Cellering and Aging Tobacco

As for aros, they don't change much with age, but you can still cellar them just fine.
As for the tins, as soon as I pop a tin it goes straight into a mason jar.
I don't think I'd trust the food saver bags. They might work fine, but I'd still prefer a jar. I've read somewhere that plastic is not a true oxygen barrier.

So TrailBoss....while my piles and piles of Frog Morton blends are ok in their containers, I should open my stacks of Dunhill, and Escudo tins and jar them up? What I have been doing is having a jar heirarchy system. I open tins or have bulk tobacco in large jars and then have smaller jars I move them to for rotation. Then refill the smaller from the bigger as necessary. But I still have stacks of unopened tins. Should I not let them sit in the tins anymore and go but more jars to age them in? I'll see about getting a photo of my cellar...

Thanks... I have about 30 or so FMC "tins"...I'll have to keep an eye on them.

Harold:
You've already gotten the gist of this. But you said "To age tins, simply leave the tins unopened for a period of a year or two" and I want to comment on that.
A number of us think that many tobaccos start to hit their peak after three years of aging in the original tin. Some blends will continue to develop and mature for years and years after that. Others will start to decline soon after that. And still others may go 20 years or more and show very little change after that time. No way to tell without occasionally dipping into the cellar every few years to see how things are changing -- just as you would with a wine cellar.
To make things even more complicated, there are some blends you might actually prefer in their fresh-from-the-factory condition. Aging may take away some of what you love about them. I find this to be the case with Penzance. I absolutely love it when it's fresh -- yeah, good luck with that! -- but it seems to lose some of the oriental spice after even just a year in the tin. But if I hadn't bothered to cellar Penzance, I might not have any to smoke in the future. . . so I'm willing to accept the compromise.
Bob

The FM tins should be fine as they are metal. But Sutliff uses cardboard, which won't contain the pressure of the build up of gases as they age. tap it, if it sounds like an empty paper towel roll, can it.
The reason we don't use vacuum bags is that oxygen is needed to support the microbial activity that ages the tobacco, moisture and oxygen. The vacuum bags may actually work well for storing your aromatics and orientals, since you don't want them to age.
Also, after I pop a jar or tin, I keep all of my rotation in Rubbermaid Lock-its, as they won't come open, and I don't have to carry a heavy jar. The 1.25 cup containers seem to fit in my dress jacket pocket just fine, and I can toss it into the truck without worrying that it will break or break something else. I only ever have four different blends in rotation at a time, but these seem to keep my tobacco fresh for quite a while.
Carrying around a Mason jar full of tobacco makes me feel like I should also have a moonshine jug and a paper bag lunch to balance it out, LOL.

SO many threads on this. The basics - The only thing that ages is the Virginian tobacco, even in a blend. If it's in a rolled tin container, not a single pressed tin - jar it. Don't smash it and leave 1/2" of air at the top. Buy new jars, 8oz. seems to be the preferred choice, they're cheap and don't wash them. Keep them where the temperature is most stable with no light. Never open it unless you're going to smoke it, you'll let oxygen in and the ageing process will restart. Label the jars and keep records anyway you want, on the computer back it up in a cloud. Look at past threads...
Craig

Thanks for all the good info. I needed more on this also.
Dragonslayer, can explain rolled tin container vs. a single pressed tin. Sorry I'm so ignorant.

I do believe by rolled tin he means the cardboard type, like a peanut can. And by pressed, the all metal tins, like an altoid tin. I needed the info too parker, Im just getting started on this too.

I do set back some tins, but only a few specific ones that there is nothing close to it in bulk. I've only seen the cardboard in Sutliff products, and since they only really have anything worth smoking in aromatics, I just don't buy them to cellar away. But, tins are expensive. Your best deal is to buy five pound (80 oz)lots at a time, and you can get them for $150-200 a pop. Add in $7 a dozen for jars. If you go with tins, that is still almost five times the cost in building a cellar.

Fading...THANKS

A single pressed tin is just that, the whole bottom section is pressed from a single sheet of tin, the lid the same way and vacuum sealed. 99.9% of the time if you keep it dry, it won't have any issues. To keep production costs down which is important for us and the tobacco companies. So various versions of containers that are approved for food distribution, not long term storage are being used. This involves tin lined paper rolled diagonally pressing the edges into a cylinder then spray coated on the inside. The tin top and bottom is then crimped on leaving three areas of possible failure, the top, bottom and seam. That's the double edged sword. Cellaring and ageing/storing is important because tobacco will keep getting more and more expensive and ageing VA is wonderful. These containers are made by different manufactures who actually fill the containers for the brands. The problem I have is the human factor and materials involved in the construction. Things go wrong and have at an unacceptable rate. In the last year I purchased around 100 rolled tin containers with two being failures. The first a failure at the bottom crimp and the other at the seam half way up. By failure I'm talking about moisture leakage causing mold. If you plan on opening and smoking the rolled tin that's fine. If it's bad get it replaced. If you plan on cellaring it, open and properly jar it. You'll find many threads on that.
Craig

OP, the last question you had about using food saver is not recommended. I don't know exactly why but the saver bags take away a good portion of the air in the container and this will age the tobacco slower. Using a regular mason jar is better than the FS system.

Allow me to muddy the waters just a tad. Aging is just another way of expressing what is really happening to tobacco over time: it is decaying. Microbes and enzymes are breaking down starches and sugars. Most often, that is a good thing. Some of those microbes are aerobic (need oxygen to function) and some are anaerobic (do not function in the presence of oxygen). That is the extent of my knowledge on the effect of microbes and enzymes in tobacco. However, the other thing needed for either of them to function is water. Without it, they will not do their thing. So, when whole leaf tobacco is stored, it is stored dry. It can keep like that for years and years, however it too will age.
Moral: The wetter (and warmer) your tobacco, the more rapid the aging (and the more likely that mold and yeast spores will blossom). The dryer your tobacco, the long it will keep "as is".

Can someone explain to me where you can buy Mason jars boxes for $7? Ive spent many a years searching for this elusive bargain never finding for cheaper than $8.99. Walmart/Target/Sams never seen it,

The Foodsaver bags are PVC? That would give me pause, since PVC does off-gas. But it's probably not worth worrying about.

Our WalMart has Mason jars for $5-7 a dozen here. I thought I was estimating to the high side. But, canning your garden is just what everyone does here.

I had no idea that they were more expensive in some other places.
I also inherited my grandfather's collection of Mason jars, which took two trucks to get home, but they are all pints to gallon sizes. Not good for tobacco IMO. Plus, I use those for our food.

A couple of years ago, I bought a gross of half pints from here

They worked well, but I've filled most of those already. The non-mason jars are cheaper, and work just as well for tobacco, IMO.
edit: and I use the plastic lock-tight containers for my rotation that I am currently smoking. The 2oz works best. Fits in my jacket pocket, and if I toss it into the truck, it won't break, nor break anything else. And, the tobacco keeps for the short run.

Im jealous cosmic. Here in Iowa they are a bit more and Walmart has always been the cheapest. where do you live?