A question about Mason Jars

[matchstickman]

I read the article on this website regarding the use of mason and ball jars to store tobacco and how they should be prepared for storage. I have about 10 jars that I threw various loose samples in, only about an ounce of each blend (they were small jars.) However, I jarred up the tobacco before I read the article, and the article said to wash everything in hot, soapy water and then either boil the jars and rings or run them through the dishwasher on the hottest setting. I do not own a dishwasher, and did not boil these jars before throwing the tobacco in. I did wash them with lots of dish soap and the hottest water that my faucet would allow, then let them dry and threw the stuff in. Anyone think this would be all right? I wouldn't think there would be much harm in it but I wanted to make sure.

 

[mp31guitar]

As long as they are clean, you are fine.

 

[romeowood]

You'll probably be fine. Jarring tobacco is not unlike canning for food--a sterile environment will ensure longevity. Bacteria double in population approximately every 30 minutes to an hour, mold spores germinate and colonize in 1 to 12 days. Short answer: you should be able to tell within a month if your tobacco will survive longer than a month. If you pop it open and it has no sign of mildew or off odor, and it's not trying to crawl out of the jar, you're good.

 

[cortezattic]

I wouldn't worry about it. I boil my jars before use only half the time, and I haven't noticed any differences.

In any event there's nothing you can do about it now, so just let it age and make a decision later.

 

[ace57]

I had some drug store baccy start to go bad in a few days after putting it in jars, don't know why My good baccy is just fine in jars. :crazy:

 

[romeowood]

Did you handle the tobacco when putting it in the jar? Hands & fingers are rife with germy things. Also could have been too moist.

 

[bubbadreier]

I do what you do... I just wash them with soap and water, make sure that they are clean and dry, and load them on up!

 

[ace57]

I dried it and didn't handle it at all, 3 diff. drug store blends went bad but the stuff I got from My B&M was fine, all done on the same time.

 

[romeowood]

Hmmph. Well, at least it was the drug store blends and not the good stuff, ace.

My protocol for long-term aging is to wash, then boil, the jars & lids. I then place them in the oven at around 220F for 20 minutes to dry and heat up while I prepare the tobacco--usually just dumping it out of its bag onto a paper plate. I take care not to handle the tobacco, usually wearing nitrile gloves. I then fill the pre-heated jars, leaving some head room, run a beeswax bar around the rim and threads, and then let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to cool to approximately 150F. I then lid them while they're hot, forming a light seal with enough air left for the tobacco to breathe. Everything else goes into bail-tops for intermediate consumption. I may sound a little obsessive about it, and I probably am; I did unfortunately have a couple jars go bad, though, and could trace it to the careless handling and unsterilized jars when they were packed. Since I started paying a little attention to what I was doing I've had no failures, and just this afternoon popped open a 4oz jar of Xmas 2009 that was brilliant.

 

[dburrows]

Ahh - the oven - that's the tip. I didn't like the microwave idea for some reason. Thanks Romeo.

 

[romeowood]

Yeah, microwaves actually shred the molecular structure of whatever they're heating. Not great for flavor, IMHO. You can get a good seal with not a lot of heat, and I find that the few minutes in the warm jar has had no deleterious, and more likely somewhat beneficial, effect.

 

[dburrows]

That's what I was figuring. We don't microwave our food for that reason, why would I do it to my fine tobacco???

 

[kcghost]

I think Mason jars are the cat's meow for storing opened tobacco. Just never had a problem with and it seems the tobacco retains its flavor longer. I use only 2 and 4 ounce jars. The biggest hassle is remembering to mark them as to what I just put in them.