Advice on Opening/Cellaring Tins

[eightywon]

I think I've probably smoked 60 or so blends. I also have about 60 or so unopened tins in the cellar that I've yet to try. At my current rate I probably smoke 3-4 tins/month but with an open rotation of 30+, I'm lucky to finish 1 open blend on any given month. I'm actually trying to narrow it down to about a dozen open blends, but it seems that is unlikely. I'm wondering, should I just start opening all of them, sampling, and jarring them? I hate the idea of having 100 or so blends opened and in rotation, but I also want to start stockpiling some of my favorites. But who really knows what those are with so many blends out there?! C'mon box pass! Lol

 

[macabra11]

I have nowhere NEAR that amount of tobaccos, but I have wondered the same thing. I also don't smoke through a blend very fast because I have so many others open. I want to try new things to discover what I really like, but I don't want 20 different things open at once if it will affect quality.

 

[wyfbane]

If the seal on the tin won't hold or it will be too long and the tobacco will dry out I jar them all up. I have 2qt/1qt/pt/half pt jars. I just fill up the tiniest jar for my desk and jar the rest in the appropriate sized jars.
Edit: Sorry it is 1/4 pint jars I keep for my desk.

 

[northernneil]

It will usually take me 1 or 2 full tins before I can decide if a tobacco is for me. Cumberland is a perfect example, at first I was very underwhelmed. Then, toward the bottom of the first tin I found a great pipe / tobacco combination. Well I had to open a 2nd tin to see if it was a fluke, and it was not. This is one of my favorite tobaccos, and I was ready to write it off in the beginnig.
Also, I really try to finish a open tin before cracking a new one. I find this helps me get to know the tobacco a little better instead of it being just another smoke.

 

[mrenglish]

Go get a case or two of the half pint Bell jars and go to town. I literally have about a hundred different jars of various blends that have accumulated over the years. The half pint jars will easily hold 50g of loose tobacco or 100g of flake.
If its something I want to try but then realize I won't finish the tin within a month, it goes into a jar. Just do not forget to label it. :wink:

 

[eightywon]

I forgot to mention open tins go straight to jars, of which I ALREADY have about 7 dozen- my open rotation and cellared bulk.

 

[eightywon]

Northernneil- your point is exactly why I'm trying to get down my open rotation down to about 10 or 12 blends. Vs 100+

 

[eightywon]

Thanks all. I'm not too stressed about it, let's face it, this isn't necessarily a bad problem to have on my hands. :D

I think I was leaning towards going to town on all them unsuspecting tins anyways, life's too short not to right? I think I just needed a little encouragement from my pals to pillage all those preciouses.

 

[mrenglish]

Another advantage to jars is if you really do not like a blend, you can revisit it later. There are a couple blends that I ended up really enjoying after the initial meh.

 

[mikestanley]

Another idea is to take a square of wax paper and use it as a gasket between the tin top and bottom. It does a nice job of keeping a blend from drying out. Not as long term as a jar but much better than an unsealed tin...and cheaper!
Mike S.

 

[zitotczito]

I took all of the paper tins ones and put them into the large acrylic jars from Wal-Mart and each jar holds 3 tins. I was nervous about that even before I has read this thread.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So far (knock on wood) I've never had a Virginia or VaPer that I didn't like. So, stockpiling tins of what I know are straight Virginias doesn't bother me. I figure that I'll get to them eventually.

But, I can suggest bigger pipes and more bowls, ha ha!! ::

 

[thesmokingtexan]

Are there any concerns about the tobacco molding after it is put in a mason jar? I am about to start building a stock my self and was going to buy some bulk blend and jar it but I thought about the whole thing going bad or molding

 

[curl]

I use 4 oz jars that hold 2 oz of loose tobacco, and 8 oz jars that hold a little more than 2 oz of flake tobacco. The plan is what goes into the jars is for long term storage.
I try to buy blends that are new to me in 3 oz increments...2 go in the jar and 1 gets smoked. I figure that one oz will tell me to get more of it or not. That method don't work so well for tin tobacco...so if I like a tin, I smoke it and make a note to buy a lot of it. If I don't like it, I jar it up and move on.

 

[mrenglish]

+1 Sparks. I have never had an issue with mold in the jars (knock on wood).
When I reuse a jar, I pour boiling water in it, let it sit for a minute or two, dump it and then let it air dry. I usually replace the lid as well as they are cheap. This is more to remove any trace of the previous tobacco than to create a sterile environment. The jars should be good to go right out of the box though.

 

[Briar Boy]

I don't have any blends that I haven't tried, I jar all my tobaccos as soon as I open them, 230+ small jars of open blends, cellared stuff is either in sealed tins or large jars which are duplicates of what I have open.