A question about an old tins of Bell’s Three Nuns!

[Sankt Pöltener]

I’ve got recently 5 Tins of Bells Three Nuns Made in England, the tins are still full but unfortunately the vacuum seal has been broken with age as I think..

The tobacco is bone dry.
Is the tobacco worth rehydrating? Cause I read that once the tobacco is one dry, rehydrating it won’t help as the tobacco looses all it’s flavor!
and which method works best for such tobacco cut “ little coins”.
And should I rehydrate all the 5 tins together at once, or rehydrate only one tin?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[VDL_Piper]

If you have a mason jar you can replace the metal lid with muslin or doubled paper towel that has been moistened and then screw the outer ring on to secure the moist towel. Once done you can use a spray bottle to moisten the towel as required.
The tobacco is salvageable for sure and worth your efforts.

 

[JimInks]

Well, you paid for them, you might as well save what you can out of them. Do one at a time to gauge how best to do it. You can put one in a bowl and cover it with a wet towel using distilled water for a few hours. Don't let the towel touch the tobacco. Turn it over after a couple hours, and then see how it is.

Or if you have a spritzer, lightly spritz it with distilled water and let it sit for a while.

Chances are that you've lost the toppings, but you never know if remnants of it remain unless you smoke it.

If you can send it back and get your money back, you may want to consider that as well.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

It's definitely worth saving. I usually put tobacco in a bowl and take a moist paper towel and lay over the top. After a couple hours I'll remove the paper towel, stir up the tobacco, and do it again. I do that process as many times as it takes to get the tobacco back to what I feel is the right moisture content for smoking. Good luck.

 

[Zamora]

I didn't know it used to come in a square tin. Those are supposed to be much worse at retaining moisture than circular ones.

 

[Briarcutter]

Follow suggestions with the distilled water, don't use tap water. It won't bring it back to the original but it can't hurt trying. I didn't know any Nuns was made in England, I thought they went from Scotland to Denmark.

 

[seanv]

All good advice above. Do not forget to use distilled water only. That is very important.

 

[sablebrush52]

I’ve got recently 5 Tins of Bells Three Nuns Made in England, the tins are still full but unfortunately the vacuum seal has been broken with age as I think..

The tobacco is bone dry.
Is the tobacco worth rehydrating? Cause I read that once the tobacco is one dry, rehydrating it won’t help as the tobacco looses all it’s flavor!
and which method works best for such tobacco cut “ little coins”.
And should I rehydrate all the 5 tins together at once, or rehydrate only one tin?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

You may not regain all of the flavor lost but it's certainly worth a try.

How I rehydrate is to place the tobacco in a sterilized bowl, wet paper toweling with distilled water, lay the toweling across the top of the bowl so that it completely covers the top while not touching the tobacco.

Go watch TV for a couple of hours, then fold back the toweling, stir around the tobacco, check the toweling to make sure that it is sufficiently damp. If it needs a bit more distilled water, dampen it and again stretch across the top of the bowl, completely covering it and leave it for a few hours more. Repeat, stirring the tobacco so that all of it gets exposure to the humidity.

Once the tobacco feels like its regained some pliability, jar it and put away for a week so that the moisture has time to completely distribute in the tobacco.

Then, give it a try to see how it tastes and smokes.

Sometimes I hit a home run, sometimes it's a base hit, and sometimes it's a shutout.

 

[Terry Lennox]

There are many ways to do it. I use tupperware with a cup of distilled water. Cover it and leave it be. I would leave it overnight. Maybe even a week.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

That's a damn shame. I hope you can salvage it.

 

[Sankt Pöltener]

Thank for the adv

Well, you paid for them, you might as well save what you can out of them. Do one at a time to gauge how best to do it. You can put one in a bowl and cover it with a wet towel using distilled water for a few hours. Don't let the towel touch the tobacco. Turn it over after a couple hours, and then see how it is.

Or if you have a spritzer, lightly spritz it with distilled water and let it sit for a while.

Chances are that you've lost the toppings, but you never know if remnants of it remain unless you smoke it.

If you can send it back and get your money back, you may want to consider that as well.

Well, you paid for them, you might as well save what you can out of them. Do one at a time to gauge how best to do it. You can put one in a bowl and cover it with a wet towel using distilled water for a few hours. Don't let the towel touch the tobacco. Turn it over after a couple hours, and then see how it is.

Or if you have a spritzer, lightly spritz it with distilled water and let it sit for a while.

Chances are that you've lost the toppings, but you never know if remnants of it remain unless you smoke it.

If you can send it back and get your money back, you may want to consider that as well.

Thank you for the information, I bought the tins for the price of a new 50g tin, so it wasn’t that expensive.

 

[Sankt Pöltener]

You may not regain all of the flavor lost but it's certainly worth a try.

How I rehydrate is to place the tobacco in a sterilized bowl, wet paper toweling with distilled water, lay the toweling across the top of the bowl so that it completely covers the top while not touching the tobacco.

Go watch TV for a couple of hours, then fold back the toweling, stir around the tobacco, check the toweling to make sure that it is sufficiently damp. If it needs a bit more distilled water, dampen it and again stretch across the top of the bowl, completely covering it and leave it for a few hours more. Repeat, stirring the tobacco so that all of it gets exposure to the humidity.

Once the tobacco feels like its regained some pliability, jar it and put away for a week so that the moisture has time to completely distribute in the tobacco.

Then, give it a try to see how it tastes and smokes.

Sometimes I hit a home run, sometimes it's a base hit, and sometimes it's a shutout.

That seems a very good idea, thank you, I’ll definitely try it!

 

[Sankt Pöltener]

Follow suggestions with the distilled water, don't use tap water. It won't bring it back to the original but it can't hurt trying. I didn't know any Nuns was made in England, I thought they went from Scotland to Denmark.

The tin says made in England on the side

 

[JimInks]

The tin says made in England on the side

Would you mind showing us the bottom of the tin? I'd like to see the label.

 

[greeneyes]

I've rehydrated tons of these, although I use a safer and gentler passive rehydration method, and they're all glorious smokes.

 

[jaingorenard]

All the advice above is good. The one thing I'd add is that if you can be bothered, you could rehydrate it in small portions (i.e. enough for a smoke or two) to further reduce risk of mould.

 

[Sankt Pöltener]

I've rehydrated tons of these, although I use a safer and gentler passive rehydration method, and they're all glorious smokes.

Would you mind showing us the bottom of the tin? I'd like to see the label.

Sure, but there is nothing on the bottom of the tin

 

[Sankt Pöltener]

Sure, but there is nothing on the bottom of the tin

Those tins were bought in the 80’s from Slovenia, as the seller told me.

 

[Ahi Ka]

I had moderate success last year with a dried out batch from the same era. I managed to taste some hints of the topping, but in the end just accepted I was only ever going to get the flavours of the base tobacco. In the end I gave up on trying to rehydrate it to its former glory and just mixed in a bit of unsweetened cavendish for moisture and enjoyed smoking the Frankenstein blend

 

[Sankt Pöltener]

I had moderate success last year with a dried out batch from the same era. I managed to taste some hints of the topping, but in the end just accepted I was only ever going to get the flavours of the base tobacco. In the end I gave up on trying to rehydrate it to its former glory and just mixed in a bit of unsweetened cavendish for moisture and enjoyed smoking the Frankenstein blend

What was the toppings used in three Nuns?