A Gift of Many Tobaccos from a Friend

[Singularis]

I just received a windfall of tobaccos from a friend who is unable to make use of them in the near and probably distant future.

It's about 75% blending tobaccos -- Virginias, Orientals, DFK, Cavendish, Latakia, Perique, etc. (sadly, no burleys) -- with some established blends, including nearly 7 oz of Luxury Bullseye Flake! There's also some PS Navy Flake, Nightcap, Early Morning Pipe, Russ' Tastykake, Plum Pudding, and the piece de resistance: 515C Matured Virginia!!!

Anyway, some of it is labeled "!! Dry Storage !!" which I take to mean that it got dried out a bit, but is in jars anyway. As you can see from the picture below (which is only half of what was in the box of "Santa Comes Early Tobacco Goodies"), it was exclusively stored in thoroughly washed and reused food jars. I think they should stay fairly well hydrated. Anyone else have success or failure with this kind of storage? They've been in there for 4-7 months, it looks like.

I'll be studying up on "How to Re-Hydrate Pipe Tobacco" (How to Re-Hydrate Pipe Tobacco :: Pipe Tobacco Discussion - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/how-to-re-hydrate-pipe-tobacco.78055/) for the ones that are close to crispy, but salvageable, from what I can tell.

Finally, any recipes involving 515C and DFK would be welcome. There's also some 507 Stoved Virginia that I'm eager to try.

 

[mikethompson]

Wow! That's some gift. Congratulations on your good fortune.

 

[Singularis]

Wow! That's some gift. Congratulations on your good fortune.

Thanks! It will go to good use for many years to come.

 

[edger]

You are fortunate to have such a friend.

 

[Akousticplyr]

Hope your friend is ok.

 

[kcghost]

The guy done you proud.

 

[Singularis]

Hope your friend is ok.

Yeah he’s good. He has a tendency to make sudden changes in hobbies. He went off to discern becoming a priest. So he needed to offload his stash to the nicest pipe smoking fellow he knew. Happened to me.

 

[judcole]

Very nice gift.

 

[DanWil84]

Very nice gift, glad your friend would be physical able to smoke a pipe but is not allowed to.

Not to make this a discussion, but there are devoted people smoking, a example is the recently declared holy Titus Brandsma, a Dutch pastor who's pipe smoking picture is used a lot

 

[Singularis]

Very nice gift, glad your friend would be physical able to smoke a pipe but is not allowed to.

Not to make this a discussion, but there are devoted people smoking, a example is the recently declared holy Titus Brandsma, a Dutch pastor who's pipe smoking picture is used a lot

View attachment 115741

My friend is in good company as many of his confreres are not afraid of the occasional cigar or pipe. But for the time being, he has suspended the hobby. If he sticks around, I think he'll be able to enjoy God's gift of tobacco soon enough. As it happens, I am also Dutch (through my father) and Catholic, so it always warms my heart to hear about people such as Blessed Titus Brandsma (honestly the first I heard of him: he must not have been involved with the Pope's plot to assassinate Hitler as recounted in Church of Spies by Mark Riebling). And a pipe smoker to boot!

 

[Gavrin]

Heck, Bing Crosy smokes a pipe in The Bells of St. Marys' and Going My Way! If it's good enough for Bing! That was a very generous gift. You might save him a little of it.. he might be glad you did.

 

[Singularis]

Heck, Bing Crosy smokes a pipe in The Bells of St. Marys' and Going My Way! If it's good enough for Bing! That was a very generous gift. You might save him a little of it.. he might be glad you did.

I will have plenty for him later if/when he needs it. I already had a 4+ year cellar supply (mostly tins) before receiving this stash.

 

[mso489]

To address the jarring question, the single piece screw-top jars are not as secure as canning jars, but for a matter of months, I think they have done just fine. You might now want to put the leaf in canning jars if you don't expect to smoke it right away, over the next six months I've kept blends in screw top food jars like this for months, and years, and done okay with it, but I'm not recommending it. As for the dry storage business, I'd ask what that means. Don't store it in the rain? in high humidity? I don't take that as having an uniform meaning, so just ask. Your set for a long time for mixing your own blends. You can doctor established blends, or make up your own. Some of my best smokes are done that way. I mostly keep it to one or two condiments in a blend or base tobacco. You have to get really lucky to get good taste from five or six or more tobaccos; they can get pretty harsh and/or muddy. But you can get wonderful results with a few, and often with just a pinch or two on a blend or base tobacco.

