Can I Salvage this Tobacco?

[Sturmgewehr]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and to pipe smoking. My apologies in advance if this topic has been discussed before. I attempted a search a handful of times but for whatever reason I came away empty handed...??? Long story short, my Father in Law passed away in 2010. Shortly before his passing he bought an 8 oz tin of Cornell & Diehl Sam's Blend. The tin was opened and then stored with the plastic lid affixed in a closet. Obviously the tobacco has dried out but I'm curious to know if it is possible (or even worthwhile) to restore this tobacco by rehydrating....or.....do I just seal it back up and forget about it? It has been 13 years so I'm not sure if anything can be done with it. Anyway, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Cheers and thanks in advance.

 

[philobeddoe]

It would be easier to rehydrate by the bowlful. Fill your bowl as usual, then place your thumb and forefinger in a circle over the top of the bowl and exhale into the tobacco. You may have to repeat to achieve the moisture level you like. Rehydrating an entire half pound can be difficult to not over-do .

 

[Sturmgewehr]

Ok Sir, thank you for the tip. I wasn't sure if the age of the tobacco was past it's lifespan to worry about rehydrating it or not. I will try your method. Cheers!

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Put the tobacco in a zip lock bag and put that bag into a slightly larger zip lock. Do not seal the zip lock that contains the tobacco. Take about 1/4 of a paper towel and moisten it. Or, you can buy those humidifier packs if you want but not really necessary. Place the moistened paper towel in the outer zip lock. Seal the outer zip lock. Wait 4 or 5 days, open and check the tobacco. It should have absorbed the moisture from the paper towel. If still too dry, repeat process.

I think you can get the tobacco rehydrated. Whether much flavor is left remains to be seen. I think your chances are reasonable. Good luck.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It would be easier to rehydrate by the bowlful. Fill your bowl as usual, then place your thumb and forefinger in a circle over the top of the bowl and exhale into the tobacco. You may have to repeat to achieve the moisture level you like. Rehydrating an entire half pound can be difficult to not over-do .

^^^^
This

 

[Sturmgewehr]

I'm going to try both methods, thanks guys. My problem is that being relatively new I have nothing to compare this old tobacco to once it's rehydrated. I'll try to hunt down some of this blend or something comparable and report back in a few weeks or so. Cheers.

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm going to try both methods, thanks guys. My problem is that being relatively new I have nothing to compare this old tobacco to once it's rehydrated. I'll try to hunt down some of this blend or something comparable and report back in a few weeks or so. Cheers.

Whatever rehydration method you choose, and there are a lot of them, when using water, use distilled, to avoid introducing any unwanted elements to the rehydrated tobacco. Some tobaccos will come back, mostly, even after years. Others will be, well...

Use this search and you will get plenty of info on rehydrating tobaccos:

pipesmagazine rehydration - Google Search

 

[bullet08]

Some find it worth awhile to try to bring them back with rehydration. I usually dump it.

 

[anotherbob]

I never rehydrate. I also think dry tobacco is the cats knees and the bees pajamas.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Just smoke it. Most of us dry ours out before loading a pipefull anyways. A dry tin is a tin ready to be smoked, IMO.

 

[sablebrush52]

I never rehydrate. I also think dry tobacco is the cats knees and the bees pajamas.

As long as it isn't mummy dust.

 

[mingc]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and to pipe smoking. My apologies in advance if this topic has been discussed before. I attempted a search a handful of times but for whatever reason I came away empty handed...??? Long story short, my Father in Law passed away in 2010. Shortly before his passing he bought an 8 oz tin of Cornell & Diehl Sam's Blend. The tin was opened and then stored with the plastic lid affixed in a closet. Obviously the tobacco has dried out but I'm curious to know if it is possible (or even worthwhile) to restore this tobacco by rehydrating....or.....do I just seal it back up and forget about it? It has been 13 years so I'm not sure if anything can be done with it. Anyway, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Cheers and thanks in advance.

Unless it breaks apart when you pinch and rub it, it's not necessarily too dry.

There are 1001 ways to rehydrate tobacco. The easiest is to spray it with water, toss it around, cover and wait a few days for the moisture to even out. The other methods are just varying degrees of gentleness. I personally use tap water but my water supply here in The Rock Candy Mountains is very soft with no minerals.

 

[Elric]

Some tobaccos will come back, mostly, even after years. Others will be, well...

Zombie shitdust?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I'm going to try both methods, thanks guys. My problem is that being relatively new I have nothing to compare this old tobacco to once it's rehydrated. I'll try to hunt down some of this blend or something comparable and report back in a few weeks or so. Cheers.

Why try to compare it? Anything you sample will be fresh so it wouldn't compare regardless. The only comparison necessary is whether you enjoy smoking it or not.

 

[anotherbob]

As long as it isn't mummy dust.

At that point it's only good for making Egyptian Brown (I know long shot on that joke, but if it lands it will be glorious).