The Oldest

[vaperfavour]

ok, what's the oldest tobacco you have ever smoked? what was it? what did you smoke it out of? And most interestingly, what did it taste like?

 

[Hermit]

Christmas Cheer 2003.
Picked up four tins from McCranie's last Fall.
Just smoked one so far, very sweet and delicious.

I picked up a few other tins in trades that had a couple of years.
Other than that, my stash is fairly young; I only started a little over a year ago.

 

[erratum]

As far as pipe tobacco, Dunhill Ready Rubbed Virginia from the late 60's, out of a 1968 (birthyear) Dunnie Bulldog. Only had one bowl & have been chasing the dragon ever since. Something truely majical happens to good VA tobacco, having been tinned up for 40 years. I've been actively looking for a tin of this from the same (more or less) era ... nothing yet though.

 

[gospelman]

Three or four years ago, I cracked open a 14 ounce can of Union Jack Cut Plug that had been given to me about fifteen years earlier. I'm assuming this tobacco was put in that can in the late 70s', because I think Larus Bros went out of business about that time (or thereabouts).

Anyhoo, it was absolutely great! Straight burley, with the quintessential burley attributes including a wonderful "freshly baked bread" aroma and flavor. (for want of a better description).

Sadly, it's all gone...but that's the oldest tobacco I've ever smoked.

Mike

 

[Mikem]

I was gifted a sixteen year old tin of Cyprian Star by our very own Pipemaker that I am dying to open up. The oldest I can remember smoking was while visiting Regor's place in southern Arizona made by Elephant and & Castle. Cannot remember the name of the blend but it was an English mixture that was from the early 1980's that I still remember the aroma from the tin when he cracked it open. The paper in the tin was very dark and oily and the tobacco was at just the right moisture level (which surprised me due to its age). The smoke was great, very rich with a nice blueish gray smoke.

 

[HoosierPuffer]

I smoked some 2 month old Virginia Long Cut just this week!

:mrgreen:

I just embarked on this voyage....

 

[Carlos]

Kind of a toss up.

From the Arrowhead Pipe Club, a burley blend. From back in the 1960's as the tin was one of those key wind to open tins. I still have some of it jarred. Initially it had a fruit-like scent that was fleeting. Or a spirit. Just good mild burley mostly. What they sometimes call a flake style, meaning it was in flakes. Perfect for scooping up and lighting. Not a pressed flake.

Dunhill Standard Mixture Full. Could also have been from the 1960's. The latakia in the blend seemed to have mellowed quite a bit. Allowing the orientals in the blend to be quite loud. Similar to Murray Standard Mixtures. But quite different. Wish it was still made.

Balkan Sobranie 759. Another tin that could very well have been from the 1960's. For me, it's sadly lacking in flavor and strength. I think it had just gotten beyond it's prime. But I also recognize that I do have some difficulty with some latakia heavy blends. It's not bad. Some of the interesting musty tastes are there. From all the raves, I would have thought that there would be more flavor there.

 

[jhuggett]

All the oldest tobacco I've smoked was gifted to me by Vaper! :lol:

 

[Justpipes]

I have smoked some old Larus Bros. Rum and Maple when it still came in the cardboard box and was actually still made by the brothers in Richmond. I don't really know how old it is. I have some tobaccos from the 90's that I still smoke occasionally, mostly C&D blends.

 

[Tom Clemons]

HI Vaperfavour,

I've was given 11 tins of Sweet Chestnut about 8 years ago. Still have 3 tins left. This VA with a slight sweetening agent is a coin cut much like Escudo, but with no perique. It is a wonderful Va blend and my favorite to smoke on my birthday each year (trying to make it last).

I also sampled some Cope's Escudo last fall, so when was that, late '80s? It was too dry and smoke quite hot. The tin was intact and "whooshed" faintly when opened. Even after re-hydrating, it was still smoking on the hot side.

What surprised me is how similar it was to AC Peterson's at then 8 years of age, which I popped open to compare. Except for the Cope's burning too hot, the flavor was the same to our tastes, except that the ACP's version was fuller tasting and less harsh (apparently due to the Cope's being rather dry). But, again, they tasted almost exactly the same to both of us. the other pipe smoker has an excellent pallet and "taste" memory and is a wine connoisseur of wide reputation.

TC

 

[Bent Stem]

Mine is some nearly 18 year old Old Gowrie that I bought from a member here.

