A Vintage Smoke

Sometime last fall, the shop got a hold of some Old English Curve Cut Pipe Tobacco. There is an entire box of it, still wrapped in the original wax paper packaging. There were a half dozen more tins with the box. Not much was known of the find, age, if it was still smokeable, what its make up is...

This spring the Hartford Reading Society was established and I was looking for something interesting to bring to the table. I thought it would be interesting to bring a vintage pipe tobacco. (I was not the only one thinking this, but that is another story) Why not see if the find of Old English Curve Cut Pipe Tobacco was savable.

I nervously opened a tin, I noticed the 1926 (series 125) tax stamp adhered to the foil packaging inside. Quickly doing the math in my head, I got that the tobacco is around 89 years old or older, answering one of the questions. Next the prying and peeling of the foil off the plug cut, a very dry light brown tobacco was revealed. I touched the thin block of pressed leaves and they easily crumbled off the wad. It was very dry and I wondered if the blend could be reconditioned and smoked.

I got the plug collected into a small zip lock bag and shook it gentle, watching it erode into a rubbed state that is preferred for pipe smoking. Some spring water was used and spritzed into the bag in an attempt to revive the tobacco to a condition that is needed to smoke.

Reconditioned tobacco on the left, state of tobacco upon opening on the right.

After a few days of letting the leaves acclimatize to a proper humidity and let the tobacco breathe, it was time to try a small pinch. I packed about half a bowlful, struck a match and hoped for the best...it was a harsh smoke. At least it would be an interesting story to share, but I needed to know more about what I had, so I headed for the interwebz.

Old English Curve Cut Pipe Tobacco was produced by the American Tobacco Company and the blend was patented May 30th, 1899, along with the packaging. I found a few of people that were selling the tins on various auction sites and the tins were going for $20-40 a piece and the conditions were listed as good with some scratches and small dents. (There are 30 tins with tobacco in them that are in mint condition, what are those worth?) I also saw some old advertising of the pipe tobacco including an ad in the New London Day, it even had a picture of the CT State Capital in the corner.

(Sorry for the clipped version of the ad, it is from 1917 by the way) 

 

The night of the meeting arrived and I brought the tobacco to share with the other members of the society, it may not be a good smoke but it would generate conversations, besides who else is smoking an 89 year old pipe tobacco...I think that is a small number.

Well I guess the extra week of sitting had changed the tobacco, because it was a lot mellower and even enjoyable. So the question of whether it could be reconditioned and smoked is yes. It has a nice earthy taste, with hints of grasses and hays. It also has a blue tint to the smoke which is often associated with Cuban tobaccos, and this is pre-embargo. Dunhill used to add Havana leaf to their blends, so it is possible that this blend contains Cuban origin leaf.

So some of the questions were answered and another set has been established.