellowing of the latakia from what I've heard.

I think to qualify it as "aging" it needs to sit at the very least one year. I'll wait for more answers, but it might be best to get a few 2oz. mason jars and simply "try out" aging for 1 year vs. 3 years vs. 5 years and see if I can find a sweet spot. Although, the "sweet spot" will probably wind up being different for everything, and I'll wind up with a cellar full of tobacco! :001_tongu

Ya can't win on this forum can you? hahaha
 
I think the general consensus is...

Virginias get better with age.

Latakia gets milder.

Aromatics stay about the same.
 
I'll check out the article, thanks Bill!

I have a 2 year old tin of 3 oaks syrian I'm pretty pumped about. It was already over a year old when I got it in the mail. If I like it and order more, maybe I'll get a "fresher" tin to compare to.

Nortac - I'm interested in aging Rattrays virginia based blends, and possibly some other Va/Per blends. Some english blends age moderately well, but that usually involves a maturing of the virginia and a mellowing of the latakia from what I've heard.

I think to qualify it as "aging" it needs to sit at the very least one year. I'll wait for more answers, but it might be best to get a few 2oz. mason jars and simply "try out" aging for 1 year vs. 3 years vs. 5 years and see if I can find a sweet spot. Although, the "sweet spot" will probably wind up being different for everything, and I'll wind up with a cellar full of tobacco! :001_tongu

Ya can't win on this forum can you? hahaha

I agree with the experimentation. You will need to buy more tins for that purpose, shame...
 
Good question. I don't really have any experience with aging as I've only been smoking a pipe for sixteen months, but during that time I've bought many 50 gram tins and after smoking a few bowls I put the remainder in a mason jar and it might be months before I get back to a particular blend. Although I have revisited some of those tobaccos, I can't say for certain that any have improved.

As I understand, you don't get the predictable aging that is sought after if you open the tin and then seal it in a jar. You have to leave its original seal intact to get the intended aging effect. Aerobic microbes do their job while there is oxygen, then when that runs out anaerobes take over. By breaking the seal you let oxygen in after part of that process has happened; results are unpredictable.

All the reading I've found focuses on that and does not consider what might happen if you do try to age after resealing but implies that it's undesirable.

That's not to say that you shouldn't seal opened tobacco that you don't intend to smoke...at least you preserve it, even if the aging effects are unpredictable. As long as it doesn't mold, how bad can it get?
 

Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
Our BL founder told me that he tries to only smoke Va's that have at least 5 years of age on them.

If I had bought a new tin of VA the last time we saw James it would be ready to pop soon.

James if you ever read this come back to us. These new mods are a bunch of amateurs. :lol:
 
5 years sounds like a decent benchmark!

CaptainCaveman - The tins I buy I'm planning on popping open to sample and then sticking some away for aging. If I find I really love one or two of Rattrays blends, maybe I'll buy some to put away unopened for the long term. But from what I read in GL Pease's Article, you're refreshing the aerobic microbes if you open the tin. After long enough in a jar, the aerobics will be exhausted and you'll still wind up with anaerobics. I don't think that you'll wind up with unfavorable results, but as the GL Pease article said, just "different' results than if you had left it sealed entirely. Noticebly different, but none the worse from what little I've read so far.

Edit: Because if having tobacco ever exposed to air at all after production caused poor aging in those blends, how would you age a bulk blend? I think the point is, if you're going to age something, don't keep opening it once its sealed for the longterm. Or else you'll wind up with either no noticeable results, or vastly different results than the "benefits" of just sticking something in a mason jar and aging it for a long while.
 
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milkmanv1, that's exactly how I look at it.

From what I've read it seems like there's no point buying bulk if you want to age it, or even just preserve it. I find that hard to believe.
 
If you stick tins away in your cellar, or jarred tobacco for that matter, make sure you label them! On the jars, make sure you label them with the blend and the date jarred. On tins, I just put the date that I purchased them on the back. SG and Pease tins have date codes on them, which makes it nice.

Are there any other producers that use date codes?
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
IIRC, it seems that I bought some tins of Peterson Gold Blend and Ashton Gold Rush that had date codes on them as well.
 
Yeah I'll make sure to date any tins month/year that I get to age. I know labeling is important! I can barely keep track of the 3-4 types of pipe tobaccy I have open in jars right now!
 
milkmanv1, that's exactly how I look at it.

From what I've read it seems like there's no point buying bulk if you want to age it, or even just preserve it. I find that hard to believe.

I misinterpreted you then. I thought you were trying to tell me I needed to buy a tin and never open it or else I wasn't really "aging" anything. lol Glad we're on the same page.
 
I misinterpreted you then. I thought you were trying to tell me I needed to buy a tin and never open it or else I wasn't really "aging" anything. lol Glad we're on the same page.

I was relaying that idea in case you weren't aware, but I was not stating it for myself. We're rebels! :laugh:
 
milkmanv1, that's exactly how I look at it.

From what I've read it seems like there's no point buying bulk if you want to age it, or even just preserve it. I find that hard to believe.

I disagree. I buy bulk tobaccos and seal them in Mason jars to age. This works very well.
 
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