Seattle Pipe club makes some fine blends, and I'd buy a lot more of them if they used proper, metal tins that would withstand long-term cellaring (as they used to, with their inaugural commercial release of Plum Pudding a decade ago). Currently they use the cheaper, Sutliff-style cardboard "tins" constructed with a metal top and bottom crimped to foil-lined, cardboard sides. Sorry, but I don't trust those to keep a hermetic, moisture-maintaining seal long term. The anecdotal evidence is spotty and doesn't instill confidence. I saw someone opened an 8-year-old tin and pronounced it "fine," while someone else said 2 out of 25 of his tins had problems (spoilage or dehydration) -- an 8% failure rate. I'd be interested in hearing other folks' longer-term experiences.
The conventional wisdom when faced with such uncertainty is "jar it." That's fine as far as tobacco protection. But the SPC packaging is quite pretty, and decanting things into a mason jar reduces the value, should I want to sell or trade down the road. It's generally much cooler to have the authentic, period packaging.
So far, my chosen workaround is to enclose the entire, sealed tin in a heat-sealed 7.5mil food-grade mylar bag, which (if the manufacturing specs are to be believed) should provide gas-impermeable, moisture-retaining protection for at least 25 years. In case the cardboard tins aren't airtight, I don't vacuum seal the bag, so aerobic aging should continue within. I just pop it in, close the ziploc, and heat-seal the top opening (with either an iron or my wife's hair-straightener). The resulting foil pouch feels even more robust than the packaging of Esoterica 8 oz. bags. The one downside is that the sealed bags take up significantly more space -- it's not nearly as space efficient as just stacking tins on a shelf. But until hardier SPC tins come along, this is my favorite cellaring strategy so far.
I'd be glad to hear experiences and suggestions from other folks about cellaring cardboard tins, SPC or otherwise. Many thanks.
The conventional wisdom when faced with such uncertainty is "jar it." That's fine as far as tobacco protection. But the SPC packaging is quite pretty, and decanting things into a mason jar reduces the value, should I want to sell or trade down the road. It's generally much cooler to have the authentic, period packaging.
So far, my chosen workaround is to enclose the entire, sealed tin in a heat-sealed 7.5mil food-grade mylar bag, which (if the manufacturing specs are to be believed) should provide gas-impermeable, moisture-retaining protection for at least 25 years. In case the cardboard tins aren't airtight, I don't vacuum seal the bag, so aerobic aging should continue within. I just pop it in, close the ziploc, and heat-seal the top opening (with either an iron or my wife's hair-straightener). The resulting foil pouch feels even more robust than the packaging of Esoterica 8 oz. bags. The one downside is that the sealed bags take up significantly more space -- it's not nearly as space efficient as just stacking tins on a shelf. But until hardier SPC tins come along, this is my favorite cellaring strategy so far.
I'd be glad to hear experiences and suggestions from other folks about cellaring cardboard tins, SPC or otherwise. Many thanks.
