Ageing tobacco

[mikesan]

The subject of "ageing" tobacco came up (as an aside) in another thread. In spite of having been a pipe smoker for 6+ decades, this is a subject about which I am totally ignorant. My routine is simply purchase the tobacco (almost always in bulk) and, after adjusting the moisture content to my liking, keep it in airtight containers at ambient temperature. My stocking habit is such that I generally keep a 6 to 12 months supply on hand; so any ageing (if it occurs under these conditions) is within that timeframe.

The following questions arise:
- Does ageing (as the term is generally used) occur only to tinned and vacuum packed tobacco?
- Are there techniques applicable to bulk tobacco to enhance ageing? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that some store the tobacco in an airtight container at "high" temperature (don't know how high).

But most important of all: What does one seek to accomplish by ageing tobacco? What features of the smoke are affected by ageing? Is all of this purely subjective or is there some objective (scientific) data that substantiates the effect?

I suspect that opinions will vary widely. I am eager to hear what others have to say.

 

[RobJ]

While I'm no expert; aging tobacco tends to benefit some blends more than others, VaPers for instance seem to improve rather quickly. Other blends too can benefit from aging just maybe not as fast. I age my blends in Mason type jars about 3/4 full. I don't usually leave tobaccos tinned if I want to age it.

You might want to have a look at this page for reference. As all things relating to pipe smoking there are a variety of opinions regarding the best ways to age tobacco.

I'm sure others with more experience and knowledge will respond as well.

GL Pease - Aging Tobacco

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Also

http://www.glpease.com/FAQ.html

Scroll down a ways to the section "On Aging Tobacco."

 

[Brewdude]

Ya, what they said ^. GL Pease makes some great points.

Monbla will be along any minute to remind us all that back in his day all 'baccy was smoked fresh!

:joker:


Cheers,

RR

 

[RobJ]

Monbla will be along any minute to remind us all that back in his day all 'baccy was smoked fresh!

:joker:


Cheers,

RR

:lol!: :lol!: :lol!:

 

[monbla256]

Ya, what they said ^. GL Pease makes some great points.

Monbla will be along any minute to remind us all that back in his day all 'baccy was smoked fresh!

:joker:


Cheers,

RR

The only reason we did it that way "back in the day" was 'cause we did not have the degree of disposable income as folks do today! If we wanted to smoke, we had to smoke what we bought !!  :twisted: :twisted:  It was pre -web and in the dark ages and we were not as "knowing" as smokers are today !! We just smoked a pipe !!  :twisted: :twisted: :lol!:

 

[idbowman]

The best you can do is read the links the others have provided. Otherwise, some short and VERY oversimplified thoughts for you:

1. Tinned and/or jars that are airtight/sealed are how you'd age tobacco. Each goes through a different chemical process (see the Pease articles) to age, but both age. Tobacco that is kept in tins/jars that are being opened repeatedly (or even only occasionally) aren't aging they're just getting older.

2. I've read that a brief dose of heat can accelerate the aging process and/or make a younger tobacco smoke as if it's been aged, but then I've read that that's not the case (or not always the case) and can often go awry. For me, I use exactly one factor to age tobacco, whether tinned or jarred - time.

3. Aging changes the nature of a blend in a number of ways. Again, WAY oversimplifying, here, but Virginia's tend to smooth out and get sweeter (although in some blends they seem to darker or tangy-er). Same for Orientals. Perique gives up some of its spiciness in favor of depth ("dark fruit" is often used to describe it). Latakias tend to fill themselves out and get smoother with time, though there's some debate as to whether this arrests at a certain point and even further debate as to whether it actually degrades after another certain point. Burlies are largely immune to the effects of age, and are usually very similar regardless of age (due to low sugar content in the leaf). Aromatics suffer from age as the toppings/casings lose their punch and you're often left with a bland, lifeless smoke.


Personally, I find that Virginias, Viriginia/Periques can never be too old...honestly, I try to avoid smoking them if their not at least two years aged, preferably 4+**. Latakia I'm less picky about. I don't smoke much burley, so when I do I usually pick something up and smoke it while I'm in the mood.


**please don't take that to sound pretentious...I don't mean to. It's just my personal preference.

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Or you can just find some good burley's to smoke and fuhgeddaboudit.

 

[huffelpuff]

I don't mean to contradict anyone but burley does age. It's just much, much slower. For a burley to show improvement is in the order of decades though not years. I frequently smoke old OTC burleys that are 50 years old or more. The major change in the burley is that the flavor becomes deeper and develops almost a wine like twang. It's really hard to describe but is pretty obvious when you taste it.

Hope that helps
Jim

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

I don't mean to contradict anyone but burley does age. It's just much, much slower. For a burley to show improvement is in the order of decades though not years. I frequently smoke old OTC burleys that are 50 years old or more. The major change in the burley is that the flavor becomes deeper and develops almost a wine like twang. It's really hard to describe but is pretty obvious when you taste it.

Hope that helps
Jim

Jim, I don't doubt that burley changes/improves with some age. But usually I have smoked it all before I have had the chance to have it around long enough to note much of any difference.

I did however recently smoke through a 5 year old tin of Aged Burley Flake & to me it tasted like ABF, maybe just a hair mellower but not much different from a fresh tin. Still, it was tasty.

I guess the heart of my point is somewhat of a playing Devil's advocate scenario with the whole aging thing.

With burley, if you like a blend now you'll most surely like it later. With VA's, just because you like something now does not mean you'll enjoy that same blend after it's aged, as VA's really do change quite a bit in a relatively short period of time. Prime age for a blend is of course a matter of taste, but I think that there's an inherent flaw in the assumption that all blends that should age well are better with as much age as one can give them, which is of course what all the manufacturers and 3rd party sellers of aged tobacco want us to believe.

Anyway, don't mean to rant on a sidebar to the actual point you made but I feel it's worth pointing out...

In the meantime, I'll just continue to hope and pray that all my tobaccos are aging to perfection regardless of the date on the tin.

 

[Ozark Wizard]

some quotes to follow with aging tobacco.....

"time will tell"

"the waiting is the hardest part"

 

[Brewdude]

All great input here.

Bottom line, if you like it smoke it now. Lay some down for a while and see if it changes for the better. Again to your liking.

That's pretty much what I do.

FWIW


Cheers,

RR

 

[mikesan]

Many thanks to all who responded, and for the citations to other authors.

My experience in this area is limited. The most aged tobaccos in my collection are no more than 1 year old. When I do detect a subtle difference between these and a fresh supply of the same blend I tend to attribute it to a possible difference in the ingredients used by the blender. It is, after all, a vegetable; and not every tomatoe (even of the same species) tastes alike.