There is a lady in town having an estate auction and she brought some old pipes and baccy by the shop for us to look at. In the end she gave me a pound tin of Bertram Balkan Legation from Bertram "The Nation's Pipe Maker" in Washington, DC. Of course, no longer there but I am interested if anyone knows anything about Bertram. Apparently, they were very popular with dignitaries visiting the US because they made a pipe for Stalin, MacAurther and more. The gentleman had dozens of Bertram pipes.

FWIW, the tin is awesome but the baccy is very, very dry but smells devine!

Here is a pic of some stuff she had. The one I have is one of the red pound tins.

http://www.renestingresources.com/Re...tions_.html#12

There was also baccy (aromatics) from The Tobacco House Ltd. in Richmond, VA. It was in near perfect condition. The latest we could date anything was from the mid 80's.
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Found this on pipedia....
http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Bertram

The story of Bertram pipes begins with a German pipemaker named Bertram Goldmann who emigrated to the United States in 1874 and settled down in Washington D.C.
In 1927 Sydney Bertram Goldman opened a new factory, the Bertram Pipe Shop. The strategically favorable situation in the political center of the USA procured many illustrious customers from politics and fine arts to the well-respected brand: Joseph Stalin, General Douglas MacArthur, Edward G. Robinson or Red Skelton just to name a few. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered his cigarette tips there. Bertram acquired the surname "The Nation’s Pipemaker".
Over three generations Bertram’s enjoyed such a good reputation in the USA that their own production wasn't able to keep up with the demand and pipes had to be bought in addition from notable suppliers. In reference to this Bertram in later years was also apostrophized "The Astley's of America".
Their pipes seem have been graded by a numbering system, i.e. 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50, with the higher numbers being more desirable.
The company found a tragic end at the end of the 1960s. During the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the factory was plundered and set on fire. Though some efforts - mainly by Bertram employees - were made to restart Bertram never really recovered and the owning family decided to quit pipe production.
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Thanks Lumpy! Great to see ya, bro!

I saw that but I have looked and looked but I can't find anything about their tobacco. There is some good info on the pipes though. The guy had tons of Bertram's and Astley's. Pipes and baccy.

To me, the packaging (tin) looks late 60's to early 70's.
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NC
I have a 16oz. can of Bertram's as well, Red Label (with the Capitol dome above the 'Bertram' label). Mine as well is dried out, but it still smells great.

I attempted to follow the link to your pic but it failed. From the limited information I found on the pipe company there is even less about tobacco blends/production.

Did you ever find any more information about the tin or the tobacco? Or how about rehydrating any to try? I am quite curious. Would that be safe? Smoking something that could be 40 years old.

Any information would be welcomed
Thanks, G
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Well, I do see people smoking cc's with 40+ years on them. But I'm not sure how one needs to store/preserve pipe tobacco.
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http://pipepages.com/tobcats2.htm

Try this link!
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Preserving pipe tobacco.

If tinned, age in the tin.
If bulk, age in a Ball jar.

As tins age, they are susceptible to rust, starting either inside or outside the tin. Once the rust has eaten the metal, air flow begins and stops aging; thus periodically inspect your tins, and depending on where the rust is, transfer the tobacco to a jar. Once fermentation exhausts the oxygen inside the container, be it sealed tin or jar, the real magic of aging, anaerobic, begins.

VAs can improve over decades while other tobacco genres age variably. 5 years is a very important aging milestone, as if the tobacco is to age well, 90% of that aging is complete in that time.
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