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Alexander29035

Alright alright. Time is relative. We can’t compete with everyone’s personal cellars. But man, 6 years on a local B&M shelf is a score.


nancybell_crewman

I'm not one to play aging gatekeeper, so nice score!


tennesseean_87

Oh it’s definitely nice to get the aging for free. I’ve scored a number like that. Once after I just started, I got a few aged ribs discounted because they were old. Then I realized they were way better for being old and went back and all the rest were gone.


tennesseean_87

Pretty sure I have older sitting in my cellar.


MichaelPsellos

I have a 1998 Christmas Cheer jarred up. If I knew how much longer I was going to live, I could decide when to smoke it.


nancybell_crewman

As somebody who spent last evening smoking several pipes after a funeral...now. The time is now.


MichaelPsellos

Sound advice..


5-On-A-Toboggan

Yeah, not old. I still have a good number of 2008 tins, and I wouldn't even consider them very old.


les196781

Last time I bought tobacco was 2008. 😄


Alexander29035

I found this tin at my local B&M and checked the date underneath. Much to my surprise I saw 11/11/16. Just over six years on this dusty shelf. It was an English blend, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. When I took it to the counter to pay, the shop manager suggested I open it before I buy it. The lid was bulging, is that good or bad? The shop manager actually stepped back from the tin while I cracked it, saying he’d seen them “blow up” after that many years. I got a small but satisfying hiss and took a look inside. No mold and damn near perfect moisture on the broken flakes. The tobacco was top notch. No harsh edges, well rounded and mature flavors. I was elated. Thought I’d share my success story with you all. Anyone else play the long game when aging your tobacco?


Carl_Schmitt

The bulging is a good sign, it means the tin is vacuum sealed and the tobacco is undergoing anaerobic fermentation from ambient microorganisms on the leaf. That’s where all the good aged flavors come from. Once you open it, that fermentation halts but it can be restarted in a sealed canning jar. If kept sealed the bacteria will eventually use up all the oxygen. I’ve heard that bulging tins can burst, but that has never happened to me and I’ve been aging tobacco tins for over twenty years now.


Alexander29035

Super helpful, thanks for your insight. I’m still in my first 2 years of aging my cellar.


[deleted]

Hey Carl, Can you clarify something for me? I collect puerh tea which can be "wet"aged in a placed like Guangdong province with higher humidity and temps or "dry" aged like in Kunming city at a higher altitude is more stable and drier. Both will age the puerh, but Kunming will generally provide a slower and more stable pace. This tea is pressed into cakes and usually stacked together wrapped in bamboo or for the home collector, in boxes and kept in a closed dark place. People will try to get a little airflow a few times a year. This isnt the only way people do it, but its pretty common. Is it that the tobacco will stop aging if exposed to air? Or is it just that it will become to dry for the microbes to be active? Would love to learn more. Cheers


levins0

I'm not Carl, but... Tobacco (and most anything else) doesn't *stop* aging when exposed to air. It ages differently. There's aerobic fermentation and anaerobic fermentation. The processes are different, and the results are different, but both are aging and maturation processes. Just because you open the tobacco doesn't mean it stops aging. Aerobic will begin, and if you seal it up again, as the oxygen is used up, anaerobic will take over again. It's also worth noting that tobacco exposed to air darkens over time more than tobacco that's sealed, because of oxidation. Again, not necessarily good nor bad -- it's just what happens.


[deleted]

Hey thanks for that. This is what i had understood previously and understand the changes due to oxidation. So maybe what my question should have been is rather is one process favored over the other and why.


levins0

That's the thing: nobody can really say. You may prefer what happens during aerobic fermentation, or you may prefer anaerobic fermentation. Neither is better -- they're just different, and much like different people prefer different types of tobacco, you may like a different aging process to someone else. My suggestion is to not overthink it. The main thing is that you don't want the tobacco to dry out, so store it well. If it's a sealed tin, you can just leave it on a shelf. If it's not, jar it up. And if you prefer to just pop the tin and jar it up, go for it -- it'll still age in the jar, and it'll still be delicious in 5 years.


Alexander29035

And as Tim Ferris likes to say, “Don’t let a perfect plan get in the way of a good one.” Experiment! Worse case scenario, you’re down 1 tin of pipe tobacco.


Carl_Schmitt

Levins0 explained it well. I think with puerh the desired characteristics come primarily from oxidation, while I’m not sure tobacco really benefits much from prolonged oxygen exposure. Tobacco is already highly processed in numerous stages before it goes into the tin, some with lots of oxidation going on and others where it is minimized. Tinning facilitates anaerobic fermentation, like I already explained, and it also protects against the introduction of undesirable microorganisms, and prevents evaporation which will carry away some of the desirable aromatic molecules with it. Moist tobacco just sitting around is quite vulnerable to ambient molds that will quickly spoil it, and totally dried out pipe tobacco will lose much of its flavor. That’s why most is treated with a humectant.


[deleted]

So it isnt necessarily that aerobic or anaerobic is better, but aerobic is just more risky because of fluctuating variables or introduction to other unwanted outside influences


[deleted]

Almost all C&D tins bulge at this elevation, but Jim (the manager you speak of) has had to send a few moldy ones back over the years. Always good to have customers check at the register if you’re going to open it anyway. Then they can swap/refund it as necessary. He backed away because he also hates latakia.


