Storing Tobacco - Vacuum Storage

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Dec 24, 2012
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Previously I have stored my Motzek Strang in mylar bags: See http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/the-fine-art-of-tobacco-preparation-amp-cellaring
Today I received a new shipment of Strang and decided to use my vaccum sealer so seal it.
Here's the video.
VID_20151025_135157 from Peckinpahhombre on Vimeo.][/url]

 
Dec 24, 2012
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I was playing around with the vacuum sealer and sealed up a few tins of JA LF I had laying around. My experiment is below.
One question I had is whether the vacuum effect could pop the tins. Any thoughts? I guess I could open the bag to figure that out but was wondering if any of you have had any experience.
https://vimeo.com/143562010

 
Dec 24, 2012
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A short postscript to this thread.
I was about to open a C&D style tin and thought it would be fun to see what happens if I tried to vacuum seal one of those type of tins in a bag.
Well, let's just say that the bag sealed BUT the tin itself swelled up and bowed out and looked like a baseball when I was done. It didn't pop though.
Not sure why that happened but assume it has to do with the fact that those tins are not vacuum sealed.
I have also been curious as to whether vacuum sealing latakia or aromatic blends would prevent them from fading over time as they normally do with age. I don't really want to wait 20 years to see how that experiment pans out, though.

 

fmgee

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 26, 2014
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4
Well, let's just say that the bag sealed BUT the tin itself swelled up and bowed out and looked like a baseball when I was done. It didn't pop though.
I guess that says something about the tin seal quality. I am surprised it would swell up just because the surrounding pressure was reduced. Was it a well aged tin?
I have also been curious as to whether vacuum sealing latakia or aromatic blends would prevent them from fading over time as they normally do with age
Or could it speeds up the aging process by moving to anaerobic conditions faster?

 

cortezattic

Lifer
Nov 19, 2009
15,147
7,637
Chicago, IL
It was hard to tell if the seal broke on one or two of the square tins, but it looked that way initially.

The Mac Baren Factory Tour video part 3 stated that they evacuate round flats to 40% of an atmosphere.

Good enough to hold the lid snug, yet allow enough O₂ for microbial action.

It's easy to underestimate the power of one atmosphere of pressure as that C&D tin dramatically demonstrated.
I once used a simple kitchen grade vacuum to preserve a folded newspaper on the occasion of my granddaughter's birth.

I thought it would be an interesting read for her in 50yrs. I was amazed at the degree to which the newspaper was crushed.

 
I've had several C&D and GLP and D&R tins swell up on me when we've had tropical storms pass through. I heard a bunch of tinging in the cellar, and when I opened the doors, they started rolling around like baseballs.

Since I broke my hip a few years ago, I can feel it in my bones when the tins are about to swell up, ha ha.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,569
27,074
Carmel Valley, CA
Peck-
If the seal on the experimental tin had been broken, I am pretty sure it would not have swollen. And that it did swell doesn't mean it hadn't been vacuumed sealed; only that the differential was changed enough so the external pressure became lower than the internal pressure.
And the tins of P are stiff enough to resist bowing more than most tins.
I have also been curious as to whether vacuum sealing latakia or aromatic blends would prevent them from fading over time as they normally do with age. I don't really want to wait 20 years to see how that experiment pans out, though.
Is this on top of being tinned or jarred to begin with? I'm of the thought that the less introduced air, the better, though some are of the school that you need to leave room for air for best aging.

My guess is that it wouldn't hurt, and could help.

 
Dec 24, 2012
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456
Hey JP,
That makes sense. Of course, the C&D type tins are not vacuum sealed, or at least that's what I have been told.
I will add that I will probably vacuum seal more square tins to protect them, though I will probably adjust the level of the vacuum down to minimize the extreme pressure.

 

jitterbugdude

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 25, 2014
993
8
I'm pretty sure I read in the manufacturer's literature that your sealer was capable of doing mylar bags. There probably is a limit as to what thickness will work though.

 
May 3, 2010
6,423
1,461
Las Vegas, NV
Since I mostly enjoy aromatics I think I may have to buy my better half one of those food saver vacuum sealer things and load a bag up with some 1Q to see how it is in a five years or so.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
Well, let's just say that the bag sealed BUT the tin itself swelled up and bowed out and looked like a baseball when I was done. It didn't pop though.
Not sure why that happened but assume it has to do with the fact that those tins are not vacuum sealed.
More likely that internal pressure was held in check by atmosphere pressure. Deprive them of that atmosphere, and they swell up. Either they're fermenting, or there's a leprechaun in there farting rainbows.

 
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