Should I open or not?

[SamuelPipe]

I am quite new to pipe smoking, and I'm loving the process of discovering how complex and refined smoking good tobacco is. I purchased a 1994 McClelland's Christmas Cheer so I can have a good solid aged virginia to try out, the problem being however I can smell a faint tobacco smell from the 'sealed' tin. It isn't a strong smell, and the tin looks sealed, I can smell it from the top where you would open. My question is, I know since I can smell a faint tobacco smell (and darn does it smell good) that obviously the seal has been breached at some point, even if microscopic. Should I go ahead and open the tin? Or is it safe to keep cellaring for a while longer?

 

[Harlock999]

I've yet to find a "sealed" tin that doesn't smell faintly of tobacco...

 

[NeroWolfe]

Tough issue !! I have had similar problems. As Harlock says, most tins do have a faint odor that it picks up from other tins and from the factory, and they retain that odor a LONG time !! If it is a very faint odor, I would not lose sleep over it. If it is more than a VERY FAINT odor Shake the tin: does it sound like a tin full of rice (NOT TOBACCO, RICE !!)? If so, it MAY be breached and dry; of course you need to know the sound of a normal tin compared to a breached tin to understand the difference in sound, which is tough. Second, put the tin in a cool, dark location AWAY FROM OTHER TINS for a few weeks so that it can air out and lose tobacco odors that may be on the exterior, and then check it again. You may be surprised to leran that the odor comes from another tin in your cellar, and not this tin. If you still have a tobacco odor similar to before, you may consider popping the tin and putting it in a Mason jar for further aging.

 

[Frost]

Heck I say crack it open, smoke a bowl and jar the rest...17 years is quite a healthy amount of age.

Have a mason jar handy though and jar it up right after opening, you don't want to leave a fine well aged tobacco like that out to dry too much and once in a jar you can sample it at your leasure without worrying about it drying up too much.

I suspect that the tin is fine, but why risk it with that much age on the tin already?

 

[shootist51]

I am quite new to pipe smoking, and I'm loving the process of discovering how complex and refined smoking good tobacco is. I purchased a 1994 McClelland's Christmas Cheer so I can have a good solid aged virginia to try out

You bought it to try out, you have to open it to do that, so do it and jar the rest.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Heck I say crack it open, smoke a bowl and jar the rest...17 years is quite a healthy amount of age.

Yes. It had its time, and now it's your time.

 

[docwatson]

Absolutely pop that tin and let us know how fantastic that aged Virginia happens to taste. I'm sure you'll be scouring the neighborhoods to find more of that vintage tobacco. And like Frost says, pop the rest into a mason jar and it'll keep forever if you don't smoke it all up in a couple weeks.

 

[SamuelPipe]

Thank you all for the replies, I do believe I will pop open that tin here in the near future. I opened a 2011 can of Christmas Cheer (only because it came seal broken from the shipment) and it would be fantastic to smoke a bowl of the 2011, then compare and contrast to the 1994 bowl of the same stuff. I am trying to establish my sense of taste/smell/distinction of notes so this will be a great experiment.

 

[Frost]

Nice, let us know how it goes. I've a tin of some Cheer from '01 that i plan on opening up around Christmas.

 

[KevinP]

Very good chance that what you're smelling is not from inside the tin but rather, the smell of tobaccos that were smoked in the shop. I bought a brand new, clearly unsmoked pipe a couple weeks ago and could smell ghosts of a different kind if I held it up to my nose (not after my first smoke, of course).

 

[Natch]

Yes, open that puppy. How will you know if you like Christmas Cheer and need to buy a bunch to age if you don't try it? As previously said, jar the rest, but keep out enough to have several bowls to make up your mind on that blend. Assuming it's a 100 g. tin, (and I would recommend only buying 100 g. tins when you can) an 8 oz. Ball "jelly jar" would perfectly hold about 3/4 of that tin loosely, giving you 1/4 to smoke over the next few weeks.

Let us know what you think of it.

Natch

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

After chasing some rare and expensive cigars I learned that if you don't have a specific special occasion in mind you and you simply save it for an unknown special occasion in the future, you'll find that no occasion seems special enough.

Open it and smoke it, trust me, that way smoking it will be the special occasion in and of itself.

But, I wouldn't worry about the smell. As has already been said, they all smell faintly of smoke/ tobacco.

 

[the macdonald]

After chasing some rare and expensive cigars I learned that if you don't have a specific special occasion in mind you and you simply save it for an unknown special occasion in the future, you'll find that no occasion seems special enough.

Open it and smoke it, trust me, that way smoking it will be the special occasion in and of itself.

But, I wouldn't worry about the smell. As has already been said, they all smell faintly of smoke/ tobacco.

For some reason I find smoking on a random tuesday night to be a special occasion worthy of any hard to find cigar or tobacco.

For a 17 year old tin to be your first VA experience I'd open something else first. Either, you'll be like me and realize you don't really care for the type and waste a valuable tin, or you'll love it and spend the rest of you day lamenting on that first tin because everything else will pale in comparision.

 

[sand18f]

Yes, open that puppy. How will you know if you like Christmas Cheer and need to buy a bunch to age if you don't try it? As previously said, jar the rest, but keep out enough to have several bowls to make up your mind on that blend. Assuming it's a 100 g. tin, (and I would recommend only buying 100 g. tins when you can) an 8 oz. Ball "jelly jar" would perfectly hold about 3/4 of that tin loosely, giving you 1/4 to smoke over the next few weeks.

Let us know what you think of it.

Natch

Yup.