Big Troubles Keeping Tobbacco in Good Condition - Help!

[jorico]

First of all, as this is my first post, I'll make a little presentation. I'm a pipe smoker living in Spain, it's now about 2 years since i've started the hobby. I'm glad to join this great community, hope to make at least some little contribution helping other newbies if i can, and, as a newbie myself, I have need of your knowledge already If you are so kind to take a couple of minutes to read along my issue, of course.
Well, given the difficulty of buying good tobbaccos here in Spain (aside from some European brands), i've made an order from an american tobbaco store. After 16 days i've got the bulk tobbaco stored in zip plastic bags. That very day I opened the 5 pouches to try the tobbaccos, which were of an excellent quality I have to say. After that, I closed the bags and put em on a table on a dark place.

Today, the day after, i was going to store em on mason jars, but as I opened the bags I noticed an HUGE decrease in the tobbaco's aroma, as it the blends were very mild.

So I proceeded to load a pipe with Nightcap to see if it was only my imagination. Unluckily, the tobbaco tasted much milder indeed, being almost unrecognizable from yesterday smoking.
Could it get spoilt in just about 24 hours?? If so, can anyone tell me what I did wrong? I'd hate to have this issue again in future adquisitions and can't understand what happened. I usually buy 2 ounces pouches here in spain, and they dont get too bad in the 2 weeks it takes to me to smoke them... Of course they are not like when opened the first day, but they didn't get almost unmoskable after hours opened...
Thank you very much in advance for your answers!

 

[maker]

It does not seem possible that it could have changed that much in 24 hours unless exposed to extreme heat or left out in the sun or some other extreme environmental or chemical condition. Probably just your tastebuds have changed. Wait a couple of days and try again. Happens to me sometimes where my tastebuds are dead after eating a spicy meal, smoking or drinking too much.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Do you only have one pipe?

 

[artificialme]

@Cosmic : I'm about to ask the same question. Just a few days ago, I smoked a same pipe over and over in a day. After the 2nd bowl, it started to get sour and the flavor was deteriorating. So I learned my lesson. Never smoke in the same pipe over and over. Give them a time to rest
@Jorico : I just start jarring my tobacco yesterday. As far as I can tell, It didn't have any problem with the flavor and aroma

 

[jorico]

@Cosmic : In fact, the pipe i've used for testing the Nigthcap was used that morning with another blend. So it only rested 8 hours or so, maybe that caused the strange flavour? Thank you for the answer!
@artificialme : How much time was it opened before you started jarring? It had the same strong aroma when you were jarrin it as when you opened the pouch?
Thank you very much for your answers, gentlemen!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Having only one pipe is ok, but if you want the crisp sharp flavors, you would want to always use a fresh and clean pipe.

 

[jorico]

@Cosmic I have 4 pipes, but one is my favourite, because the chamber is bigger. So, if i clean it with the salt and alcohol procedure maybe the problem is solved? Or maybe just letting it some days rest will do? Thanks, sir, for your insight! Good smokings to you! :D

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Do whatever, just expect the pipe to be more muted with the more you often you smoke it in a day. I do it occasionally, no biggie. It just explains why it wasn't as crisp tasting.

The salt and alcohol procedure is a bit of overkill. You could try just running warm water through your pipes after each smoke, rolling a bit of papertowel and reaming the bowl, and using a pipe cleaner to really get that draft wiped out. Then you'd be ready to smoke it again at will.

 

[maker]

If you smelled a difference when opening the bags again that would indicate a problem with your senses or the tobacco and not necessarily the pipe. I smoke from one pipe all the time and simply clean it out with a pipe cleaner after a smoke and taste no difference. If a tobacco is particularly wet then the acids in the liquid can burn the tongue. Pipe clean and rub out the bowl with the same pipe cleaner and let dry.

That nightcap can smell really strong when you first crack the bag and it might have shipped a little wet too.

