Do the effects of aging tobacco decrease nicotine content?
Does Tobacco Age Decrease Nicotine?
- Thread starter Richmond B. Funkenhouser
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I haven't noticed a decrease, but then my tolerance level is high.
IT TURNS INTO DIFFERENT NICOTINE. BETTER, HIPPER NICOTINE.
Honestly I don’t know that anyone knows. It would probably take a lab analysis of the same blend aged vs new. Of course it would have to be something blended exactly the same as the aged sample.
I can tell you I smoked 1960s gold block and it’s certainly still got nicotine. Got me twisted.
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According to Mark Ryan, in a talk he gave about perique and the process at La Poche, it develops into more complex molecules as it ages and/or ferments. Not all tobacco ferments though, nor does this mean that all tobacco does the same thing, nor is the same process happening with the aging process in different blends/leaf type.
Also, some tobaccos that you may never feel nicotine as you smoke it, may have a lot more nicotine that you never are able to absorb, because of Ph preventing absorption. Virginias for example... it probably has enough to kill you in it, but because of lower PH, you never feel it. And, some brightleaf may lay you out.
PH definitely “can” change with age, and so may casings or toppings dissipate.
This is why I am reluctant to mess with a jar or tin once its microbial process has started... especially if I want a consistent result from the aging process.
Also, some tobaccos that you may never feel nicotine as you smoke it, may have a lot more nicotine that you never are able to absorb, because of Ph preventing absorption. Virginias for example... it probably has enough to kill you in it, but because of lower PH, you never feel it. And, some brightleaf may lay you out.
PH definitely “can” change with age, and so may casings or toppings dissipate.
This is why I am reluctant to mess with a jar or tin once its microbial process has started... especially if I want a consistent result from the aging process.
Most of the Dark Plug I’m smoking is 10+ years old. FWIW, very unscientific, it doesn’t seem to have lost much of anything.
According to some reports I was reading recently, about how pipes and cigars are more evil than cigarettes... apparently pipes and cigars have some 500 times as much nicotine (only slight exaggeration from the claim). So assuming a half life of 50 years, your still going to keel over on your second bowl as far away as the turn of the next century.
Nicotine is photosensitive. If it’s kept in an airtight container out of direct light, it will last for a long time. As @cosmicfolklore pointed out, pH (among other factors) has a biological role in nicotine uptake. And those things can be affected by aging.
Back in the 80's, a friend's father took us on a tour of a processing plant for cigarettes. They pressed the juices out of tobacco, so that they could control the nicotine and tar levels, plus add in cherry flavors, and other flavors, and sugars that give cigarettes their very specific proprietorial flavors. And, then they added those juices back to the dry cellulose that was left. So, yes, cigarettes COULD have way less nicotine, but... it's not a natural tobacco. Pipes and cigars are left in a natural state. This is why they could never post the nicotine and tar levels on pipe tobacco and cigars.
However, even a mild Virginia has a crap ton of nicotine, but because it is more acidic, you will never be able to ingest it into your bloodstream unless you eat it. But, smoked in a pipe, you might not ever get any effect from the nicotine. That doesn't make it more dangerous. So, someone reporting that is merely misleading its readers, probably to meet an anti-smoking agenda.
If they do, I'm going to be pissed.
45+ year old Prince Albert still has noticable nicotine, and those tins aren't even vacuum sealed.
It was definitely an anti tobacco type. My folks are coming into town next week, and no matter how old I get, they like to lecture. When they see the pipes and tobacco the lecture will soon follow... I was trying to find any study comparing, say, cigars and car exhaust but couldn’t find anything excepts the same boiler plate article copied by every on-line medical entity. Using statements like “cigars have 50 times as much nicotine as cigarettes.” I was trying to find something saying how much is actually absorbed. Doesn’t matter how much nicotine it has if the lining of the mouth (I don’t inhale pipe or cigar smoke intentionally) only absorbs a trace. There is a whole lot more surface are available to absorb gasses in the lungs from cigarettes. But alas... nothing but all tobacco’s are equal in everything and a guarantee of death articles. Wasn’t in the mood to log into “science direct” To go through whatever studies they had.?
I've found that you can't change someone's mind with facts and articles... use class... suave, decadence... pipes are gentlemanly, debonaire... inquisitive... the aroma is intoxicating, like smell of wine, the finest tobaccos. People who grow pipe tobacco are more the vineyard keepers... the pipe tobacco processors are vinters, winemakers... the blenders are artists... the smoker is a connoisseur... aged tobaccos from the leaves of finest plants... not cigarette tobacco growers who are dirty, barefoot bumkins by comparison to those in the pipe tobacco industry. The guys who spray chemicals and dump artificial fertilizers, killing the soil and water supplies. The pipe smoker is the epithet of what all men strive to be. The thinker, contemplator of beauty. THAT SELLS it. Not a bunch of scientists scrabbling over new topics to write about to keep their research grants. You know... whether all of that is true about gentlemanly or not... it does make a better sell.
All in all... a gentleman wouldn't squabble with an old lady. Just smile, thank her concern, that shows she cares very much about you... maybe loves you like a son. Hold her hand, look her in the eye, and let her know that you really appreciate her concern. You'll take it into consideration... maybe smoke a pipe and ponder it.
if you let it dry out into complete dust it starts lossing a little bit of the nicotine. Or so that's what I've been told. But I can assure you ancient tobacco can still kick your ass with nicotine. I've had snuff that's far older then myself and it certainly wasn't nice but it certainly worked.
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