Bulk vs. Tinned

[echambers]

I've read a number of reviews that have compared the bulk and tinned version of the same tobacco. Almost universally reviewers favor the tinned version. Assuming it's the same blend what contributes to these differences?

 

[deathmetal]

Better seal, preserving toppings and moisture. Some bulk blends may be designed to work around this, and thus are more moist and have more toppings. This is a matter of conjecture however.
Other threads of interest:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/tins-vs-bulk

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/bulk-vs-tin

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/bulk-vs-tin-1

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/fvf-bulk-versus-tinned

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/bulk-versus-tin

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/guide-to-buying-tinned-amp-bulk-tobacco

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/warning-dumb-question-maybe-tinned-vs-bulk

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/any-difference-in-dunhill-bulk-vs-tins

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/bulk-nightcap-from-pampc

 

[echambers]

Thanks for the reply and thanks for the links -- I did try to search the forums for a similar thread before I posted but clearly I am an incompetent searcher

 

[deathmetal]

I use an outside search engine. The Wordpress search engine responds to exact matches, usually on title or tags, and can be a bit too primitive for what is needed.

 

[sablebrush52]

Almost universally reviewers favor the tinned version. Assuming it's the same blend what contributes to these differences?

Delusional snobbery. I'd really like to see how the ratings would go in a double blind comparison. Heck, I'd be interested in finding out how many of these reviewers would know what blend they were smoking or whether they were smoking tinned and bulk versions of the same blend.

 

[echambers]

Thanks (again) @deathmetal!

 

[samugeki123]

On the topic of bulk, any suggestions for how to store it?

 

[prairiedruid]

Canning jars for storage.

 

[saltedplug]

Most of what pipe smokers claim to know is subjective. No one can get inside the machinery of the palate so as to explain the difference we find in an tobacco over time. Equally no one can measure why it is that we feel one pipe smokes better than another. We feel we know that a tobacco and pipe pairing is true,, and perhaps for us it is, but would the next guy who comes along who inherits your pipe collection come to the same conclusion? The blind taste taste its as close as we can get to objectivity, yet sit a panel of experts down and give them the same pipe and tobacco and ask them to subjectively measure their perception of the pipe's performance or the tobacco's characteristics and they will report more difference than similarity.
The observer becomes part of the thing observed, and each observer is different, and being different, they cannot but keep that difference from influencing what they see. Something that we see is what we see because of the variable content of our minds changing moment to moment. We assign meaning to objects. Thus the pipe smoking experience is what we think it is, and that's really all we can know, and nothing more.
One of the more telling examples of this is identical twins, both with the exact same genes and nurture, yet they turn out to be very different people. The East would say that karma, the conditioning that underlies all conditioning, is at play. The observer influences that which he observes. What influences the observer?

 

[mso489]

echambers, if you are new to pipe smoking as you question might suggest, I definitely recommend bulk. You can buy bulk in the smallest possible quantity, one ounce, and at a lower cost per ounce than tinned, which is perfect for sampling a wide variety of blends. You can store your small quantities in small jars, another savings, and it will keep just as well as in a tin ... no, better. I might suggest you continue to buy bulk in small quantities to try a greater variety and also because your taste will develop and change. Plenty of time down the road to buy in tins, when you have wider experience and will be better able to make selections at somewhat higher prices without wasting your money.

 

[hawky454]

The observer becomes part of the thing observed, and each observer is different, and being different, they cannot but keep that difference from influencing what they see. Something that we see is what we see because of the variable content of our minds changing moment to moment. We assign meaning to objects. Thus the pipe smoking experience is what we think it is, and that's really all we can know, and nothing more.

Excellent post Saltedplug, I especially like the above statement.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

I think it really depends on the blend popularity and where you're getting it. If you're getting bulk from a B&M it's more than likely sat there for some time, so it's probably drier and has potentially lost some of the intensity of the flavors. If you're getting Dunhill Nightcap in bulk from SmokingPipes that's a popular blend from a popular retailer who turns over a lot of that blend, so it's probably going to be fresher with a better moisture content and the intensity of the flavors has likely not diminished too much. I think that's really the difference, bulk sitting on a shelf loses some of the flavor intensity in losing the moisture and tins being vacuum sealed retain that moisture and flavor intensity better. I wouldn't shy away from bulks. If you get them from someone like SmokingPipes that turns over a lot of them you should be okay as far as moisture level and flavor retention, just make sure to store it in a mason jar.

