Smoking 69 Year Old Tobacco

[jwesthurl]

I bought this full one pound tin at an antique store for 6 bucks.
I don’t have any clue who made it or what blend it might be. The only markings are the cancellation stamp and the bottom marking, both stating this tobacco came from “Factory no. 16” in West Virginia. The Cancellation stamp is 1953 making it 69 years old.




I decided to rehydrate a small amount with a clay disk and smoke it.


Tin note is, well, old. Smoky and a little floral. I only packed about half a small bowl because I’m scared lol.



The smoke was interesting. My palate is not very refined as I haven’t been at this very long but I would guess this is a mild English or Balkan. Mild smoky, spicy flavor with a tiny bit of harshness. Fairly one dimensional to my palate. When smoking the scent is very floral but not so much the flavor.


This is my “I’m not sure how I feel about this” face.

I feel like this would be a good candidate for a more experienced smoker to try and review. If you have any clue what this is please let me know!

 

[anotherbob]

sure I'd give it a whirl. Mostly though that sounds like you described old pipe tobacco that's been sitting in bad conditions for decades. In fact it sounds like you got it spot on. And I bet if you sent me some and I smoked it I'd probably have nothing new to add to it. Who knows maybe after your third bowl it will open up and you'll become a hollow shell of the man you once where as you chase the impossible dream of finding more of this mystery blend.

 

[Ryan]

Not sure if this will actually be helpful, but it was something that popped up when I searched for “factory no 16 West Virginia”.

Bloch Brothers' 75th Anniversary > Research | Ohio County Public Library | Ohio County Public Library | Wheeling West Virginia | Ohio County WV | Wheeling WV History |

The mission of the Ohio County Public Library is to provide free and equal access to resources that assist our community in the pursuit of knowledge, information, education, research, and recreation which promotes an enlightened citizenry, encourages lifelong learning, and enriches the quality...

www.ohiocountylibrary.org

I did notice that Pepers Pouch was made by that group, and it came in a can of a very similar color to yours.

 

[mortonbriar]

I have some similar aged tobacco I have been smoking lately, it does seem to benefit from rehydrating and leaving for a bit before smoking, something settles or adjusts I guess...
I have not bothered with the clay this time, just holding a ziplock bag worth over the kettle as it boils, and sealing the steam in.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I bet it’s… nice.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I rehydrated some Velvet from 1926 for three weeks and it helped get rid of some of the mustiness, but, it had nowhere near the flavour of Velvet that was only five years old.