RE: Tobacco Cellar

[ED_X]

Gentlemen:

With all things being equal (i.e. either a sealed tin or placed in a mason jar, out of direct sunlight, etc.) how long will stored tobacco be smoke-able (i.e flavorful, not dried out)?
I'm concerned about the FDA and rising prices and diminished availability so I want to start a cellar.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[kaiser83]

Honestly depends on the type of tobacco you are looking to cellar. Virginia's will be good for a long long long time and get better over the years until they reach a peak in aging, then they will continue to mellow out. Aro's will stay good a few years (from what I have read) but start to lose their flavor over time. They just don't age as well as VA's. Some of the other guys will be able to answer more in depth for you. If you look through here the question has been raised quite a few times. Try using "aging" as a keyword in the search function here on BoB.

 

[old_salt]

If you start off with Quality Virginias or VaPers, you can expect
20 yrs minimum.

Info on all things tobacco;

http://web.archive.org/web/20090213122643/http://agingfaq.nocturne.org/index.php

 

[calipuffer]

There are enough opinions/strategies/methods on this topic to keep you reading for awhile. The short answer is there is no "everything else equal" which makes it interesting. Some tobaccos can come with a mold or issue which will cause problems, some seals will fail, some tins may rust. As GL Pease, and others, have stated, aging is a factor of fermentation, or an aerobic process. So if you vacuum seal a container that will maintain its seal, you will create an anaerobic environment that will stall aging. This is all nifty in that you can control aging by airing jars, or creating weak vacuum on glass jars, or just letting tobacco age in the original tin.

The best advice I can give is to plan for loss. If you buy bulk, or a pound of SG/Esoterica or other tobacco that comes in a bag or box, jarring in smaller jars will mitigate risk of one seal ruining a large amount of tobacco.

I have followed this topic for years. The reality is there isn't much info or experience on "extreme aging" (beyond 20 years). As tobacco has been relatively inexpensive and available there hasn't been a need to do such things, except for a jar forgotten in a cellar. One thing for sure is that aged tobacco is different than the same tobacco fresh. So it may be perfectly good for smoking, but your palate may not prefer the aged version.

 

[Hawker]

With the US talking about taxing Tabacco the same as Canada i've just started cellering myself. Most of my fav's are from Boswell's and aro's so i'm hoping that they will keep OK. As a precaution i clean all the 250 - 500 ml Mason/Ball jars & lids before filling and then set the filled jars in a pot that just had the water boiling in it to warm for about 4-5 min. before cealing then double check the lid the next day. I also leaving the tobacco sit in the cupboard for about a month before jaring if i think the moisture content is to high. So far everything i've opened from past jaring has had a good vacuum seal. But i haven't aged anything longer than 2 years for any taste/quality comparison's. Maybe someone with more experience will reply.

PS. The wide mouth 250 ml jars are a lot nicer to work with for the small amounts i'm dealing with.

 

[Nick Fox]

Hawker- I don't remember what thread I saw it in, but one of the Brothers posted that mason jars are spore/contaminant free from the package. If it's been used before than I use a bleach and water rinse and air dry.

 

[huffelpuff]

Ed

I can only speak to the extreme aging of burley based blends as that's the majority of what I smoke. My experience is that as long as the seals are intact or the container isn't rusted out the tobacco will be fine. Most of what I smoke is 40-80 years old and they are just fine! Burleys are not noted for ageing well but I've never had an issue with any of mine old stuff. Hope this is of some help

Jim

 

[sisyphus]

low sugar tobaccos like Burley shouldn't change much over time other than to have any rough edges smoothed out

aros and Lakelands probably don't hold up, but in the case of the Lakelands, as long as the scentings don't go funny over time the tobacco underneath is top notch and they should still be a good smoke.

Latakia blends will really settle down, but the Va in them also develops and I've smoked 35 yr old Balkan Sobranie, and where I thought it would have lost something it was instead the best Lat blend I've ever smoked. If you're looking for a full Lat blend that will stay full over time put away a Lat bomb. I've got some Old Ironsides put up for just this reason. Under normal circumstances I can only smoke Old Ironsides when I'm sick, because otherwise it's just way too much. I am curious to see what 20 yrs does to it.

straight Va's ferment in storage. I've smoked 40 year old Sobranie Virginian No. 10 and some 20 yr old McClelland No. 24. The 24 was definitely sweeter and deeper than fresh 24. The Sobranie was still good, but I got the impression that it was on the downhill side of the curve at 40 yrs. Greg Pease said once that a Va stored properly would continue to improve for 40, perhaps 50 yrs before it started to degrade.

My personal feeling is that there is a sweet spot that runs from 5 to 30 yrs, but especially from 10 to 30 yrs. At age 56 the tobacco in my cellar will all be from 10 to 20 yrs old, so if I live to 70 I look forward to smoking my tobacco at its very best the last 14-15 years of my life. My cellar is approx 66% straight Va, 15% Burley and 19% Lat blends.