Cellaring Tobacco

[S. Lee H.]

Does anyone use Oxygen absorbers when cellaring tobacco ?

 

[TakeThisCobAndStuffIt]

Yes, some people do use them. I am not one of them.

 

[proteus]

I do not personally use them. I use mason jars from 16 to 64 oz and vacuum seal them. Not sure if it gets out all the oxygen but I've heard some oxygen is not bad. The tins tobacco comes in are vacuum sealed I believe at least.

 

[PaulDM]

I keep everything in tins other than what is in my current rotation (current way too many). Those are stored in mason jars, no special way of sealing.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Why would you do that? You want oxygen to help with the initial anaerobic aging process. Tobacco isn't food, put the tobacco into whatever container you are using to store and age it, seal it and leave it alone for however many years. That's what I've read and that's what I've done that has worked well for me.

 

[AroEnglish]

I do not because of what said.

 

[shanez]

I do when sealing unopened tins in mylar bags to help save space but never for already open tobacco.

 

[AJL67]

I have a couple hundred of them because they send them with Mylar bag packs, never used one for the reason @hoosierpipeguy said.

 

[captainsousie]

According to the OED, the definition of anaerobic is:

1. relating to, involving, or requiring an absence of free oxygen.

Makes no sense that you would need oxygen for that.

Incidentally, I don't use them as my tobacco is sealed in tins or jars.

 

[BenMN]

This is worth reading

 

[Sobrbiker]

According to the OED, the definition of anaerobic is:

1. relating to, involving, or requiring an absence of free oxygen.

Makes no sense that you would need oxygen for that

Little more than just that goes into the mechanisms at play. Aerobic microbes consume all the oxygen first and their waste and offgassing helps the anaerobic microbes get rolling.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Why would you do that? You want oxygen to help with the initial anaerobic aging process. Tobacco isn't food, put the tobacco into whatever container you are using to store and age it, seal it and leave it alone for however many years. That's what I've read and that's what I've done that has worked well for me.

I said anaerobic, should have been aerobic.

 

[captainsousie]

Little more than just that goes into the mechanisms at play. Aerobic microbes consume all the oxygen first and their waste and offgassing helps the anaerobic microbes get rolling.

This I know, but thank you for the clarification. I was simply addressing the terminology used.

 

[S. Lee H.]

Thank You all for the replies, All Good Info. for a Nub.

 

[woodsroad]

Vacuum sealing a tin removes very little air. Just enough to keep the lid in place with minimal tin deformation. Packaged pipe tobacco has already been exposed to air for a long time, it doesn’t need more air, once jarred “to get started”.

The problem with oxygen absorbers is that there is still a lot of trapped air in processed tobacco that will never be reached. I’ve thought about flushing jars and tobacco with CO2, but to do that right, you need an anerobic glove box.

In the end, it just isn’t necessary. But it would make for an interesting experiment.

 

[elvishrunes]

Yup, the oxygen will be consumed by the tobacco fermentation, and turned into C02 which will pressurize the jar on its own. That’s why old tins puff up and can pop. Just use a quality good jar,,,

 

[BayouGhost]

They are just packets of iron powder that is meant to sacrificially rust and "absorb" the oxygen by creating iron oxide. I do not use them for the reasons mentioned. I will jar or mylar and the aerobic processes naturally consume the oxygen over time before changing to anerobic. For rust control on tins, I just coat them with a light coating of food grade mineral oil before cellering. Any sort of non-spoilable grease or oil will do. Maybe wax. Just don't use anything with petroleum distillates.