Prince Albert

 

As you are likely well aware, my mind will wander all over the place if I let it.  After I finished my last class today, I sat down for about 20 minutes to drink some iced coffee I had left from this morning and ate my lunch that was left in my lunch bag (I ate some of it before class).  For no particular reason, a memory from several years ago popped into my mind, and entertained me for a while:

I was recalling an auction I had won on eBay that was perhaps 7-8 years ago.  I was perusing pipe and pipe tobacco paraphernalia (back then eBay had a lot more pipe and pipe tobacco related items).  While meandering around the site, I happened to see up for auction an old, but really nice looking, metal can (pouch) that would contain Prince Albert Pipe Tobacco.  Metal tins of this sort were the norm for buying common pipe tobaccos from the earliest parts of the 1900s until the late 1960s when they slowly were phased out in favor of cheaper foil pouches.  Sometime around the late 1960s they began to offer Prince Albert Pipe Tobacco in foil pouches OR in metal tins.  This particular tin I was looking at on eBay was one I estimated to be from the late 1950s due to some of its features.  I liked its design.  So, I bid on it.   And, I won the auction.  

When the tin eventually arrived, it was as pretty as the pictures suggested!  And, the tobacco tax stamp that spread across the top....... shockingly...... looked INTACT.  That really could not be true, I thought.  If it were true, it would mean that the tin was never opened and would contain roughly 55 year old pipe tobacco!  

Over the years, I have purchased a few other of these "antique" tins (for other brands other pipe tobaccos.... Sir Walter Raleigh is a special favorite as well) back then just because I think they are pretty, and I have them on display in my den.

But.... in no way did I ever anticipate, never did I expect,  to bid on and purchase a 55 year old tin.... with its pipe tobacco in it!  I was rather giddy about my find.  Not really sure about what to do..... I ended up hemming and hawing for several days...... Should I try it?!?!?!?  Would it be dangerous??!?!?!  Should I leave it as is and not break the seal?!!?!?! 

I mean, hell.... it was 55 years old!!!!! Who knows what it could be like? People normally do not keep pipe tobacco for a long time, even though in some of the more "esoteric" circles... like in some of the pipe groups I read.... there are a few of the folks there that are a bit "upturned nose" and "aristocratic" acting about all things pipe related.  

Do not get me wrong.... the vast majority of the folks on the pipe groups I read are just regular folk like me.  And in these groups a few have began to "cellar" pipe tobacco (some just want a stockpile to save money, some folks just want some of every pipe tobacco they can find, some are "end-of-the-world" types who stockpile lots of things ahead of what they see as a rather dystopian future).  

But a few of the more "upturned nose folks" who are in this group have started to talk about "cellaring" fancy (read as expensive) pipe tobaccos to "age" them like other "fancy folks" will talk about aging wine.  Truth-be-told, I tend to think aging wine is rather silly and over-rated, as to me most wine tastes pretty much the same to me (red = good wine; white/rose wine = boring wine).  I think aging tobacco (as a rule) is generally silly and a preposterous thing to do.  

But.... for the regular fellow, day-to-day pipe smoker (like I always was and have been).... no one would "cellar" pipe tobaccos.  So, no one would have ever thought to "save" (except by mistake) a tin of pipe tobacco for 55 years before smoking it.  I could  not decide if I should or should not try it out!

But, after perhaps two weeks, I couldn't resist any longer, and I carefully broke the tax stamp seal with the edge of my thumbnail.  I opened it, and surrounding the pipe tobacco was the familiar "wax paper-like" insert that lined the tin it was completely filled with crumbles of beautifully brown leaf. 

The leaf was intact in the normal sized crumbles, but the crumbles were extremely dry (to be expected).  There was no sign of mold or actual decay.  No real pipe tobacco odor was present either (makes sense because it was dry), but no off or off-putting odors were present either.  And, even though the leaf was very dry.... it had not become structurally unsound either (as a biologist, I have seen old, PURPOSEFULLY DRIED samples of leaves of different species that when touched would disintegrate into dust).... when I took a pinch between my finger and thumb, it remained intact.  

So, I deemed it as appearing to be "reasonably safe" and I filled a bowl of one of my smaller-bowled pipes with the crumbles.  But, scientist that I am, I also filled a similar small-bowled pipe with current day Prince Albert as well to do a comparison. 

I was feeling both excited AND a bit nervous about this adventure, so I started by igniting my pipe with the current day Prince Albert in it.  Of course, it was beautiful, tasty, tranquil, and pleasant as it always is.  Then I decided I had to at least give the other pipe a try.  So, I picked up the pipe of the ancient Prince Albert in it, and went through the same precise, innate pattern I use when igniting a pipe.... other than perhaps being just a little bit more tentative, observant, and with just a hint of trepidation.  

The ancient pipe tobacco, because of its dryness, was well lit in the bowl of the pipe more quickly that the more moist, modern pipe tobacco (as would be expected).  Surprisingly, there was little loss of flavor in the ancient pipe tobacco, as it seemed rather similar to the modern variant.  It too was beautiful and tasty.  But, what I was not expecting was that it was NOTICEABLY (pleasantly so) more neuron-ally potent!  It exhibited a strength that reminded me of what it felt like to smoke my pipe when I was a kid.  It was pretty darn wonderful.  

I limited myself to having a bowlful of the ancient Prince Albert to once a season after that.  It was wonderful.  I was able to stretch out the pleasure of that ancient Prince Albert for about three years.  

It was an exciting and fun find and adventure.  I still like looking at the (now empty) tin.  

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