Rains about as much here but its less pleasant rain. Cold misty rain instead of the hard warm rain down in FL. I'm not really in New England though, too far inland.
Tolkien smoked Capstan Blue Flake while writing that. It's similar to OGS or Dunhill . I suggest OGS as you read him. He was a lover of blonde VA tobaccos.
When the apocalypse comes, the currency won't be precious metals. It will be ammo, liquor and tobacco.
If it wasn't so expensive I would smoke Capstan at every smoking reference in the book just to deepen my experience. I would go with the ready rubbed since stuffing flakes doesn't work out for me.
I take that back. If I did that I would end up smoking through 3 tins per book. Lots of references to pipes, smoking and pipe weed. I wouldn't be able to smoke that much and live.
Capstan honestly isn't worth it. It's not 3x better than Lux Navy Flake or OGS, but it costs 3x as much. It's very similar to OGS. I've smoked all three this year.
Lux Navy Flake went up in price. It's still cheaper then OGS but not by much. How different is it? Capstan to me seems like something I will try once then replace it with a cheaper option. I won't quit trying but I will pull it out of the pipe and rub it out if it doesn't work in the first 3 relights. I have only once had to relight a pipe with loose tobacco. folded flake took a relight every few puffs. Rubbed out and packed the same flake didn't need any relights.
Lux Navy Flake is a gem. I think it's very good tobacco. It's slightly sweeter and more raisin. OGS is a bit brighter.
I almost always rub out Flake. Flake ages better than ready rubbed, and really is the traditional way.
Even if I don't get any for Christmas I may have to pick up an ounce for that $3+shipping. Does aging make that much of a difference? Just stick it in a closet for a few months to a year? I'm guessing some tobaccos age well and some are better right away.
Virginia ages well. And yes, basically just leave it alone in the unopened tin in a place where the temp stays constant. Tobacco ages much like wine, whiskey, cheese, cigars, etc.
I may have to try that sometime. I've seen people say that a tobacco wasn't ready yet. Do you use airtight canisters to put it back so it doesn't dry out?
If possible, I age my tins unopened. When I declare a tobacco is green, I place it in a pint Mason Jar lid tight.
When you see a tin in my photo, it's always just an illustration. All tobacco at least gets into a flip top jar for daily smoking. Pint jars are about $12 per dozen, I love them like many others here.
I put all mine in empty,cleaned out, metal tea tins with a plastic flip top lid with a rubber seal. They are old enough to not smell like the tea anymore. I drink a pound of tea every month so I get a lot of tins. They seal very well but maybe not quite as well as what you use. I have tons of them in both a pint size and a quart size. I write on the side of them with sharpie and wash it off with alcohol when I change the contents.
Here are some of the newer cans that still have tea in them. The old ones were plain brushed steel. I have them everywhere, the kids keep change in them, we have them full of beads crayons you name it, if it fits in one of these we probably have it stuffed in one somewhere in the house. The new ones have clear lids the old ones were black.
