The Crap Shoot
Sunday, June 21, 2015 at 11:34AM | Neill Archer Roan | Permalink tagged Rattray's, Vintage Tobacco | in Vintages 
A Perth-blended, cutter-top tin of Rattray’s 7 ReserveWhen it comes to vintage tobaccos, most people seek out the marquee names–the vintage tobacco equivalents of Bogart, Bacall, Flynn, or Davis. The hunt has led to prices spiraling into the stratosphere for tobaccos like Balkan Sobranie, 759, or Sullivan and Powell’s Gentleman’s Mixture. No doubt in the future we’ll see the same scramble for G.L. Pease’s Stonehenge that we see for his Bohemian Scandal. People seek out the legendary.
Me? My tastes run to the more obscure. Personally, my favorite vintage tobacco is Rattray’s 7 Reserve. My love is as blind for this tobacco as Bogie’s was for Bergman in Casablanca. A mature, Virginias-based blend with condimental latakia, 7 has that tangy sweetness, with just a trace of latakia’s signature herbal smokiness. The fairly recent is almost good as the original, Perth-blended version. I know that because of the luscious leaf from the tin you see at the top of this post.
The average tobacco buyer would take one look at this tin and probably pass. Between the age of the tin (it’s a cutter-top), the creeping rust around the bottom rim, and the dappled foxing of the tin’s label, most of us would bet on the tin having developed those tragic pin-holes that lead to rust-incursion and worthless contents. But not Jon Guss. Jon took a chance.
Jon presented this tin to me on my last birthday, knowing my fondness for Rattray’s 7 Reserve. I was understandably verklempt, and I chose to believe that the leaf inside would be just fine despite Jon’s admonition that it might have perished.
I kept the tin intact until I took a trip to New Jersey to visit Jon. We made our customary pilgramage to J.R.’s where I pulled the tin from my pipe bag. I had kept it to share it, upon opening, with its generous provider.
We were both a bit nervous as I set it on the table. When I pulled the cutter-top cap off, the tin-top bulged, but that could have been an artifact of years ago. I folded the knife down, pushed the cap down tight, and heard that lovely, subtle hiss from under the cap as the knife wounded the seal. A sweet aroma wafted up. My optimism bloomed. I ran the knife around the seal, turning the tin as I held the cap stationary.
Upon examining the contents, I was astonished. The tobacco’s condition wasn’t just good. it was perfect. The Virginias were the color of cordovan and were dusted with sugar crystals. The leaf was slightly moist and springy, despite the tobacco having been packed tighter than any tamper would have left it inside my pipe chamber.
We loaded our respective pipes then set match to leaf. For me, the flavors were revelatory. This was the absolute first time I had ever had the privilege of smoking a Perth-blended Rattray’s tobacco. Every prior experience had the tell-tale “Blended for Charles Rattray” as opposed to “Blended by Charles Rattray” on the label. This tobacco was the real deal.
Having smoked quite a bit of 7 Reserve, I can tell you that this blend was markedly different from newer versions. You might expect that I would pronounce the original version better, but I did not and would not. I would pronounce it different. The original is smoother, a bit smokier, sweeter, but not as tangy as later versions. I was surprised that the latakia had held up through the decades. Latakia famously fades with age. I’m sure this, too, had faded, but not nearly as much as I thought it might have.
I have since jarred the balance of the tin’s contents and have been rationing it with the severity of teetotaling Scotch Presbyterian Rector down to his last few tins. Often, vintage tobacco begins to lose its luster having been extracted from its accustomed environs, but this 7 Reserve is doing just fine inside a Ball jar. It is absolutely lovely, and if you happen to come across another, please assume that it’s probably gone bad. Give me a call and I’ll give it a proper and reverential burial.
Reader Comments (14)
I share your liking for mixtures based on Virginia with condimental Latakia - and Rattray's did some of the best .
Cutter top tins are always worth a punt, IMO, I've never had a bad one (unlike many others of more recent vintage)
Thank you! Oyyy! I knew that, but in my writing I mistyped. Thanks so much for the catch.
Thanks for your concern. I'm fine. I never thought I'd live to see the day that I'm called "frightfully thin!"
Good to see that something in the pipe world excited you enough to return to the blog. The project to remake yourself physically has been a resounding success. Here is me being hopeful that you will have more thoughts to share with us here, as you have a natural way of making me consider points and directions that make pipes and tobaccos more interesting.
Wyn Mayhew
When I saw the picture and started reading, I was immediately reminded of this old tin of Sweet Crop:
http://www.loringpage.com/attpipes/tobacco-rustedtin.html
...and I ain't gonna call you a "g-d-liar" either, because I've had a few grand smokes from tins which in passing glance appear to be mummydust but turn out to be deeply divine.
Most memorable, and what I count as amongst the few truly incredible peak smoking experiences, came from a couple of rather obscure baccies - Thomson & Porteous Scots Cake Flake from a very well-preserved cutter top; and some Franklyn's Plover Pigtail that was simply wrapped in foil for who know how many years -- it defies logic that the pigtail could carry such a robust and full flavor, but indeed it did, with intense depths.
The myriad mysteries of tobacco may never be really solved, for it is an eldritch weed, gone up in smoke, formed, yet still forming, then unformed altogether, ember out, soft ashes cast to dreamland, only to live graciously in our memories ever on with deathless inspiration upon the blessed Elysian Fields of an odd immortality.
Glad to see you back!
= )
Great to see you back blogging. You have been missed.
To find so perfect a tobacco in a container with so much character is areal blessing. I find myself emboldened for the next rusty, mouldering, dented tin I encounter.
So refreshing for this Arkansawyer to have to look up a new word and then discover that it describes perfectly how I feel to be reading your new blog post. : ) Certainly been missing your wit and wisdom, my friend. Can't wait to sit down and share a bowl with you... hopefully soon.