newbie question about possibly ruined tobacco

[cozener]

Hello all,

I just ordered some pipe tobacco from a shop that I bought from years ago, a Cavendish...Black Virginia. I received it the other day but now that i've had the chance to smoke it I'm wondering if it's ruined. It doesn't taste or smell anything like what I had in the past. It just isn't nearly as good as I recall. The tobacco was delivered to my doorstep but I wasn't here to get it so it sat outside in 90 degree heat for hours. When I did get to it and opened it the tobacco was pretty warm.

Would this be enough to mess up the flavor and scent of the tobacco or is it possible that my nostalgia is getting the better of my senses?

 

[Chicken]

did the package have moisture signs ???


was the baccy brittle,????

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. I doubt the black Cavendish was ruined it shipping. Every manufacturer makes black Cavendish differently. Most add various flavoring agents. Some (Cornell & Diehl) add none to straight black Cavendish. So every brand (and maybe every batch) is different. Straight black Cavendish is mild and bland, with fairly low nicotine. I think it shines best when blended with more flavorful tobaccos. You can also lightly mist it with any alcohol based food flavoring. (The aqueous flavorings, usually combined with propylene glycol, will also work well, but it increases the "moistness" of the leaf, whereas the alcohol based "extract" rapidly evaporates the added alcohol.)

Bob

 

[SmokeStack]

I was away for the weekend and had a package of several tins sitting outside in the blistering heat for a couple of days - I did not notice any difference. For a while, I was storing a few tins in my car during the summer - just in case I had to smoke in an "emergency." The only thing after three or four weeks was that the tobacco had dried out a little - but the flavor and aroma remained the same. If a tobacco has dried a little - that's no problem - it can easily be hydrated with steam if it becomes too dry. Before smoking pipe, I usually let my tobacco dry for an hour before I smoke it anyway. I would be concerned if dried out over the course of a few months or even years -then you would be losing some of the flavor. I know people who have old tins of tobacco that have been dried for many years and claim that there is only a little loss of flavor - it depends on the type of tobacco or the flavorings added.

Nostaglia can do strange things for pipe blends. I sometimes will buy a tin that I haven't smoked for a decade and it doesn't seem to smoke the same way as I recalled. Also, blends can also vary from batch to batch - this I have observed frequently - especially from small British companies who produce blends on a small scale.

But to sum things up, pipe tobacco exposed to a couple of hours of heat should be fine.

 

[cozener]

y'know it never even occurred to me that the batches of the same blend might differ. (and I have to say that I'm not particularly thrilled about it) I think that has to be what's going on. I've smoked a few times since posting the original question and the stuff is still pretty good...just not the amazing stuff I had back in the day. I'll order more when this stuff is gone and see what's what. Thanks for the info guys.