Benefits Of Heating Tobacco Tins: Fact Or Fiction?

mawnansmiff · Dec 18, 2016

I have often read of folks baking unopened (ie still sealed) tins of tobacco (often Erinmore Flake for some reason) in the oven with great results from so doing. This I have never done and don't have any plans to do so either...exploding tins come to mind here.
I have also read of folks leaving a tin on the dashboard of the car over the summer months to achieve the same effect. I have no plans to do that either.
However I am thinking of placing a tin on my storage heater* (not sure what Americans call these*) while it is switched on for the entire winter. My worry however is that come spring when I switch the heater off and open the tin I will have a load of bone dry flakes.
Has anyone ever tried this method of heat treating tinned tobacco? If so how did you fare? I read that huge improvements in flavour can be achieved but I am a little sceptical.
I am thinking of experimenting with a (sealed of course) tin of Full Virginia Flake.
Regards,
Jay.
*A storage heater (in the UK) is an electric radiator filled with fire-bricks that heats up overnight when electricity is cheaper and gives out the heat that is stored in the bricks throughout the day.

woodsroad · Dec 18, 2016

Jaym whatever benefits are realized from baking tobacco are a product of the Maillard Reaction. It is achieved at specific temperatures over specific time periods. I've played around with it a little (and mispelled Maillard!), but still need to do more "research".

pipestud · Dec 18, 2016

I have tin baked many times over the past few years (ever since I read about it in Fred Hanna's book in which he devoted an entire chapter to the subject). The enhancement tin baking makes to some blends is electrifying (well, unless you use a gas oven, then its gastrophying).

ericusrex · Dec 18, 2016

It would only get bone dry if the tin loses it's seal. If your seal keeps then all the moisture stays in the tin. Try it out and tell us what happens.

ashdigger · Dec 18, 2016

Bradley (tbradsim1) regularly does this and has written about it here. http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/baked-erinmore

woodsroad · Dec 18, 2016

That sounds delicious.
Next:

"Brining Pipe Tobacco: Fad or Delicacy?"

shutterbugg · Dec 18, 2016

Tobacco has water in it. Water expands when heated. Expansion within a closed container increases pressure. I suppose whether the explodes comes down to how high it's heated and for how long, and how strong the tin is and if the seal gives and releases pressure before it reaches a point where the thing grenades :D Frankly I think the practice was probably developed by some guy who was baked when he thought of it.

woodsroad · Dec 18, 2016

"Frankly I think the practice was probably developed by some guy who was baked when he thought of it"
Some of my best ideas are borne from excess consumption.

Like War Horse Bar.

Oh...wait a minute.....

mikestanley · Dec 18, 2016

Dr. Fred Hanna, the fellow who brought you Wilderness and Legends, is pretty darned smart. He is, as far as I know, the "inventor" of this technique.If you bake a coin twist tin, it will lose its seal. There are specific lengths of time at specific temperature recommendations in his original article in The Pipe Collector. I imagine Fred would consider being called half baked a

compliment. Anyone who wishes to be the better for having met someone should seek him out at a pipe show.
Mike S.

balkisobrains · Dec 18, 2016

It helps make Wilderness burn a little better, which is one of the main complaints that I have read about it out there. (Poor burning characteristics.) He suggests something like 230f for 2h 30m, and then leaving it in the sealed tin for a couple weeks or so. The tin will swell quite a bit while it is in the oven, but returns to normal once cool.

mawnansmiff · Dec 18, 2016

Thanks chaps but I thought I had made it very clear that oven tinning was not a process I wished to do...
"This I have never done and don't have any plans to do so either."
...what I was asking was as to whether leaving a tin on my storage heater for a few months would make any difference.
Dan, thanks ever so for the 'Malliard Reaction' link, that made for very interesting reading. Notice that I never used the term "ageing" in my initial query...I am not so naive as to think that any heat treating of tinned tobacco constitutes ageing as obviously only time itself can do that.
What Eric says sort of makes sense though so perhaps I shall give it a go.
Regards,
Jay.

woodsroad · Dec 18, 2016

Jay, the only way to know is to try it. What is the temp of the heater?

perdurabo · Dec 18, 2016

I did it and what I was left with, was something a kin to Wilderness. I really believe the tobaccos are baked before tinning, in a tin of Wildernness. I could be completely wrong on that assumption. By the way the tin I baked was Sqaudron Leader, hence the reason it probably tasted similar to Wilderness. Wilderness is better, but I wouldn't bake a tin of it. That's my opinion.

perdurabo · Dec 18, 2016

Don't ask for pictures, I smoked the Baked Sqaudron Leader a while ago. It's up in the atmosphere somewhere, probably didn't make it that far. The trees probably ate the smoke. :rofl:

balkisobrains · Dec 18, 2016

[quote What is the temp of the heater? [/quote]
This would be the key determining factor as to whether or not one will see a difference using a storage heater. If it can't convert some starches and then caramelize the resulting sugars, it seems that one would simply be heating the tobacco all winter. An oven should produce the desired results in a couple or three hours at the proper temperature. For me, the tobacco (Wilderness) burned better. Taste changed a little bit, to me slightly for the better in that it was a little less sharp, but the improved burn was really what I was looking for, and I got it!

: puffy

:

jmatt · Dec 18, 2016

FWIW, I think Hanna said "2:20 at 220."

mawnansmiff · Dec 19, 2016

"What is the temp of the heater?"
I was dreading someone asking me this as I am not able to say with any accuracy. I can say however that at its hottest one can keep one's hand on there for only a few seconds.
I reckon I'll just have to give it a go and regularly check the vacuum is still intact. The worst case scenario is dried flakes that I reckon I could bring back to correct moisture levels with wetted terracotta :roll:
Regards,
Jay.

madox07 · Dec 19, 2016

I never heard of this tin baking method, but I did learn by trial and error that drying tobacco, especially some aromatics helps. Personally I use a chemistry jar, with a heavy glass lid, which I half fill with the tobacco I want "treated" and place it by the window in my den. I should mention that beneath the windows, as per the European heating systems, are the water radiators. So during the winter the heat from the radiators, along side the jar's thick glass, dry the tobacco just enough so it is't "bone dry" like mawnansmiff described it.

woodsroad · Dec 19, 2016

A sealed tin will not dry out.

samcoffeeman · Dec 19, 2016

Yup, won't dry out if it's sealed. I baked some Royal Yacht with good results, produced more consistent flavor and depth of taste. I've smoked some baked OGS also with a good experience, less bite being the most significant benefit there.

Benefits Of Heating Tobacco Tins: Fact Or Fiction?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Site Sponsors

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Part of the Furniture Now

Lifer

Lifer

Lifer

Can't Leave