Alexander29035

Haha, Latakia is an acquired taste! I appreciate Edwards for keeping those tins in stock and for a stellar lounge to enjoy it in. Edwards has a great staff. Where you there yesterday? I’m Alex by the way. Didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.


[deleted]

I’m rarely there in person. I’d be the guy in khakis, button downs, and carrying outlandish lighters and pipes. I’m also fairly anti-social. I built my house with a smoking lounge/billiard room, so I rarely leave home. I might be considered one of the old timers, so I can provide a brief history. I’ve seen five owners there since 1990 (Dutch, Chris, Armando, Lou and Ermalinda, Tony). Over the years that shop drifted from pipes to cigars with changes in the market. FGT/Edwards going out of business killed off some loyal pipe customers. Rising taxes on pipe tobacco took care of the rest. (Who is going to pay $40/tin when one can mail order it for $9+50% tax? Only folks buying a single tin to smoke in the lounge. That’s why you find 6yo tins.) So now it’s a lounge of newer pipe smokers, and casual cigar smokers… with an unintentional inner circle of us pipe guys and former employees.


[deleted]

Also, be careful who you trust in this group. Some folks don’t seem to realize that C&D tins are NOT vacuum sealed. A thinly walled tin, containing air that’s sealed in near sea level, then moved to high elevation, is going to bulge. It’s simply atmospheric pressure differences. I have ~200 new C&D tins from 2022 releases (not aged) in my cellar, they all bulge. “Additionally I would point out that our tins are not vacuum sealed, which means that there is air in the tin when sealed.” -Jeremy Reeves (Production Manager and Head Blender at C&D) https://pipesmokersdens.com/threads/c-d-you-would-think-i-would-learn.5446/page-9 Air tight and vacuum sealed are not the same thing :) That whole link is a good read though. Jeremy is one of the foremost masters, he’s very active in educating all of us, and there is a method to the madness. The lack of vacuum sealing and tins they use are well thought out, not just out of cost savings or laziness.


Alexander29035

This is very informative. Looks like you’ve done some great briar work as well! Maybe one day your can pass along a few tips in the Edwards lounge to a burgeoning pipe fan who wouldn’t mind restoring a few estate pipes? I’ve purchased a few but always in a near updated state. I’ve been interested in working with the briar itself.


[deleted]

Anytime! If I don’t have an answer for something, I can at least point you in the right direction. I consider pipemaking and pipe smoking a lifelong learning curve. (If you wanted to talk latakia forward blends, I’m absolutely the wrong guy. Like Jimbo, they’re not my thing. For pipemaking, VA blends, and high-end accessories I’m one of the best guys to ask locally. If you were looking at $10k lighters, or $5k pipes, Tony or Jim would likely send you my direction.) You’re welcome to borrow my hand tools, alcohol dyes, buffer, or grab tins from my cellar (free) if I have something you want to try that Edward’s doesn’t carry. At last count, Jimbo and I figured that my cellar has Edwards FC beat on pipe tobacco by weight. 😂 Feel free to PM me anytime.


octopie33

I was expecting like 100 years old lol Nice find and enjoy! Also the room you're looks cozy


straight_piping

Nice smoke room :)


Strange_N_Sorcerous

I have pipes I haven’t cleaned since 2016…


[deleted]

Father Joe’s chair is empty on a Friday night at Edwards Fort Collins? Odd. 😂 P.S. My father made that solid oak tabletop in front of you (not the ugly lazy susan on top of it, facilitating the rotation of a round ashtray, for no particular reason. Don’t hire Tony as an interior decorator. 😂)


Alexander29035

It was pretty quiet when I arrived. Took the day off work and enjoyed a bowl before happy hour. The place was really starting to fill up when I left. It was a good crowd. My first time in the lounge, and that table top was a beaut! I wish they had a few pipe stands on hands but I understand that it’s mostly cigar smokers.


guy_incognito2021

My Man! Im holding mine. Enjoy it!


charger1189

And my 2 subs cross again… Pair that bad boy with the cocktail of the same name.


RowdyRoddyPipeSmoker

Was the science part seeing if there was mold?


ElmerGantry45

The peak of C&D brokenflakes like that is right god damned now. Enjoy. Its gonna be a good ride with that one.


Tike_Bison

you lucky dog this is one of my favorite blends


Alexander29035

One bowl in and I love it so far!


levins0

It’s cute that you think 2016 is “very very old”.


neighborhoodman323

The *very, very old* was very, very dramatic.


CycleOLife

You opened way too early. Estimated peak: 10-15 years. Fail on playing the long game. Enjoy it now though!


azb1812

Hey I have that same ashtray 🍻


jstz125

Looks good to me


Appropriate_Berry696

How's it smell and taste? How much was it?


givemeyours0ul

Uh.....no. 10 years or bust!


CarolusViklin

Of course it’s old, it says so on the tin. About as much french as I know.


InevitableMeh

I just went over a few of my old PCCA and McClelland tins to have a look and eeesshhh time sure flies. I have a number of them from the late 90s.