三十年陈 Rattray "Red Rapparee" 试抽报告
随手拿起一罐，像土匪一样扒开橡胶盖，撬开了易拉罐舌。扑面而来是那股既熟悉而又陌生的老草杨柳风--没有悬念，一股馥郁厚积的红葡萄酒味。但对比以前开过的所有老草，这股味道又着实令我狐疑讶然了数秒：酒意极重，但亦甚甜，似乎也甜得有点太结实了。已经不易闻出 Latakia 那股焚香味了。
烟丝排布亦紧密，整罐草仿佛结成了一整大块。指尖一模，偏干，但离干得发脆的木乃伊还早着呢！无白毛。
拨出一斗的量，细细揉开，装斗试抽。
红酒味极浓，这股味道甚至盖过了烟草本味。
虽说手感有点偏干，然而抽起来却一点不干，这时好奇摸摸表层以下的草，湿度较大，但这种湿度是隐性的，不是那种新草浮于表的湿度感，摸着也不如新草般柔软富弹性。
一斗抽下去，水汽甚厉害，中途不得不用了两三根通条。
贯穿整斗，口感变化及层次感甚优。新草生涩味业已尽褪去殆尽，取而代之的是甚烈的红酒味道。果香浓郁，冬日床上品此草，使人有中秋赏月夜面对一桌应时熟透瓜果的反季节时空错乱感，甚妙。
甜熟，不甜俗。
燃烧质量极佳，烟草轻轻松松地化作一团吹弹即破的疏松白色灰烬。
这罐草给我最大的启发，我想是对 Virginia 变化幅度极大这个传说的实证。“红毛匪” 这款草，Latakia 含量低，主要由 Virginia 构成，另有 Perique。比起我开过的 d 系英式老草，它几乎没有一点冲劲，没有一点暴踢上颚的痛快被虐感，但整斗烟极其柔顺醇和，已修成正果。若老 Latakia 的变化性为 3/4 的话，老 Virginia 则为 9. 且英式老草的主要变化，确系由其中的 V 草所贡献的。
另易拉罐是一种很玄的包装方式，比起英系铁罐，它靠冲压实现底面与罐身的接合，而百密终有一疏。这是我开这罐草前唯一的担心，也多少做了开棺验尸的最坏打算。烟草保持新鲜状态，我怀疑是运气。这次到手三罐，一罐送了朋友，当面一开，里面烟草已干透。加湿后的口感亦相当奇特：Latakia 的味道与我先前抽过的都不一样：如果此前的 L 草体验是暖色调，这草是冷色调；如果此前的 L 草体验是碱性的，那这草则是酸性的。这与海外前辈对于叙利亚 Latakia 的描述很像--我不由得猜想这草部分甚至全部使用叙利亚而非如今广泛使用的单一塞浦路斯 Latakia。而鲜活状态下的同一罐草，却又那么的暖甜温润。得找地道的叙利亚 Latakia 试试才知道是什么回事。
招贴上写着：
BLENDED BY
CHARLES RATTRAY
AT PERTH. SCOTLAND
三十年的老草。单是那岁月的酝酿，即已令人神往。 看的我口水都快流到桌子上了 忍不住要跟村长说一句：
“上海是很危险的，快点回广州吧” 有感抽 V 草其实门槛极高，其中一道坎就是：窖藏时间。
目前市售 V 草，口味或粗涩单一，或过度加味而失其本色，如生柿子酸橙子甚至如蜜饯柿子烂橙子，食之无味，弃之可惜的多，一般开一罐要等很久才能抽完。
但倘若选对几款高质量的纯 V 生草，妥当窖藏之，等个十年，定为佳品，甚至比 Latakia 系的草格调更高，因为它不靠任何粥菜火腿 (加点 Perique 我想问题不大)，实打实地纯靠本色清越的各种 V 草通过时间变化，一层层平白码出层次感和醇厚感来，恍如年轮。 村长就是村长，随便出手就是30年（估计就是上次有哈士奇的那2罐），记得说是比村长大一点点呵呵，有点匪夷所思哦才而立啊村长？（快点澄清吧不然这个又是烟斗村一大谜题了！！）。
V这池水的确很深，而且很混。正因为是主要原料，很普通普通到很多人都会忽略它，就像上一盆炒饭，大部分去注意的都是配料的多寡材料是否珍稀新鲜，咸淡是否适宜，很少会去考虑饭粒的品种干湿和完整！！（那个酱油是饮食业出身很容易用食物去比喻各位勿怪哦)俗话说鱼翅捞饭做的好不是本事，蛋炒饭炒得好才是！市面上的纯V很多但好的很少，除了众口难调之外V本身的质量和熟成方法也是要因，而混V（没有L和P的）更是多如牛毛好的更少，而混V要做的好平衡性是个关键不夺味不抢味又层次分明口味丰富的。。。难，实在是他母亲的难啊～～～ 30~~~30年的草？口水橫流中~~~ 能抽个3年的草，我辈已是幸福
30年啊，人生能有几个30啊
村长真的吗，不忽悠？ 原帖由 酱油 于 2009-11-26 16:38 发表 http://www.pipevillage.org/community/images/common/back.gif
村长就是村长，随便出手就是30年（估计就是上次有哈士奇的那2罐），记得说是比村长大一点点呵呵，有点匪夷所思哦才而立啊村长？（快点澄清吧不然这个又是烟斗村一大谜题了！！）。
V这池水的确很深，而且很混。正因 ...
