Playing Devill's Advocate - The Flawed Logic Of Long Term Cellaring
ghostsofpompeii
Master
First a word of explanation - I'm simply playing Devil's Advocate with this little exercise in the flawed logic of long term cellaring, and not criticizing those who do so. I myself have a cellar full of tobacco that will clearly outlive me - yet I continue to add to it on a regular basis. So I'm not an adversary of the 'Cellar Dwellers' - simply a concerned 'Brother Piper Of The Realm' expressing a germ of an idea for fellow pipers to mull over. With special emphasis on newbies.
First off, we all know the benefits of having a well stocked cellar. Especially in these uncertain times when favorite blends like the complete Dunhill line are being discontinued and the FDA Deeming Regulation case is looming before us putting even more blends in jeopardy. So we stock our cellar to insure a sufficient supply of our favorite blends should the unthinkable occur. We also cellar to age blends for a more perfect smoke. And we cellar because as common sense dictates, tobacco will never be cheaper than it is today. Prices go up on everything so it safe to assume the same holds true for tobacco. And chances are one of the by-products of the Deeming Regulations will invariably include some form of outrageous tax levied against pipe tobacco products, eventually pricing a majority of us out of the market. So having that fully stocked cellar will prove to be invaluable in the dark days ahead.
Now here's where my horns sprout and I assume the role of Devil's Advocate.
Once again, this little exercise in the flawed logic of long term cellaring is intended mainly as a cautionary tale for newbies who find themselves absorbing reams of new information pertaining to the hobby from both internet forums and YouTube Pipe Presenters, touting the merits of a well stocked cellar. But there's something to be learned for experienced smokers as well.
How many times have you heard or read a fellow piper state that their introduction to pipe smoking began with an OTC aromatic - usually a vanilla or chocolate cased Cavendish. But now only smoke quality English Latakia or Virginia Perique blends - and seldom, if ever, smoke a heavily cased aromatic.
Taste change.
The internet is filled with scientific studies that both claim and dispute a condition referred to as 'The Seven Year Palette Change'. This highly controversial study suggest that just as our body undergoes a complete regeneration every seven years as new cells replace old ones ... so too do our taste buds. Now like most information gleamed from the internet, facts and folklore often intersect - and the truth can usually be found somewhere in between. But I know for a fact that there are certain foods I hated as a kid which I now eat and enjoy regularly. And vise-versa. Some products I've eaten all my life no longer taste as flavorful as they once did. And I also know from experience that you can over-eat a certain food and make yourself sick - and as a result can't stomach the thought of putting it in your mouth again. I did it with canned Vienna Sausages. On a bet I ate six cans of Vienna Sausage - got deathly ill - and now can't walk past the canned meat aisle of a grocery store without getting queasy.
Once again - taste change.
Now if that newbie with a penchant for vanilla Cavendish finds him or herself immersed in a conversation with a seasoned vet on the merits of cellaring, while factoring in these times of FDA uncertainty - another hot topic - a natural inclination could be to over-react and purchase pounds of bulk tobacco that meets their current flavor profile; deluding themselves into assuming that decades of smoking pleasure lay ahead. Of course that's provided their taste in tobacco remains unchanged and they don't follow suit with the multitude of experienced smokers with a discriminating palette whose taste in tobacco changed and matured.
A well stocked tobacco cellar can be an expensive investment. So before you commit to a cellar full of regret do as much experimentation with a wide range of blends. Cover the gamut from Burley to Red and Gold Virginias, Dark Fired Kentucky, Latakia, Orientals, Perique, Turkish, and Cavendish in all their many permutation. Weed out what you absolutely hate and cross it off your list early on. And if you're relatively new to the hobby I'd strongly suggest before stocking your cellar with a multitude of blends, choose two or three favorites that you think you can't live without ... and then if you so choose, stockpile them. Then you can always toss in an occasional tin or two of something new for variety sake without exhausting your bankroll.
And for the experienced old timers preparing for the uncertainty of what lies ahead - each of us taking stock of our inventory while scribbling a list for our next tobacco order - it might be time to take a hard look at the quantity of stock currently your cellar, work-up a realistic calculation of your tobacco usage, then ask yourself ... "Will I ever be satisfied with what I have? When is enough, enough? "
Comments
That's most likely some great advice. I think the same happens with pipes, in most cases. Someone new to the hobby, may purchase pipes that catch their eye for purely cosmetic purposes, then when they begin to sample different blends in different pipes, their tastes in pipe size, shape, or design may change as well.
As for aromatics vs. non aromatics, I think body chemistry has a lot to do with what an individual can tolerate. As you stated, we are in a constant state of change, and who knows what our tongue may tolerate or prefer 10 years down the road.
Even so, I am going to keep cellaring till I can't cellar no more.
This posting and all of it's comments are what I truly enjoy about TPL. All the varying opinions and outlooks on the same subject but each
and every person is correct based upon their own opinion and taste profiles. Just one more thing that makes me cherish the pipe that much more.