Cellaring Samuel Gawith - 50g Tins or 250g Boxes?

jmatt · Sep 30, 2014

So Samuel Gawith is a pretty popular brand for cellaring. Especially FVF and St James Flake. It comes in two sizes: The typical 50g tin, and a 250g box. It's a LOT cheaper by the box. It's $9.33 per 50g tin, which is $46.65 per 250g if you buy it in tins. But it's only $30.01 in the 250g boxes. The boxes are shrink wrapped, but inside the boxes the 250g is basically in a zip lock baggie.
Any concerns about cellaring it in the boxes? Tins seem ideal for long term cellaring, but it's hard to pass up that much savings. I suppose you could add the price of a 1 quart mason jar per 250g box, but I'm guessing that kills potential resale value in ten years when you can no longer prove what and how much is in the jar.
Thoughts?

cmdrmcbragg · Sep 30, 2014

Depends on your end game. Wanting to sell it? Put it in one of those airtight Tupperware containers. Keeping it for yourself? Jar it up and don't worry about it. I almost bought the 250g box today but decided I needed to reign back on my spending until Christmas. Then I can gift myself the joy of boxed SG.

crimsonrat · Oct 1, 2014

I don't really buy for resale, so I jar the 250g boxes up. Same thing with 100g Solani 660 tins. As soon as they get here, I jar them. Cant trust the cellophane and non-sealing nature of those particular tins. The 50g FVF tins are straight, though.
Resale value can't really be assessed on the tins either, as I don't know of a way to prove the age.

jmatt · Oct 1, 2014

Resale value can't really be assessed on the tins either, as I don't know of a way to prove the age.

I agree on the age (for most brands), but at least you can prove what the product is. Not sure if there's any value in that regardless.

werebear · Oct 1, 2014

Where did you find boxes of SG? Do they have 1792?

beefeater33 · Oct 1, 2014

http://www.smokingpipes.com/tobacco/by-maker/samuel-gawith/index.cfm

werebear · Oct 1, 2014

Thanks, beefeater33

JimInks · Oct 1, 2014

I always jar the tobacco because leaving it in those boxes is not a good idea for aging. Air will dry out the tobacco because zip-lock baggies are not air proof. The square tins have been known to lose their seal after a few years as many smokers, including myself, can attest. I don't trust them.

mrenglish · Oct 1, 2014

You can fit 250g in a quart sized Bell jar. The tins are OK and have that nice moment when you pop one after years of aging, but they do rust. While I have not had one rust out yet, there is a lot of rust on the inside. The bulk is the way to go in my opinion.

elpfeife · Oct 1, 2014

Are the 8oz Esoterica bags okay for storage or do they need to be jarred as well?

escioe · Oct 1, 2014

I jar everything, 2oz (57g) at a time. That allows me 12-20 smokes of a particular blend without disturbing the others. I like the 250g boxes and jar 4x57g, plus I smoke the leftovers quickly, or put them in one jar. I really like having 2 oz increments of almost everything, since it makes it easy to track how many bowls I can get from a particular blend. Because the Gawith stuff is so wet upon arrival, once dried, it works out to about 12 bowls per 57g, which is much lower than other blends. But buying in the box offsets this.

saltedplug · Oct 1, 2014

The only container I would trust for either storage or aging is a jar. As regards the Esoterica bags, Pease bags were

multi-layered but still weren't recommended past 5 years or so. At least he tested them and put his standards

out there, and as such the unknown qualities of Esoterica bags can only be second-guessed. If you're going to spend

$50.00 or so for a pound, why trust the unknown qualities of a bag that it more than probably only designed to hold

its contents during shipping?

yazamitaz · Oct 1, 2014

I don't really buy for resale, so I jar the 250g boxes up. Same thing with 100g Solani 660 tins. As soon as they get here, I jar them

+1 crimsonrat, I do the same. I am not involved in purchasing for resale. Perhaps one day I will buy 3 tins with every 250g that I buy but as of now I am just more interested in aging stuff and see how it tastes in the future compared to today.

peteguy · Oct 1, 2014

I always buy Samuel Gawith in tins. I know they are more expensive but they take up less space. I have 20 or so odd mason jars that take up as much space as 50 or so tins.

dochudson · Oct 1, 2014

1 - 250g = $30

5 - 50g = $46
seems simple to me

woodsroad · Oct 1, 2014

I always buy Samuel Gawith in tins. I know they are more expensive but they take up less space.

I took all the money that I saved buying bulk, and bought a bigger house.
(I do like tins for carrying around, so I keep my empties and refill from the big jar)

peteguy · Oct 1, 2014

Don't forget about the cost of mason jars - like $6 to store a 250g box. Unless your are putting it in larger jars and then what do you do when you want some? You open the larger jar, take some out, reseal the rest, and the aging process needs to start over again.....
1 - 250g = $30 = $6 = $36

5 - 50g = $46
That is a lot of baccy at a savings of $10 a pop to afford a house.

woodsroad · Oct 1, 2014

You open the larger jar, take some out, reseal the rest, and the aging process needs to start over again.....

Well, not really.
Aging includes aerobes and anaerobes. And letting some air into the jar isn't going to kill off the aerobes or reverse the anaerobic fermentation that has already occurred. You'll just get some more aerobic bacteria working. And, those of us with septic systems will attest, it's the anaerobes that make the really stinky stuff.

peteguy · Oct 1, 2014

HAHAHA ok I am converted - 250g boxes from now on!!

cmdrmcbragg · Oct 2, 2014

I bet Peck and Harris can attest it can take up quite a bit of space. I've got space for maybe another 2-3 lbs in my tobacco cabinet.

Cellaring Samuel Gawith - 50g Tins or 250g Boxes?

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