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Being a smoker of cigars as well as pipes, I find myself wishing for a cigar that incorporates my favorite tobacco - latakia. Well, fat chance on that one. Cigar makers, it seems, refuse to waver from the traditional tobaccos - with the possible exception of Drew Estate and one other who I can't recall. Pipe tobacco cigars? What a joke. There's nothing pipe or cigar about those, at least that I've found.

Then it hits me. Greg Pease has Robusto. Why didn't I think of it before? I went to his site and found that, yes indeed, it contains latakia. So, off to The Humidor on Post Road in Warwick, RI where I find one lone tin of Robusto. I turn the can over and find the date stamped is "112102". I may have uttered some expletive of amazement, but mostly I tried to contain myself.

Two years in the tin, and I don't know if I can bring myself to pop it open. I'm on the prowl for a second tin of similar age so that I can keep one aging.

Cool find.

I found two tins of Tribute last year in Charleston, SC at the Tinder Box downtown. I smoked one earlier this year, and I have to say that it is one of the best blends I have ever smoked.

Enjoy your Robusto!!

Tooo cool buddy!

As an aside to this thread, my dad was with me at the NASPC show. He used to smoke a pipe long ago, but hasn't in a couple decades. We smelled a few tobaccos trying to find something he would like (I've gifted him a couple pipes from my Cityman line) and found that he likes the tin aroma of blends with generous latakia.

I suggested Black Duck to him, since it's got a generous dose of latakia and is easy on the tongue. While I chatted with Todd for a few minutes, he took his leave to go hunt down a tin or two. Well, he found a tin. Apparently it was unmarked, and when asked, the seller quoted $50 for the tin because "It was tinned in 1997!"

Now, we all know that aged pipe tobacco takes on subtleties of flavor that aren't in a newborn tin. However, is it really worth 10x the price for a tobacco still in current production? Yeah, it's aged. However, I can leave an unopened tin of it in the trunk for a couple weeks and come up with something very similar - at least according to my tastebuds.

So, I directed him to the JR Cigar website where he could get a couple tins for about $5 each, and told him to leave it in the truck in the hot CA sun for a week or two. I told him to open one to smoke right away, smoke the other after it bakes for a couple weeks, and see if it makes a difference. If it doesn't, no harm and no foul - just smoke the un-aged tins and be happy.