I apologize in advance for the soapbox rant but I've heard lots of good things about HH Old Dark-Fired so when a large tobacco supply house recently put it on 15% sale, I bought three tins to try. They just arrived. There was a hint of tobacco smell in the box but then, so is there in my daily tobacco tub from which I smoke though everything is well sealed in Ball jars. I mean, these things had spent their whole lives in a tobacco warehouse!
But I'm generally leery of the square tins anyway and once opened, to me they are now garbage. I'm not going to rush to smoke a tin in a week or two just to avoid drying out and I like to mix things up. Right away everything goes in a jar.
So I get the three tins and one has a minor ding on the outside edge that slightly deformed the sealing surface, one has four minor dings on the lid purely cosmetic, and the third has two minor dings on the lid, not a big deal, but also a hard ding that is sharp enough that you can easily feel. . . right at the inside edge where the can seals! Now, I'm not here to bash any company and I don't mean to sound anal retentive, but I will call them next week and let them know. All three tins appear to still have a good vacuum seal, but I had not planned on smoking these for a long time, maybe a couple of years or longer, and who knows by then the vacuum might be long gone?
My point here is I don't have a lot of confidence in square tins to begin with, if they want to put flake or plug in a tin, why can't they just cut it more round to fit (if that is all they are after)? Worst of all, it makes me wonder if the reason why they were on sale was BECAUSE they were dinged? If so, then they ought to be sold that way as seconds for half price maybe-- take yer chances. All words in a vacuum (heh heh) because I'm not the kind of person to send them back demanding a replacement, I will keep them and see what happens, but I will let them know I'm not real happy with the QC.
Am I over-blowing it? It bugs me that two of the three have dings right along where the tin seal. I don't often buy square tins so, how much is normal? What do you guys find acceptable? I mean, they all seem to still have a good vacuum, how much can these guys take before losing air? For all I know, this is how they came from overseas from Denmark, imported by Sutliff (heh heh) then shipped to my tobacco outlet. Maybe I ought to just be happy I got them and smoke my pipe. Opinions?
But I'm generally leery of the square tins anyway and once opened, to me they are now garbage. I'm not going to rush to smoke a tin in a week or two just to avoid drying out and I like to mix things up. Right away everything goes in a jar.
So I get the three tins and one has a minor ding on the outside edge that slightly deformed the sealing surface, one has four minor dings on the lid purely cosmetic, and the third has two minor dings on the lid, not a big deal, but also a hard ding that is sharp enough that you can easily feel. . . right at the inside edge where the can seals! Now, I'm not here to bash any company and I don't mean to sound anal retentive, but I will call them next week and let them know. All three tins appear to still have a good vacuum seal, but I had not planned on smoking these for a long time, maybe a couple of years or longer, and who knows by then the vacuum might be long gone?
My point here is I don't have a lot of confidence in square tins to begin with, if they want to put flake or plug in a tin, why can't they just cut it more round to fit (if that is all they are after)? Worst of all, it makes me wonder if the reason why they were on sale was BECAUSE they were dinged? If so, then they ought to be sold that way as seconds for half price maybe-- take yer chances. All words in a vacuum (heh heh) because I'm not the kind of person to send them back demanding a replacement, I will keep them and see what happens, but I will let them know I'm not real happy with the QC.
Am I over-blowing it? It bugs me that two of the three have dings right along where the tin seal. I don't often buy square tins so, how much is normal? What do you guys find acceptable? I mean, they all seem to still have a good vacuum, how much can these guys take before losing air? For all I know, this is how they came from overseas from Denmark, imported by Sutliff (heh heh) then shipped to my tobacco outlet. Maybe I ought to just be happy I got them and smoke my pipe. Opinions?