 

[jorico]

@maker Yes, it did arrive with some moisture, feeling a bit oily on the hands. Maybe that explains why the smell changed, as it must have lost part of it being opened for 24hours. Do you use some liquid with the pipe cleaner or do you just rub it dry? And do you ream the bowl to remove some cake from it? Thank you for your time!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Being open for 24 hours probably did nothing harmful to your tobacco. I dry my tobaccos to bone dry to get MORE flavors from them, never have I gotten less. It would have had to be open for months in the desert to dry out the essential oils of the tobacco, making it stale. It's not a delicate as you'd think.

From the field to the tin, tobacco is dried to bone dry many times as it is processed. It's not going to be ruined by drying.
They wipe the bowl out with a pipecleaner to just remove the ash.

 

[jorico]

@Cosmic As always, thanks for your expert advice! Tomorrow a new pipe arrives and i'll do a fresh smoke, to confirm it's a not a problem with the tobbacco having "changed" but a sanitation problem with the used pipe.

 

[headhunter]

Jar it immediately.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Holà, jorico, and welcome!
Don't forget that a new pipe will add another dimension to the taste of the smoke! I'm more in the camp that change in your tastebuds account for most of the difference. And note that ziplock bags are generally not airtight. The thick ones can work for several weeks or months, though, depending on the ambient humidity. (Madrid in Summer- very dry, no? And Barca- much more moisture?)

 

[ignaciojn]

When I open a tin or pouch for the first time, the aroma knocks me out (and I love it).

Subsequent openings, be it in a tin, pouch or jar, while still pleasing, are never as strong at that first one.

 

[panamacharlie]

While the tobacco was in the bag, in the store or during shipping, a lot of the out-gassing flavors were allowed to build up inside the bag. Opening the bags allowed these built up gases to escape, like cold air leaves your refrigerator when you open the door. So the Tin Note (in this case bag note) will be less on subsequent openings. I always look forward to my first smell of a freshly opened tin. Nothing to worry about, enjoy your tobacco.

 

[dottiewarden]

Happens to me sometimes where my tastebuds are dead after eating a spicy meal, smoking or drinking too much.

and

I'm more in the camp that change in your tastebuds account for most of the difference.

In short, you smoked a relatively strong Latakia forward blend which has the capacity to knock your tastebuds out of commission, albeit temporarily.

 

[artificialme]

How much time was it opened before you started jarring? It had the same strong aroma when you were jarrin it as when you opened the pouch?

@Jorico : I jarred it just after opening the tin so it doesn't make any different because it quickly jarred.

 

[jorico]

So, the Nigthcap knocked out my tastebuds and that accounted for the change of flavour, plus using same pipe twice in a day as Cosmic pointed.
And the change in the aroma I think panamacharlie made a really good point... that the pouch being 16 days travelling since they put in the zip pouches from the jars, has to buildup some gases inside. Also many people said first opening has much stronger aroma than subsequent openings.
This solves all my doubts and even more. I'm so thankful to all of you who posted your insights, this is a really great forum with so many great members!
P.D.: This morning I smoked some Nightcap on a new pipe and flavour was way better, I think i'm goint to give a couple of days rest to my tongue until I recover full taste. It has been a heavy smoking week... too much tobbacco sampling :lol:

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Good, good... I am gladd that you figured it out.

Looking at the comments, I am always amazed at how much anxiety we all have about blends drying out in open jars or tins. I can see this more for the guys who love tongue burns from sucking molten steamy acidic smoke onto their tongues, but for the guys who do eventually dry a bowls worth out at a time, why the anxiety? Do you guys live in such a desert climate that fresh tobacco turns to dust in mere hours? And, even if it did, so what?
I am more worried about aged blends drying than fresh tins, because an aged blend can turn to crap very easily. Whereas some guys will load up a quart sized jar to age a blend in, and are so laissez faire with their aged tobaccos, and then get a kink in their panties about keeping a fresh tin moist. It seems totally backwards to me. I will place a fresh tin on a coffee mug warmer to dry it out to smokably crunchy to make loading a bowl less of a hassle for the few days the tin will be full, and yet will store my aged blends in the smallest canning jars so that I can smoke a ten year old Virginia before it turns to shitdust, ha ha.