Vintage Tins In Antique Stores

ghostsofpompeii

Always looking for vintage tobacco tins when going into antique stores, and as with anything - prices may vary. But today I found an empty 3 oz. tin of Dunhill's original Ye Olde Signe, and the asking price was $8.00. Didn't buy it - but almost did. Then later in the day while scanning through the P&C catalog I happened upon the Dunhill page and noticed the price of the newly re-issued Ye Olde Signe was $9.25. For a buck and a quarter more I can buy an actual tin of tobacco, smoke it, then add the tin to my collection. The empty 3 oz. vintage tin 'held' more tobacco - but the new smaller tin currently 'holds' 1.75 oz. of tobacco. Problem solved.

  

PhilosoPiper

I have never really thought of this in that way. I was in an antique store whilst visiting some family in Bay St. Louis, MS. In the store they had a very large collection of old Kaywoodies, and tobacco tins, they even had some very old pouches of tobacco. I considered buying the pouches of tobacco, however, the level of crunchiness these tobaccos had achieved had me concerned that by the time I returned home they would have been nothing more than dust. 

motie2

If you've run out of antique stores and flea markets....

http://www.vintagepipetobacco.com/

An amazing collection of tinned, vintage pipe tobaccos [with pictures and descriptions] for sale.

ghostsofpompeii

@motie2 The prices are way out of my league. And the thing that gets me is the Dunhill blends which are still available going for such outrageous prices ... Nightcap $125.00 Royal Yacht $75.00 and "Early Morning Pipe" another ridiculous price. I can fully understand those blends which have been discontinued and unavailable anywhere else. But com on ... spending $125.00 for a tin of Nightcap when you can buy one for $9.25 at P&C today. Aged tobacco may be much better  ... but there is always the possibility that the seal broke and you have yourself $125.00 worth of tobacco dust. It's like buying a rare bottle of wine for some outrageous price only to discover the bottle was corked and has gone bad.

I try to keep my sights on empty tins closer to the $6.00 to $8.00 price range. And will go up to $10.00 or $12.00 if it's really rare and in striking condition. I'm not a true collector of vintage pipe tins ... but when something catches my eye because of the tin art I'll pick it up even if it isn't all that rare.

motie2

Dude, you -- and some of the others -- are still more likely to buy collectables than I am, no?

ghostsofpompeii

@motie2 A quick glance around the room is proof of that.

I wonder if someone who buys those unopened tins just keeps the as is - or actually smokes them. I imagine the true collectors leaves them as is. 

motie2

Yet, I've read of miraculous resurrections of very old pipe tobacco.

Charles

ghostsofpompeii - You make a good point. I think it all depends on the reason one purchases and what one initially spends on a particular find.  Sometimes buying something, holding it for a while then selling it at a profit makes sense especially if there is a demand for it. 

I purchased a sealed tub of Middleton's Hickory Pipe Mixture a few months ago for $11.75 at an old pipe shop in my neighborhood.  I just happened to be in the neighborhood and wanted to stop in to see what became of that one great little pipe shop.

 At on time, this was a thriving shop with a lot of customers, good supply of tobacco, and a good choice of pipes.  The original owner died and his wife sold the business.  The new owner new nothing of pipes or cigars and slowly let the place run down.  He now survives by selling newspapers, cigarettes, soda, candy, and of course lottery tickets.  I looked around and saw this sealed tub of Middleton's Hickory Pipe Mixture and some boxed pouches of Prince Albert on the shelf.I purchased both for the original price listed on the packaging which must have been on the shelves since the later 1990s or early 2000s.  I know this because the tub is made of plastic and not the original metal tins that I remember buying in the 1970s and 80s.  I smoked the Prince Albert which was great, but have yet to open the tub of Middleton's Hickory Pipe Mixture.

Will I open and smoke that tub?  Most likely I will but at the same time I am not in a hurry to open and smoke it just yet.  There is a good chance the tobacco my not be any good but there is also the chance that it might be fantastic.  I was quite surprised to see something that old sealed and on the shelf but at the same time, I was kind of hoping to come across a tin or box of Crosby Square which If found, I would likely be doing the same unless I found two tins or pouches. 

I did not purchase the Middleton's Hickory as a collector would purchase a coin or stamp, with the intent to resell.  I purchased it with the intent to smoke it some day which is what I believe some people do who are not true collectors but people who want to taste a little of the past. and relive some fond memories of days gone by.

motie2

I am of the opinion that while there will certainly be some loss, any dried vegetable matter can be re-hydrated. 

Hiker007

I enjoy great looking pipe tobacco tins and cigar boxes. I would rather collect the empty containers of that which I personally have smoked, than collect an empty container that someone else has enjoyed.

Bonanzadriver

I just did this with a 25 year old tin of Velvet. 

I picked it up with a an old Prince Albert tin @ an antique shop a couple of weeks ago.  Both tins for $10 or $11 bucks.

The Velvet was unopened and still had baccy.

I opened it up and found the tobacco to be extremely dry, saltine cracker dry.

