Building a Cellar- A lot of a little, or a little of a lot?

I am curious what your approaches has been to building up your pipe tobacco cellars. I know there is a recent thread requesting specific blends, but I am more curious as to how many blends make it into you cellar and how much of each blend you store.

I have been in the "exploring" mode when it comes to buying tobaccos, and I have ended up with 8 or so single tins in the cellar with 20 or so open jars of a variety of things. As I look to 2016, I feel like I should stock up on a handful of tins for aging rather than continuing to wander in the wilderness.

Due to my limited budget (and limited space), I feel like I should stock up on 5-10 tins of a few blends, rather than going nuts and buying a little bit of all of the "must try" tobaccos. I have enjoyed GL Pease quite a bit, and am thinking about this first set being a GLP English, Balkan and Virginia (haven't narrowed it down to the specific 3 just yet--TOO MANY CHOICES! ) as well as 2 tins of 2015 Christmas Cheer. Does this seem at odds with your strategies? Should I be buying a pile of Escudo (which I like but don't love) just because aged tins will hold its trade value/or I will learn to love the aged stuff?

Curious to see "how the pros do it".

Here's to 2016!

Patrick

I just buy tins of stuff I like or want to try. If you buy it at a faster pace than you can smoke it, the cellar grows naturally.

You can leave them in their tins, as long as you don't open them. I'll also buy bulk of Gawith, Rattray's, Peter Stokkebye, etc. and throw them into large jars.

I buy an ounce or single tin of something and if I like it, I buy 8 ounces or several tins and cellar. The only time I break the 8 ounce rule is if I really like it then I buy it by the pounds.

First I have to like it, and then I'll reorder it (if possible in bulk form or a larger tin) to gauge variance in the batches. Depending on how I like that second order will govern the cellared amount.

If you don't know how good something is aged, you can always put out feelers in the Stock Exchange for a sample.

cursethis said:

I just buy tins of stuff I like or want to try. If you buy it at a faster pace than you can smoke it, the cellar grows naturally.

You can leave them in their tins, as long as you don't open them. I'll also buy bulk of Gawith, Rattray's, Peter Stokkebye, etc. and throw them into large jars.

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+1.

The stuff I like a lot and smoke regularly, I have some pounds so I don't cut into the aging of the cellar stock. I keep less of my occasional smokes. I keep more VAs, VaPers and VaBurs as they see the most improvement with age. English blends are only stocked deep if they are hard to come by i.e. Penzance and Balkan Sobranie. I have a couple more blends to stock in my cellar, then I will take a sabbatical and smoke for a while. Of course the "Tobacco Monkey" can rear his ugly head at any time.

I'm going with the "a lot of a lot" strategy.

Just kidding...my general plan is to buy and try a tin of anything that looks interesting. If I like it, I stockpile it. VA blends especially - age makes more of a beneficial difference to VA's than to Englishes, so if you're looking for long-term cellar-building, lay in some extras of your favorite VA's & VAPers first.

You may not "love" it yet, but you can't go wrong buying Escudo. 8-year-old Escudo will change your world view.

My heaviest stocks are Stonehaven, Escudo, SG Full VA Flake, and Heinrichs Dark Strong Flake. All are great now, and have outstanding potential to be exponentially greater in a few years.

On top of those strategies, I also stock up on stuff I like that for whatever reason is harder to find, or that I know could be difficult to get in the future. Like 3 Oaks Syrian, as an example. There's only so much Syrian made latakia around still to make that blend from, so I bought a few extras to cellar. Orlik Dark Strong Kentucky is another. They announced it was a limited run, I fell in love with the first tin I bought, so I picked up a bunch more to stash, just in case it is limited and doesn't return.

Price said:

You may not "love" it yet, but you can't go wrong buying Escudo. 8-year-old Escudo will change your world view.

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Yes, it will- and thanks for letting me find that out.

oc_in_fw said:

Yes, it will- and thanks for letting me find that out.

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A very generous Brown Leafer gifted me a whole tin, among a smorgasbord of other goodies. Far be it from me not to share.

Too bad it's all gone now. I've got another 4 years to go on my oldest tin.

I'm no pro, but I'm resurrecting this thread. I just figured out that I've tried at least 39 varieties of tobacco in the past three months. By this Thursday, I will have owned 92 varieties of tobacco, not including varieties that I've had multiple batches of (aged vs. fresh). There are so many wonderful tobaccos out there.

Claudel Xerxes said:

I'm no pro, but I'm resurrecting this thread. I just figured out that I've tried at least 39 varieties of tobacco in the past three months. By this Thursday, I will have owned 92 varieties of tobacco, not including varieties that I've had multiple batches of (aged vs. fresh). There are so many wonderful tobaccos out there.

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Boy, that is an awfully familiar-sounding story.

I have been stockpiling GLP Union Square. It is a really good straight VA. In the years to come, it should be in the Outstanding category. Greg had aging in mind when he blended it. Who am I to argue against The Dark Lord of B&B?

Riff Raff said:

I have been stockpiling GLP Union Square. It is a really good straight VA. In the years to come, it should be in the Outstanding category. Greg had aging in mind when he blended it. Who am I to argue against The Dark Lord of B&B?

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I recently cracked a 6yo tin of Union Square, then promptly took advantage of a 20% off sale and tucked three 8oz tins in the back of the cellar. definitely one of the best VA I've had, and I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned as much as others in its league.

jiminyshiznit said:

I recently cracked a 6yo tin of Union Square, then promptly took advantage of a 20% off sale and tucked three 8oz tins in the back of the cellar. definitely one of the best VA I've had, and I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned as much as others in its league.

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Yeah. I agree. It is so good out of the tin. I can't imagine what it will taste like with some age on it!

Price said:

Boy, that is an awfully familiar-sounding story.

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I've been lucky so far. I've tried only three or four blend that I wasn't fond of. I'm guessing that my tobaccos purchases (excluding hardware and cleaners) will be almost nil by the end of July. And, after that, it'll be fun trying all of the stuff that I've been stockpiling.

claudel xerxes said:

i'm guessing that my tobaccos purchases (excluding hardware and cleaners) will be almost nil by the end of july.

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BWAAAAHAHAHA!!!

Price said:

BWAAAAHAHAHA!!!

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I'm starting to think that you work for SP on the side and can see the shopping cart that I'm about to order up.

Claudel Xerxes said:

I'm starting to think that you work for SP on the side and can see the shopping cart that I'm about to order up.

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Haha... no, I don't work for them; however, I firmly believe that my wallet and I have played a significant role in keeping them in business.

Price said:

Haha... no, I don't work for them; however, I firmly believe that my wallet and I have played a significant role in keeping them in business.

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I think I could be counted among that mob as well. Can we claim them as a dependent on our taxes?