严格说应是 30-40 年陈，厚道保守地表达肯定是说 30 的，是有可能比我大几岁哦 :lol
Rattray
More mistakes are made in dating Rattray tobacco tins than with any other brand. The key is to generally disregard the label and look at the tin itself.
Rattray was a Scottish tobacconist who closed up shop in about 1980 but whose highly regarded pipe tobacco blends continue to the present day. Up to about 1970 all Rattray tobacco was blended by Rattray and came in tall thin 4 ounce 'knife lid' (or briefly in the 1960's in 4 ounce 'lever') tins. These tins were all labeled 'Made by Rattray'. .] It is generally thought that Rattray continued blending all of its blends for another ten years and then, in 1980, turned them over to Robert McConnell, a fine English blender. However, based on a conversation related by Irwin Friedman with a former Rattray employee and which I find, with some modification, collaborated by the packaging, it appears rather that in about 1970 Rattray turned over the blending of some of its blends intended for the United States to McConnell. McConnel labeled the tins it blended' Made for Rattray'. Rattray continued to blend itself the tins intended for the English and European markets, as well as all the blends of lesser demand, which tins were labeled,as in the past, 'Made by Rattray'.
When Rattray closed its doors in 1980 McConnell took over the blending of all the Rattray labeled tobacco, but did not change the labeling, thus after 1980 some McConnell blended tins were labeled 'Made for Rattray' while others also blended by McConnell were nonetheless labeled 'Made by Rattray'. McConnell blended in England through the1980s but shifted production to Germany (and later elsewhere) beginning in about 1990 without any change in the labels, thus continuing the now meaningless 'Made by Rattray' and 'Made for Rattray' duality. Further, the country of origin for the German made Rattray was not included on the label(in the US only it was on a removable tab on the bottom of the tin).
Thus for Rattray tobaccos it is impossible to determine from the label alone who was the blender or when or where the tin was blended.
But if you largely disregard the label and look at the tin top and bottomyou will do just fine:
[*]if the 'pop top' tin top is plain, the tin dates to the 1990's and was blended on the Continent;[*]'if the 'pop top' tin top has pictorial opening instructions and there is a "Made for Rattray" label Robert McConnell of England was the blender and the tin dates to the 1970's -1880s;[*]if the 'pop top' tin top has text only opening instructions and there is a "Made by Rattray label it dates to the 1970's and was blended by Rattray of Scotland; and[*]if the 'pop top' tin top has pictorial opening instructions and there is a "Made by Rattray" label the tin dates either to the 1970's and was blended by Rattray in Scotland, if it has a silver tinted bottom, or to the 1980's and was blended by McConnell in England, if the tin has a gold tinted bottom.
The problem with the last category of tins however, is that it is extremely difficult to determine whether you are looking at a silver or a gold tinted tin bottom unless you have one of the other for comparison (and do not believe anyone that tells you they can do it without a comparison tin). For comparison purposes you can safely use either a Rattray's 'pop top' with text only instructions on the top, which tin will only have a silver bottom or,more readily findable, a tin with pictorial instructions on the top and a 'made for Rattray' label, which tin will only have a gold bottom.
In short:
Plain top (either a "for" or"by" label & either a gold or silver bottom)------------ Europe/'90s
Picture top / gold bottom / "by" label ---------------------- England(McConnell)/'80s
Picture top / gold bottom / "for" label -------------- England(McConnell)/'70s - '80s
Picture top / silver bottom / "by" label -------------- Scotland(Rattray) /'70s
Text only top / silver bottom / "by" label ------------------ Scotland (Rattray) /'70s.
资料来源：http://www.loringpage.com/PipeArticles/tobdatepaper.html
过阵子上图。 原帖由 LeslieNg 于 2009-11-25 23:13 发表 http://www.pipevillage.org/community/images/common/back.gif
有感抽 V 草其实门槛极高，其中一道坎就是：窖藏时间。
目前市售 V 草，口味或粗涩单一，或过度加味而失其本色，如生柿子酸橙子甚至如蜜饯柿子烂橙子，食之无味，弃之可惜的多，一般开一罐要等很久才能抽完。
但倘 ...
I have to wait few more years to let you guys know
thank you for sharing.