Cellaring with Cotton

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Corto Waltese

Lurker
Oct 14, 2019
44
84
I heard on Country Squire Radio that when you cellar tobacco, optimally there should be as little air as possible in your mason jar. I haven't been able to find 2 oz. mason jars, so I've been using 4 oz jars. In order to reduce the amount of air in the jar, could I use cotton balls to take up the extra space? Or would that be bad for some unforeseen reason? Just curious. Thanks.
 

craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,765
47,544
Minnesota USA
You’d be better off filling that airspace with marbles...

If you have several tins, then just stuff what you’ve got so that you can fill the 4 oz. jar. If not, a little extra airspace isn’t going to be the end of the world.

Putting cotton in there will end up being a bigger mess. Unless it absorbs the attributes of the tobacco and you can smoke it... get back to us on that.
 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
Some say an inch, some 2, some say none at all. Aerobic fermentation requires air, but when it's been used, anaerobic starts and will continue until the jar is opened.

My opinion is that fermentation in jars should not be disturbed to mimic aging in tins, which is where we get all the comments about exquisitely aged tobacco, tins with decades of aging rescued from the drawer of some pipe smoker who has passed. If you're dipping into your jars from time you're forcing the tobacco to switch from anaerobic to aerobic fermentation and back again.

This probably doesn't make a tastable difference, but I was more comfortable follow ing the model.
 
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bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,932
37,913
RTP, NC. USA
All my tobaccos stay in tins. Those in jars are opened frequently for smoking. Haven't bought any bulk tobacco to worry about all that. But, if I have bulk tobacco, probably I'll fill up as many jars as possible and smoke what's left over that's not filling up a jar.
 
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stogie37

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 24, 2012
673
3,489
Southport, North Carolina
I never completely fill my Mason jars. I've heard of the busting because of the gases put off during the fermentation process.
Hmmm... this I haven’t heard before. (The mason jars busting part). I pack some jars pretty aggressively - I mean pressed down hard! Is this really a thing? I’m now considering if I need to remove some tobacco from some of the most condensed jars...
 
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Thepipehunter

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 29, 2020
297
3,618
WV
Hmmm... this I haven’t heard before. (The mason jars busting part). I pack some jars pretty aggressively - I mean pressed down hard! Is this really a thing? I’m now considering if I need to remove some tobacco from some of the most condensed jars...
I saw someone post on Instagram a while back that it happened to them. That's the only time I know of it hppeneing. It may have been a fluke, but I've kept it mind with my jars just in case.
 
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BROBS

Lifer
Nov 13, 2019
11,765
40,026
IA
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Corto Waltese

Lurker
Oct 14, 2019
44
84
This probably doesn't make a tastable difference, but I was more comfortable follow ing the model.
I have a jar or two of VA's that I'm aging on purpose, but for the rest, I'm just using mason jars to store them after I open a tin. I go back in frequently or infrequently depending on my interest in the tobacco. I've noticed, that my Escudo (stored in a 4oz jar with a moderate amount of air ) doesn't taste anything like what it did when I first cracked its tin about 8-9 months ago. As a novice pipe smoker, I've accumulated a lot of tobacco sitting in mason jars (does anyone sell samplers?), but I'm getting to the point where I know what I like and am frequenting particular blends until I finish.