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New in The Lounge: HOW TO MANAGE A TOBACCO CELLAR
NicoleSTGLaneLtd
admin
in The Lounge
Wine, cheese, and steak are all things that get better with age. But did you know that tobacco is something you can add to your cellar as well? Historically, tobacco connoisseurs are the only ones who cellar tobacco, but the benefits are significant enough that even novice smokers should consider taking up the practice.
https://thispipelife.com/tpl-article/38/
https://thispipelife.com/tpl-article/38/
Comments
The old one is at https://macpappysworld.blogspot.com/
But "ten" to "fifteen" years? I fully expect to be dead in ten to fifteen years.
After a month or two, I realized it was just not something I was interested in doing and I'm not OCD enough to jump online and constantly update the app for it to be effective.
I'm more of the type to buy 2 tins at a time, open one and throw it into the wooden chest I use for a cellar kind of guy. The plus side is when I decide to open a new tin I can dig through the box and find a treasure.
@piperdave Thanks for the input. I'll probably check out The Pipe Tool over the weekend. Unfortunately, most my devices are iOS, so I'm limited in my availability to tobacco related apps. @PappyJoe I completely get your point. However, as an engineer... I am exactly OCD enough to want to jump online and constantly update an app. In fact, I put together a spreadsheet to help me populate the app/website! It's an affliction I've learned to deal with. Hope you both have a great Christmas!
I know the app I used to use from itunes was called just Pipe Tool but it is no longer supported but worked great. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well. All the best.
If you open a tin and it does not have a good seal, transfer the contents to an appropriate size jar.
https://pipe-club.com/tobacco_aging_faq/eng/aging.php
That gives me approximately 13 lbs of tobacco.
https://pipe-club.com/tobacco_aging_faq/eng/aging.php
and
https://www.tobaccopipes.com/blog/cellaring-tobacco-the-dos-and-donts/
and
https://cellarlabels.com/getting-started-a-brief-overview/
and
https://www.cornellanddiehl.com/pipe-smoking-basics.cfm
Tobacco Storage and Cellaring
Almost all straight-from-the-blender tobaccos with a reasonable amount of natural sugar, both tinned and bulk, will benefit from aging. Some blends, however, will age better than others, with the primary factor being the presence and percentage of Virginias (the most naturally sweet of tobaccos) in the mixture. A secondary, but still important, consideration is the attendance of Orientals. Though lower in sugar than Virginias, many Oriental varieties still contain enough sweetness to carry them through the fermentation process, plus bring an added bonus of higher complexity to the blend.
Once the right leafs are blended and placed in tin, the first of two initial aging mechanisms begin. 1. Tobaccos begin to interact/meld with each other ('marry' is a term that you will frequently run across), and the speed of the interaction is even greater with a flake, whose melding received a kick-start from a press. 2. The first fermentation stage, an aerobic process involving friendly microbes, begins. As the bacteria involved in "2" run out of air, your treasure-in-process moves into the second (and final), stage of fermentation; anaerobic, a state of slower aging that will continue until you open the tin.
The precise amount of time that it will take for your tinned, cellared leaf to enter anaerobic fermentation depends on a myriad of factors: composition of the blend, the amount of time between harvest and tin, the number of microbes in that initial 2/8oz tin, storage temperatures (both actual temp, as well as fluctuation), to name a few. Even then, there is precious little 'precision' in the guess. Depending on the time your mixture was tinned and when you purchased it, it's quite possible that your investment is already in the anaerobic state.
So, what happens during aging? While both stages contain processes that will work concurrently, as well as mechanisms which can only happen in sequence, the changes in the aerobic stage, and subsequent beginnings of the anaerobic leg, are the fastest. With an aging friendly blend, as the reactions and fermentation in the latter stage progress, a greater sweetness and complexity appears. In as little as 1-2 years, your smoke will likely show remarkable improvement over 'just tinned', and will positively shine at 5 years (sugar crystals!). After that (again, with the right tobacco) improvement will continue, but at a much slower pace. With an all Virginia blend, its pinnacle, much like a first growth Bordeaux of great vintage, could be decades. With a well-made English, the peak is likely be in the mid-to-late teens, with a gradual decline noticeable after a couple of decades.
Unlike cellaring wine, proper tobacco storage doesn't require a major investment in equipment, it simply needs a space to rest, preferably one where it won't be subjected to higher temperatures than you can comfortably handle, long term. No need for vintage charts, though there are some pretty dandy wine storage software programs out there, which have been modified by tobacco aficionados, for tracking tin count and age. Collecting is a snap; start by buying an extra tin or two along with your normal purchase. Given time, you can start smoking that older, delicious leaf, and rotating your new purchases to the back.
As a parting thought: one thing to keep in mind is that, unlike the above mentioned Bordeaux, popping a tin at two, five, or seven years isn't 'infanticide', you are still smoking something all the finer for your patience. Simply understand that once you pop that lid, you should either smoke it, or preserve it. Yes, one can 'reboot' a tobacco back into an aging state and it will continue to change, but you might not enjoy that change.
Great info. Thanks.