Foodsaver

[autocannon]

I think I have the perfect cellaring tool and didn't even think about it till now. I bought my wife a food saver for Christmas one year and the canning attachment with it. We have various sizes of ball jars as well as the food saver bags. One time I put a half of an avocado in a jar and vacuum sealed it just to see how long it lasted. Usually they start turning brown a couple minutes after being cut. The one in the jar stayed green for six months before I opened it and threw it away. Now the tough part is to figure out where to start.

 

[galeon]

From what I understand, if you vacuum all the air out of the tobacco, the tobacco won't have the oxygen needed for the aerobic aging processes. Not 100% sure, though.

 

[lordnoble]

Galeon is right. Just throw the tobacco into a mason jar and hand seal. You'll be good to go.
-Jason

 

[hobie1dog]

This has been discussed every year on here, and always the same answer applies. It needs air to age.

 

[philip]

Here's a link to one of last year's threads:
Tobacco Cellaring...
It has links to other threads and this article by Bob Tate: Pipe Tobacco Storage.

 

[autocannon]

Thanks for the schooling

 

[hobie1dog]

But don't feel bad, everyone wants to vacuum seal tobacco, it is kinda built into us Americans, too many Ronco infomercials. :nana:

 

[batdemon]

Wow, I just had a vision of a pocket fisherman with a pipe attachment

 

[spartan]

If you DONT want the blend to age and you love it just as it is... then vacuum seal the crap out of it.

 

[schmitzbitz]

So anaerobic fermentation of tobacco doesn't take place? I beg to differ, as does Mr. Oulette and several others who's blogs and articles didn't make the first page of a Google search. As Russ notes, it isn't the same as aerobic aging, but changes most certainly take place that benefit the tobacco - otherwise, why would anyone buy a five year old tin of Escudo from consignment when a new tin can be found at less than 1/3 of the price?
That said, don't take my word for it (or Russ' for that matter); but rather take a read of this rather hefty article on the Flora of Tobacco from the Bio-Chemistry dept. at UCSF for definitive proof.
I have actually workied out the methodology to run some experiments along the lines of what actually happens; albeit more for the artificial aging methods. What I am proposing is to purchase six tins of tobacco from the same production run - lets say OGS. One of these tins I will open, swab and perform a bacterial count as my control. The second tin, I will open, and age in a mason-jar for a set period (say, 365 days), then swab and count, while the third will be opened and jarred, but placed in an incubator for the same period. Tin three will remain sealed for the same period (365 days) before it is swabbed and counted. Tin four will undergo 'tin-baking' as outlined by Dr. Fred Hanna prior to swabbing and counting; while tin five will be incubated for a set period of 365 days as opposed to baked.

I theorize that the anaerobic bacteria actually flourish due to the baking process, artificially aging the product - but due to the high heats involved, the tobacco ends up becoming slightly stoved - or even steamed in the tin. Furthermore, I hypothesize that by incubating a tin rather than baking it, one would get the same effect in the bacterial bloom, however the lower tempuratures would keep the tobacco closer to the original flavour profile. I would expect to see a similar effect in the incubated jar; however with the aerobic bacteria thriving.

Now if only I had a good way to justify dropping $500 on an incubator to the wife, I would be set...

 

[kennerth]

I agree that vacuum sealing would be a good way to store tobacco for long term. There would definitely be flavor exchange between the tobaccos. When you put a steak and marinate in a foodsaver bag, it speeds up the flavor blending process. Any smoker who cellars tins is doing the same, as they are under vacuum.
It is a good tool for storing tobacco, long term, in addition to tobacco your are aging. Especially true if your cellar is a hedge against future shortages more than aging for flavor change.
The interesting experiment would be to save equal amounts in sealed and unsealed jars and compare the flavor in a year or two.