 

[glpease]

The oldest tobacco I've ever smoked was some Three Nuns reputed to be from the 1940s. I don't care how old it was, it was GOOOOOOOD.

The oldest tobacco I own is a tin of Erinmore Slices with a 1947, as I recall, tax stamp. I keep thinking about opening it, but even after all these years, it's still Erinmore.

I've smoked a lot of tobaccos from the 50s and 60s, mostly before ebay and demand drove the prices of old tins through the roof. There was a time when you could actually get a DISCOUNT on vintage tobacco, just so the proprietor could get the dusty old tins out of the store. No kidding. I bought much of what I have cellared in the early 1980s.

-glp

 

[vaperfavour]

ah, three nuns! nun nicer! the oldest I've had was dunhill cuba mixture from late 50's and it was good, I've had balkan sobranie from the 60's that was complex, sublime and utterly fantastic even though I usually don't smoke balkans all that much. the oldest virginia's, well I have 2 Drucquers tins from the early 80's coming those will be the oldest virginnys. i'd like to know more about Drucquers, but info seems to be scarce. I have three tins of McConnells red virginia from the 60's but im afraid to open them cause I opened one the flavor dissipated after three days. but oh that first bowl.....

 

[ftrplt]

Last year I polished off a tin of McC's Oriental #14 and a tin of Bombay Extra from 1996 & 1997. Pure nirvana, great baccy. I still have various McC's and C&D tins from the late 90's. Think I'll hang on to them for a while. FTRPLT

 

[glpease]

ah, three nuns! nun nicer!

You should have seen this stuff. The discs had become almost black, and shiny. The perfume from the tin was heavenly. There's no way of knowing if the recipe for the blend had changed between the 1940s and my earliest experience with the stuff in the early 1980s, but the result of all those decades was pure magic. Not long ago, I opened a tin from 1998, and the change was dramatic. Significant darkening, much fruitier aromas, richer taste, and the (natural) floral notes that could be somewhat over-dominant in fresh Three Nuns had subsided into a background aroma that added wonderful complexity.

Still, it was nothing like that 60-year old stuff.

The second oldest tobacco I've smoked was from an ancient knife-lid tin of Dunhill Shell, when it was still produced in disc form. I'm guessing it was from the mid-1950s. Beautiful. I had one bowl at the Chicago show three years ago, and can still remember it. My friend offered me a second, and I turned it down, not wanting to take the chance that the second experience might be less marvelous than the first, clouding my memories.

-glp

 

[Bruce]

ah, three nuns! nun nicer! the oldest I've had was dunhill cuba mixture from late 50's and it was good, I've had balkan sobranie from the 60's that was complex, sublime and utterly fantastic even though I usually don't smoke balkans all that much. the oldest virginia's, well I have 2 Drucquers tins from the early 80's coming those will be the oldest virginnys. i'd like to know more about Drucquers, but info seems to be scarce. I have three tins of McConnells red virginia from the 60's but im afraid to open them cause I opened one the flavor dissipated after three days. but oh that first bowl.....

http://pipepages.com/druq1

click on the pages.
Drucquers made some great blends!
805 is an incredible tobacco!

 

[morleysson]

I was gifted a small amount of ERRD from the 1940s, which required some rehydration. But, it was a distinct treat. Darker and smaller cut which rehydrated well enough. A deeper and richer taste than I recall from my first smoking of it in 1967, and a little bit of a bite to the smoke. I've recently been promised some 5bros from the late '40s, and I can't wait to sample that smoke.

 

[Ol'Dawg]

Last year I smoked a tin of Mullingar's Old Scariff that was supposed to be from the 60s. It was a nice mild VA that required some hydration. A couple of years ago I found an old sealed puffed up tub of Sir Walter Raleigh that was made of metal rather than the cardboard ones made today. Not sure when they switched nor what year it was made but sure beats the stuff that's packaged today.

Jim

 

[morleysson]

"...A couple of years ago I found an old sealed puffed up tub of Sir Walter Raleigh that was made of metal rather than the cardboard ones made today. Not sure when they switched nor what year it was made but sure beats the stuff that's packaged today."

A factor to consider: Brown and Williamson made a fine product through the late 1970s-early '80s, then the blend was sold. Lane was okay but not great. Conwood is still to be seen

 

[Anonymous]

I have a tin of Xmas Cheer 01 that I smoke only around Christmas. I also had some McClelland 2000 from the year 2000, which I gifted to a good friend from another forum, who next quit posting on the forum and I never heard from him again...