I moistened a folded paper towel with bottled water and placed it under the lid of the mason jar I'd transferred the Velvet to.  I re-moistened it a few times.

Finally got it back to a partially restored state and smoked it.

It wasn't bad, not as good as Carter Hall or Prince Albert, but all in all, not bad for 25 year old otc tobacco.

I'll keep it jarred up tight in the mason jar and might try it again from time to time.

PappyJoe

@Philosopiper -  I know the antique shop or shops in Bay St. Louis you were shopping in. I have bought several pipe from one including a Kaywoodie Stem Biter and 2 Algerian Briar Edwards. Don't remember seeing any tins or pouches in that one but about a block away was another shop that had a number of tins and packages. It even had a small box of Philip Morris Revelation that was about as crispy as it could get.

Unfortunately most of the pipes in those shops are way overpriced for what they are and the condition they are in. I've seen a couple of meerschaums they had priced over $400 that you can buy new and unsmoked for under $200.

motie2

Putting dried out tobacco in a sealed container with any moisture source (such as the moistened paper towel, or just lightly sprinkled water), and then leaving it for an hour in the hot sun, evenly distributes the moisture throughout the tobacco. I've used this method several times and it works better than just leaving the moisture source in proximity to tobacco in a container.

thewanderingdude

Yesterday I came across these tins at an antique store. All of them open, but most had remnant tobacco and packaging inside. They were marked 50% off, I think the most expensive one I bought came out to $3.50. I bought nearly every one of them. Whomever had these tins more than likely had a pretty nice pipe collection, but no pipes were to be found.

PhilosoPiper

@thewanderingdude, that is a great find! It's too bad that none of them were un-opened.

motie2

@thewanderingdude -- Yes, an awesome one-time-in-a-lifetime score. Now, on to rehydration.....

http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-tobacco/pipe-tobacco-rehydration/ has suggestions.

Personally, I put the dry tobacco into a jar with a tight fitting lid and stuff a GOOD QUALITY lightly dampened paper towel in the top and seal it up. (Cheap paper towels have a taste that's left behind. Twice burned, I turned to Bounty brand paper towels.) Then I put the jar in the hot sun for an hour or so. All the moisture that was in the paper towel is now equally distributed throughout the jar.

Bonanzadriver

Great find TWG !

ghostsofpompeii

Everytime I see an entire collection like that for sale at an excellent price I wonder what happened to the original owner which made him sell his entire collection. (You may have notice this time I didn't write "him" or "her" because I really am having my doubts about the elusive lady piper I've read so much about). Did they grow bored of the hobby? Health reasons? Died? Or just the blends they don't enjoy?

Then after that moment of reflection I swoop in and grab the goods. 

Woodsman

A friend of mine was cleaning out his Father in law's house and came up with two tubs of PA from 1986 when the old fella quit at age 82, he gave them to me. I opened one(It had the old $2 pipe offer on the seal), at that time it was 27 years old. It tasted like a cigar to me. I traded them off for a good pipe and 2 lbs. of English blends. I've gotten a couple of old tins that came in a few groups of items I wanted. As I don't collect them they're in a drawer somewhere.

thewanderingdude

@ghostsofpompeii I think about the previous owners as well. All of these tins seem to be from the 70's, and I would love to know the story of the person they belonged to. I asked the shop owner if there were any pipes that were associated with the tins and he told me that pipes and straight razors are sold as quickly as they come into the shop. Dang hipsters!

motie2

Vintage tins of pipe tobacco on sale:

http://pipestud.com/pipe-tobacco-tins-page-1/

http://pipestud.com/pipe-tobacco-tins-page-2/

http://pipestud.com/bargain-tins-page-3/

motie2

PappyJoe

@PhilosoPiper we made a trip to Bay St. Louis yesterday and visited some of the antique shops. Saw this one display case.

PappyJoe

thebadgerpiper

@PappyJoe Now that's what I've been dreaming of finding in my antique store hunts. Now I need to hunt down a calabash one of these days.

PappyJoe

@thebadgerpiper The calabash in the photo may be worth the money they are asking. It has a porcelain bowl though and I couldn't check its condition. As I said in another post, the prices were outrageous on many of the ones they had.

PhilosoPiper

@PappyJoe, those are the ones that I saw. I have been wanting a German/Dutch huntsman's pipe however, as you said, they were just not  economical.

PappyJoe

@PhilosoPiper I don't have a porcelain one but I have one of the Bavarian briar pipes with the cherrywood stem and a German Hunter that's a sitter. Paid $25 for the sitter and maybe $15 for the Bavarian. I'll sent you photos when I have a chance.

motie2

Collectable tobacco tins at eBay

https://www.ebay.com/b/Collectible-Tobacco-Tins/38053/bn_2310942

ghostsofpompeii

@PappyJoe What a great stash. I'm lucky to find one or two pipes in a display case. Love that second canister.

Zouave

This is sort of a tin find.  Got my hands on what I think is an old snuff box. It was going to be scrapped out for cash so I grabbed it before it was sent out.  It's the perfect size to hold about two bowls of pipe tobacco, and fits in my pocket perfectly.