Mac Baren Solent approx 25 year old 1st rehydrating project

[winterland]

I obtained a vintage tin from Ebay and dove into my first rehydrating. I opened the can and it was sealed well as I heard a pop. The tobacco smelled decent but was fairly dry and hard.
I put a wet piece of folded paper towel on top of the tobacco and sealed it back up for 48 hours.
I opened it tonight and it felt just right. I emptied it all out onto a paper towel and fluffed it up a bit. It had a lot more aroma to it. Smells nice. I can smell a little latakia.
I have it now jarred up and am going to smoke some soon.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Looks great!

Definitely let us know how it smokes. That's quite a bit of aging. :shock:

 

[Dutch]

Looks very tempting! :cheers:

 

[Puff Daddy]

Let us know how it smokes. I had my first ever smoke of Solent just a few weeks ago and though I found it very aromatically nice, I thought it was pretty mild. It was a very fresh tin though.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Sweet, the ghetto-tech rehydration rescue works again. :cheers: Really cool graphic/font on that tin.

Yes, do let us know how it smokes!

8)

 

[winterland]

So I smoked some of the Solent last night in my Boswell bent Yacht/Dublin. My first time smoking the pipe and the tobacco.
The Solent is a virginia, burley, cavendish and syrian latakia blend with rum.
I did not notice any rum or other casing as it probably went away being so old. From the look of the tin it seems to have been made in the late 70's early 80's. Ha. I think my pipe was made around the same time. Found a discussion on a forum about older Mac Baren tins.

I have been an aromatic guy except for loving stonehaven and the sweetness of some virginia blends. This tobacco is very mild and was a very easy smoke. It does have some sweetness but not like an aromatic.

I have smoked some english blends and the latakia has always been too much. Not the case here. It has the english thing but more of a mellowed taste with the latakia gently in there. The nicotine is a low. There is definetly a unique taste that I haven't not had with any other tobacco.

I am still learning tobaccos so I can't go into great depth but will say I like it and look forward to smoking more and detecting more of the flavors. It burnt well and seemed to have the right moisture content.

If anyone wants to try some, pm and we could do a trade. Looking to try other not heavily cased aromatics.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Latakia is known to diminish in intensity over the years, as well... I'm not surprised it wasn't quite as pronounced as it might have been two decades ago. Still, a great chance for you to taste some truly vintage stuff!

8)

 

[KevinM]

Don't be discouraged. It sounds like you fared pretty well. When tobacco is that old and dry it has gone past the aging stage and entered the orbit of mummification. The topping, if any, will likely be gone, and the Lat will be flat, pardon the pun. Sometimes, if you let it sit rehydrated it can possibly regain some hint of former glory, assuming it had some. Aged tins are a crap shoot, because you don't know whether the tin spent its years in a cool cellar or under the seat of a pickup truck in Indiana.