 

[Singularis]

To address the jarring question, the single piece screw-top jars are not as secure as canning jars, but for a matter of months, I think they have done just fine. You might now want to put the leaf in canning jars if you don't expect to smoke it right away, over the next six months I've kept blends in screw top food jars like this for months, and years, and done okay with it, but I'm not recommending it. As for the dry storage business, I'd ask what that means. Don't store it in the rain? in high humidity? I don't take that as having an uniform meaning, so just ask. Your set for a long time for mixing your own blends. You can doctor established blends, or make up your own. Some of my best smokes are done that way. I mostly keep it to one or two condiments in a blend or base tobacco. You have to get really lucky to get good taste from five or six or more tobaccos; they can get pretty harsh and/or muddy. But you can get wonderful results with a few, and often with just a pinch or two on a blend or base tobacco.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions, @mso489! I would definitely better about the long term storage of the tobacco once moved to standard Ball jars (which is how I've stored most of my tobacco up to this point). I'll have to get a new set of widemouth 16 oz and 8 oz jars with lids, though fortunately most of the tobacco seems to be at close to ideal moisture.

Regarding the "dry storage" labelling: I have no easy way to communicate with this friend (the tobacco was delivered via his dad), so I'm going with my gut and saying: it dried and needs to be re-hydrated. But there's plenty of extra to go around for now.

I'll be sure to keep it simple with blending: always a good reminder.

 

[Ocam]

Wow, great gift!!

What you could do with the jars is just sealing them with a water bath. I store many tobaccos like that and they keep perfectly.

As for the "dry storage", be careful. It might mean that those tobaccos need to be stored dry. All commercial tobaccos have PG or Glycerin to retain moisture and not molding, but tobacco without additives molds easily when a bit moist, so it's always safer to stay on the dry side.

 

[Singularis]

Wow, great gift!!

What you could do with the jars is just sealing them with a water bath. I store many tobaccos like that and they keep perfectly.

As for the "dry storage", be careful. It might mean that those tobaccos need to be stored dry. All commercial tobaccos have PG or Glycerin to retain moisture and not molding, but tobacco without additives molds easily when a bit moist, so it's always safer to stay on the dry side.

Most or all of the ones labelled "dry storage" have duplicates. And the dry storage ones are indeed a bit drier, but not really more so than some C&D blending tobaccos that I've gotten (their bright Virginia and Izmir Turkish are both quite dry, but smoke beautifully).

Water bath is an interesting idea. Do you pour very hot (near boiling) water into a big/sink/large pot with the jars with water just below the lids until the lid button gets sucked in? Let me know.

In any case, I'll probably end up getting a dozen or two new mason jars with lids, though I think many of these will be good for a few months to a year.

 

[Magnum207]

My 100% German Grandmother always used the term “dry storage” to mean a specific place for where she would place packaged food items which were normally stored much longer than perishable items. What she called dry storage is what commonly known as a “pantry.” This had/has nothing to do with the moisture level of items placed in dry storage. She also had a “Pie Safe.”

 

[Magnum207]

I forgot to add, my wife’s Great Grandmother also used the term “dry storage” (“I put it in the dry storage,”etc…) and she was English. So, I believe it is just an old common term, not specific to Deutchland.

Anyway, AWESOME gift; how generous. From what I’ve read, that would keep #Jiminks going for two-weeks. Congrats.

 

[Ocam]

Most or all of the ones labelled "dry storage" have duplicates. And the dry storage ones are indeed a bit drier, but not really more so than some C&D blending tobaccos that I've gotten (their bright Virginia and Izmir Turkish are both quite dry, but smoke beautifully).

Water bath is an interesting idea. Do you pour very hot (near boiling) water into a big/sink/large pot with the jars with water just below the lids until the lid button gets sucked in? Let me know.

In any case, I'll probably end up getting a dozen or two new mason jars with lids, though I think many of these will be good for a few months to a year.

I put them in a pot with water just below the lids and keep it close to boiling for 20 minutes. Then take the jars and put them upside down. The lids don't have to be fully tight so the air can escape and suck the lids in.

But yeah, that is the idea. There are many methods to do this and this is just my one.