Amber Mason Jars

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I wouldn't have any use for the colored jars myself. I keep most (I keep a few that I'm smoking out of on a shelf in the living room) of my jars in a dark closet so the only time they really see light is when I'm looking at them. And, I like to look at the tobacco within them and the tinted jars would prevent that.

Black jars for ANTIFA?

Nah... yellow jars for ANTIFA. Take away their crowd and they're probably just yellow bellied cowards.

 

[woodsroad]

My mistake.

Yellow it is.

 

[crashthegrey]

I store my jars out of sunlight, but this is a good idea for the jars from which you smoke on a regular basis which may not be out of the reach of a window.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I will comment, despite some of the aggravating side opinions going on with you guys who should know better. Yep, I'm shaking my finger at you.
My biggest problem with these colored jars is that they only come in sizes that are too large. I prefer my tobaccos to be stored in 2-3oz increments, so that I don't have a jar of aged tobacco going to crap on me before I can smoke an entire jar.
If the idea here is truly just to aid in aging, then your goal is long-term(10+ years). If you haven't had much experience with aged tobaccos, then you might not be aware that the shelf-life of an aged blend is very short, like a month is being generous. Some will just turn to dust, some will lose all of the essential flavors associated with aged tobaccos, and some just start to taste like crap after being open for a few weeks. Some people seem to never be able to tastes these turns for the worst, and I guess that if being "told" a blend is aged is enough for you... then you might not mind huge jars.
But, after a couple of weeks, I notice that that stewed fruity taste dissipates, and the blends usually taste either about the same as the fresh version, or it just loses taste altogether, or turns to shitdust.
Blah blah blah, what it amounts to for me is that I can smoke the entire jar in regular rotation before it goes south. YMMV
Now, if they made the half-pint and quarter pint in the amber color, I would give it a shot... although, for years the clear jars have been working just fine. But, it seems odd to age a quart sized jar with 8oz of tobacco in it with extra money spent on having it be in a special colored jar... only to have the tobacco lose it's fruity aged essence before you can smoke the whole thing. But, to each their own. ::

 

[seldom]

Guess those are the ones I need to buy for Rumtopf!

Better yet a pot made of stoneware (topf=pot). Thanks for the reminder! I'll need to get a batch going when fruits are in season for enjoyment next Christmas.

 

[mau1]

No one here keeps their jars in direct sunlight, right? So why do you need to protect against UV light? You have been cellaring with clear glass jars for years and years just fine. This is just a smart marketing ploy IMO to sell us something we really don't need.

And if you do leave your jars out in the sunlight, the dark amber-coloured jars would heat up more than clear jars, cooking your tobacco even more I would think.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Actually, Pipestud (and I am paraphrasing) has posted in the past that he has a client who sometimes supplies aged tobaccos for him (or something like this) that wholeheartedly believes that aging the blends in direct sunlight is beneficial to the process. The idea that sunlight is NOT beneficial is merely assumptions and conjecture.
Direct sunlight can create a rapid darkening of the blends, which is my observation. And, it seems to taste just as great with time in the sunlight. There is a lot that we just don't know about aging blends. This comes up time and time again. Most of what we know is merely someone's ideas that get passed down as facts. For all of these last few decades people have used clear glass jars with no bad consequences. Plus, these colored glass jars were originally produced as novelty jars to mimic some of the vintage jars that crafters wanted for decorative purposes. If you look at these jars there is no UV coatings on them, not like you'd find on a pair of sunglasses. They are merely a light coloring added to the glass. If they are now being marketed as UV protection, it's not very good protection. 99% seems like proverbial smoke being blown up our ass-umptions. Marketing people have a way of twisting truths and such. Even a black cotton shirt doesn't provide 99% UV protection, nor do very many suntan lotions.

 

[crashthegrey]

I was under the assumption that they had these in smaller sizes, too. I may be wrong, I have not seen any of these in the wild. I would definitely be curious where they get the 99% number and what they are using to validate this.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Four, one quart jars like these run you about $22 or more. If they have smaller sizes in the UV amber, I cannot find them. But, I can get a dozen clear jars for under $10, so if someone is going to start exclusively using these jars, they are dumping buttloads of money out the nose.
...I like using buttload and nose in the same sentence. ::

 

[crashthegrey]

If that is all there is, then I wouldn't even consider them for tobacco.

 

[jvnshr]

Heck, they could make jars in the shape of Javan's face if they would block UV light AND allow me to see in!

Jars in the shape of my face? Hmm, I am open to offers.

 

[briarbuck]

I have set sealed ball jars on the deck for a month in the summer. Heats and sweats every day. It does change the tobacco over time (or seems to anyway).

 

[mau1]

Well I'm happy to be corrected in the pursuit of knowledge. I freely admit that I'm one of those that has no experience whatsoever in this area. It makes me wonder, though, if sunlight is beneficial to jarred tobacco, at what point in the process would it be considered not beneficial? A lot of factors to consider. You would almost need to conduct controlled experiments to arrive at supported conclusions.

 

[bigtex]

I had a Davidoff rep show me the effects of light (fluorescent tube lighting) on cigar wrappers in a walk in humidor. He showed how the wrapper faded on cigars that sat for extended periods exposed to the lights. There were various levels of fading on different types of wrappers as a marked color change from one side of the cigar to the other. This B&M kept its pipe tobacco in glass jars near the windows that got lots of Texas sunshine. I did not smoke a pipe at the time so I cannot speak of how it effected the tobacco.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I've noticed that jars that I've left in my truck windshield on a hot Alabama summer day turns black and sweet. Try it. But, I probably wouldn't try it with an aromatic, but who knows?

But, it's not my practice with my whole cellar. I keep most in my closet or in a cabinet, but I don't think I would treat it like photography chemicals or anything.

 

[ashdigger]

If I leave a jar in my truck during a Las Vegas summer the moisture steams the baccy. Not in a good way.