 

[echambers]

@sablebrush52 - that cracks me up! I'm a long time cigar smoker and have been very active on cigar-related forums and I've long held a similar view. Take away the band and most people wouldn't know if they were smoking at $40 Cuban or a $5 Dominican. Of course there are lots of folks that seem to really be able to pick out the nuances of a particular blend and I have to admit I'm jealous as hell. After years of smoking cigars I'm confident I can pick out a dozen or so favors but only in the vaguest term. For example, I can pick out "woody" flavor but I've read other reviews where people claim they can a particular species of tree -- they are either super tasters or full of ____.
@saltedplug, thank you for your response. I agree completely.
@mso489 - Sage advice, thank you. I've only tried three blends so far -- Frog Morton Cellar, a generic Balkan from my BnM, and Top Black Cherry from GHC. Love FMC, the Balkan was interesting and i'm not sure it was quite to my taste. The cherry, in addition to being a bear to keep lit was a little to sticky sweet for me.
@lordofthepiperings - thank you as well. This makes a lot of sense. I have ONE BnM in my community and I never seen anyone in there but me.

 

[snowyowl]

Sablebrush citing:

Almost universally reviewers favor the tinned version. Assuming it's the same blend what contributes to these differences?

And commenting:

Heck, I'd be interested in finding out how many of these reviewers would know what blend they were smoking or whether they were smoking tinned and bulk versions of the same blend.

Indeed, how many times on this Forum have experienced pipers told newbies to crack the tin and go to their own at-home bulking... the Ball jar!?

 

[unkleyoda]

I buy 965, Nightcap, HH Latakia Flake, HH Bold Kentucky, and HH Acadian Perique in tin and bulk. All seem the same too me.

 

[deathmetal]

Most of what pipe smokers claim to know is subjective.

As I deny that subjectivity and objectivity exist, I can summarize this instead as: much of what we know is lore based on imperfect knowledge of a "representation of a representation."
Some relevant links regarding storing tobacco in Mason jars:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/storing-tobacco-in-mason-jars-1

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/jarring-question

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/cellaring-tobaccos-best-practices

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/tobacco-jarring

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/jarring-flakes

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/jarring-question-2

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/jarring-large-quantities

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/aging-tobacco-6

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/question-on-jarring

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/mason-jars-1

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/how-many-ounces-per-mason-jar

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/how-tight-do-you-pack-your-jars

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/cellaring

 

[mikestanley]

For me, tins simply easier. Along with this is the “joy” of opening a fresh 50 gr tin. I like this ability especially with well aged Latakia blends. Of course I have pounds of various Sam Gawith and G&H flakes put up in jars. They date back as far as 2004 so, really, it’s all about personal preference as far as I’m concerned.

Mike S.

 

[snowyowl]

tins simply easier. Along with this is the “joy” of opening a fresh 50 gr tin

The Christmas Morning Present Opening Effect is powerful.

 

[saltedplug]

Deathmetal: Would you agree that the subjective might exist in the soft shoe of ego to make the adaptive response from a dizzying array of inner processes, instinct, emotion, intellect and identity? Certainly those processes are inside us and not placed there by some outside agency. The objective is the events of the day, a combination of people places and things. Those things are certainly outside us in a way that also can't be denied: the objective.
Now if your remark means that there is a fluid interaction between the two, and that the objective is entirely a projection of the subjective, that the environment mirrors the internal and that the two are one, you would be thinking along the lines of a Mahayana Buddhist principle, esho funi, the Oneness of the Person and the Environment.

 

[deathmetal]

Would you agree that the subjective might exist in the soft shoe of ego to make the adaptive response from a dizzying array of inner processes, instinct, emotion, intellect and identity

In other words, does the subjective exist subjectively? In my view, no: that is merely imprecision.

The objective is the events of the day, a combination of people places and things.

Food for thought: these things are never known, only perceived, like watching events on a street corner by looking through both sets of windows on a shop.