Christmas Cheer 2013

Brothers of Briar

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I plan on picking up at least 4 more tins to cellar. I really like CC.....smoked another bowl yesterday :D 
 
I'm like Dave, Christmas Cheer and Blackwoods Flake are my favorite MC blends.  I made a point of buying a couple tins of every year, starting back to '98. They should be pretty good by now.  If you can afford to, try to buy two (or more) of them every year, and set one aside.  It really improves with age, more so than most other Virginias IMHO.  I think it's the moisture level that helps them age, but no science (or perhaps reality) in my thinking.

Someone here (can't remember who?) started a tradition a few years back of opening a tin every Christmas.  I picked it up and opened a 2000 tin last year, it was glorious.  Unfortunatly, those damn  tobacco trolls would sneak into my tobacco larder at night and help themselves to the good stuff.  That must be why it dissapeared so fast.;) 

Natch
 
peckinpahhombre":42lo9mg0 said:
I just bought 13 tins, one to smoke in the near future and 12 for the cellar.  I am trying to cellar 12 tins per year.  I also found a store that has a great stash of vintage CC, and ordered a few of those.  Am looking forward to trying this year's blend.
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 Great plan!  I bought about a dozen in 2000, and four to six most other years, but over the years I've smoked and traded many away.  I've still got a box of 36 CC tins, including every year from 1998 through 2011.  

Natch
 
Natch":2q9us1jz said:
peckinpahhombre":2q9us1jz said:
I just bought 13 tins, one to smoke in the near future and 12 for the cellar.  I am trying to cellar 12 tins per year.  I also found a store that has a great stash of vintage CC, and ordered a few of those.  Am looking forward to trying this year's blend.
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 Great plan!  I bought about a dozen in 2000, and four to six most other years, but over the years I've smoked and traded many away.  I've still got a box of 36 CC tins, including every year from 1998 through 2011.  

Natch
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DAMN Natch, you're sitting on Va Heaven :twisted:  :twisted: 
 
I've had such incredibly good results aging VA that it's hard for me to open anything with less than 2 years, and more usually 5, except for staples like Cumberland. But as I've said I'm going to open a 200 g canister of the Heinrich Curlies that have 10 years.

But only when I smoke something else up that is already open;). When I sold my cellar last year I had something like 100 half-pint jars of tobacco I'd opened but hadn't finished, which although not really an issue still smacks of lack of discipline, especially since what I put down last season might well satisfy this season.
 
I have not been able to try a well aged virginia yet as I have only been smoking a pipe for about 2 years. So, I recently purchased a 2003 tin of McC CC and a 2008 tin from an online source. I have tried the 2012 CC and throughly enjoyed it. I cannot wait to try the 2003 which will be about 10 years old at this point! I also placed an order for 5 tins of the 2013!
 
4noggins.com_Mike":quubamwk said:
I've had such incredibly good results aging VA that it's hard for me to open anything with less than 2 years, and more usually 5, except for staples like Cumberland. But as I've said I'm going to open a 200 g canister of the Heinrich Curlies that have 10 years.

But only when I smoke something else up that is already open;). When I sold my cellar last year I had something like 100 half-pint jars of tobacco I'd opened but hadn't finished, which although not really an issue still smacks of lack of discipline, especially since what I put down last season might well satisfy this season.
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I guess you did not understand this is a thread about McClelland's Christmas Cheer :twisted: :twisted:
 
Chief Catoonah is where I purchase my vintage CC tins. Depending on the service, I might purchase some more from him.
 
Well, after falling in with evil companions the brothers, I ordered a can from 4noggins as a thanks for giving us 4noggins-mike or for the discount -- maybe both.  It just arrived.  

It is slightly ketchupy.  Actually reminds me more of an order of sweet and sour chicken.  But, it isn't overbearing and I hear letting it set out for a while cuts it down.  It is under the desk lamp now.

Seems a very pleasant smoke so far.  I went with a decent crumble. No heat being noticed.  I am sipping away and quite enjoying it.  Generates some nice dense smoke.  It makes a nice break in a rotation.  Looks a lot like H&H Marble cake but is sweeter.

Those thinking to set some aside just might be on to something. If this can last anywere close to Christmas, it'll be a shock.

Have to give it a thumbs up and 3.5 stars.

P.S. The ketchup/chicken is slacking off. Not totally gone but mo' better.  Dry baby - dry - so I can burn baby - burn.
 
Neither I nor alfredo_buscatti have found BoB to have a policy, formal or informal, to always staying on topic. Sorry to have annoyed you but I can't say it will never happen again.
 
I just bought 11 and 12 for $17 a tin from Cup o' Joe's....already on it's way. I just got the shipping confirmation a few minutes ago. So when the 11 gets here I will have some that IS aged and some TO age.......if I just don't tear into it and smoke it all :lol!: 
 
Found a lone tin of 2012 today at my local tobacconists. I think I'll try a bit and then jar it up for a year or two.
 
I had a bowl last night. I usually cube a flake, and use a gravity feed method.  Last night, the pieces I grabbed, were a bit more ragged, than I would have liked for cubing. I decided to just rub it out. My smoke was good, but the smoke was not as full as my first bowl, that I had cubed. Anyone have any wisdom for me on this?  I hope to have another bowl of CC tonight, and will cube it for sure. It had better be thick and heavy!
 
My take is that low to moderate difficulty found in smoking a pipe can be compensated for by smoking technique. This would apply to this problem and a pack that is mostly good but not thoroughly good, but it will be no match for a pipe that is badly drilled or that gurgles unmercifully.

My guess is that either you packed the pipe badly, which I doubt given how long you've been smoking, or that your smoking technique was different between the two smokes. I find smoking technique the most elusive of pipe skills as it requires consistent concentration; more, what was your mood? The more excited I am the harder it is to concentrate.

You probably smoked faster when you got more smoke. In fact I don't think there's any question about it as getting more smoke means faster combustion. Only if you're confident that you are smoking slowly can you eliminate this, the most important of variables. Once you feel confident, ask yourself if you are indeed smoking slowly a couple times more. It takes a lot of work to slow down, which is an answer to more than the solution to your problem, but which nonetheless is paramount to the full enjoyment of the pipe. The slower you go the less of a beating your mouth takes and the more you savor the experience. Concentration promotes relaxation.

As long as the pieces of flake will burn fairly well whether they are irregularly shaped or cubed shouldn't make much difference, from my experience. For example I've been smoking bits of flake of two different tobaccos for some time now, the remnants of jarring a lot of bulk. I apply enough pressure to a clump sufficient to fill the bowl and insert them into the bowl. The pressure that I use is the major factor in how they will burn. Just enough pressure maintains the clump sufficiently for a longer burn; too much makes for a lot of relights. These pieces of flake come in many different sizes.

Hope this helps!
 
Alfredo I think you are correct. Two more bowls, both cubed, and still not like the first. I must have been to worked up to smoke it slowly the first time.
 
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