When is too much tobacco too much?

[serif365]

In the last two years I have purchased over a hundred pounds of pipe tobacco with 250+ blends. I admit that I have gone way overboard but I think this rampage is just a product of my obsessive compulsive nature to try to get one of everything. One analogy of this practice seems to be fishing lures. You buy tackle boxes full of colorful, shiny lures with every possible fish-catching gimmick known to man (note MAN, not FISH) and you end up fishing with three or four of your favorites that you have found actually catch fish. I think that's what I have done with tobacco. With all of the variety in my cellar I have four or five favorites that I smoke 90% of the time. In fact more than 80% of the collection is either still tinned or jarred never to have been tried because I'm satisfied with the ones I'm smoking now. I'm also reluctant to open a new tin only to try it and then have to jar the rest for "later".

I've leant myself to the prediction that online purchases of tobacco will become more restrictive, higher taxed, or altogether unattainable at some point in the future and reading through the threads regarding online legislation today, it looks like this will someday be a reality. This has prompted me to buy now for tomorrow I won't be able.

Regardless, I'm way over stocked. I know no other pipers in my peer group other than one son (and he needs to quit for his health... he smokes 10+ bowls a day).

I don't have time (or opportunity) to smoke more than a bowl every few days. At this rate I'll need about 10 remaining lifetimes to smoke up my stock.  

Maybe some of these "vintage" tins need to start finding their way on to e-Bay.

 

[Briar Spirit]

If you want to turn them into cash money you might want to hold onto those vintage tins chap, another 10 years could see their value really soar, unless you need the cash now obviously.  :sunny: 

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

The Bomb Squad awaits.   

 

[Brewdude]

I don't have an issue with anyone trying to protect themselves from whatever might be around the corner with regard to legislation or taxes.

That said, anything you feel like letting go of could be posted in our trading section. No doubt you'd get some action there. Just a thought.



Cheers,

RR

 

[daveinlax]

Throw it in your car and drive up to Pheasant Run for the weekend and sell from your room on Thursday and Friday and at the pre show in the tent Friday. There will be 100's of guys with ca$h looking to stock up. You might be able to get a fair price from a dealer and be done with it. Just a thought.  :shock: 

 

[KevinM]

Maybe your stash is your retirement plan.

 

[alandadp]

In the event of any future apocalypse we all know who to go to for a smoke  :lol!:

 

[MisterE]

I'd sit on it if I were you. Tastes can change over time, and often do. I personally enjoy finding something I forgot I had and discovering I like it.

On a side note, I didn't foresee that Mexican customs would eventually make it impossible to receive tobacco from abroad. I've survived for over fourteen months now without a single tobacco purchase thanks to my cellar.    You can be certain I will invest generously in tobacco upon my next visit to the US, too.  

I encourage the rest of you to do the same, because you never know what is coming around the bend.

 

[d4klutz]

There is only too much tobacco when is is all of the blends you dont like. :lol!: Seriously, MisterE has it right. Sit on it and try something new every so often and replenish what you us of your current favorite.

 

[joshoowah]

I am not sure of the answer because it is rather subjective.

Personally, I have around 11 pounds with only 40 blends represented. With prices going up and the possibility of scarcity later on, I think that is simply not enough. There are way too many other blends I'd like to try and more of my favorite I'd like to get. For me though, when my cellar exceeds that which I can smoke in a lifetime it is too much. I would rather give it away to someone willing to smoke it or sell it off. I do not consider myself a "hoarder," nor do I want to be so I doubt I will ever collect more than 20 pounds of tobacco.

I'll be the one to say it. There are some within our hobby that horde scarce blends to the point where no one else can get any just to try. This has been an issue with brands such as Esoterica, Germain, Wessex, and even Samuel Gawith (at one time). I know someone who has 15 pounds of Penzance. I, also, knew a bloke who had 100+ tins of a number of blends (about 25 of them). To me that is egregious; 2500+ tins of tobacco, which no one will be able to smoke in a lifetime. Then again, like I said, it is subjective. This is merely my opinion. If you have more than you can smoke, sell it or give it away now or a few years from now. But take what I say with a grain of salt because I am not one to tell you what needs to be done.

Cheers.

 

[idbowman]

28 pound cellar, just over 100 blends represented.

Although 100 isn't really a fair number - four or five are club blends or anniversary blends that are part of a collection I'm growing (or trying to grow), and aren't really "cellared" for future smoking (that could change, though). Another 15 or so are from various samplers or bombs I've been sent - these are only a few ounces each and were put in jars simply because I didn't have the time to smoke them all right away.
Many others are tins I bought to try and haven't gotten around to trying, just yet.

A majority of the weight, but a minority of the tins/jars come from those blends I've bought with the express purpose of having substantial volumes on hand (substantial being a very subjective word), or to set aside for aging.

I guess my approach can basically be summed up by saying "try a little of a many, save a lot of a few."

 

[fsu92john]

As far as I'm concerned, however much you want and can afford is not too much. If you've got more than you want or have space for, it might be too much. I have about eighty pounds in my stash right now, but I smoke a lot, and I am deliberately prepping for tax increases, legislation, and discontinuation. If you've bought a bunch of stuff that you don't want anymore, others in this thread have pointed out good ways of getting rid of it.  

 

[DrT999]

I had been thinking of getting rid of about 20 tins I have that I'm sure I'm unlikely to get to, as the 140+ I have will soon be growing in the areas I know I like, but that really seems pretty minimal after reading this thread!