How Long Does Tobacco Keep?

[pilgrim]

Hello! so i'm new right and i'm reading and reading and reading and asking questions....will it ever end? i read where it is discouraged to put our tobacco into a humidor...they say don't mix in with cigars..got it. are there pipe humidors as well as cigar? some pipe racks have a glass container with a wood lid with a humid disk fastened under the lid. these are for pipe tobacco very short term storage and i assume it's just filled enough for, what, maybe a few days? is the moisture disk there because the wood lid fits loosely? i'm looking at an antique one that has no seal at all. Thanks!

 

[buroak]

NEVER STORE TOBACCO IN A BAGGIE! USE A MASON JAR.

+1
Even when I buy only 2-3 ounces of a bulk tobacco try, I dump the bag into a small Mason jar. I have had good luck using Mason Jars to store even very moist tobaccos. The glass may get "fogged" a bit, but I have yet to lose a tobacco to mold. I suspect the fog on the glass would have escaped a well-sealed plastic bag.

 

[toby67]

I'm in agreement that you shouldn't store tobacco in zip locks. I'm not even sure that they are BPA free, so there is the possibility of cancerous chemicals seeping into you tobacco, maybe this is why they think pipe smoking is bad for you ... lol
I am fussy about storing my tobacco in jars, also jars small enough to only hold about 2oz so I can use one jar at a time to keep my rotation jars full and not compromise the seal of the other jars to give them time to age.

 

[phred]

If I remember correctly, BPA is used specifically to make plastics clear and tough (specifically polycarbonates, e.g. the classic Nalgene water bottles) and tends to leach mostly in the presence of heat or acidity. No BPA in baggie plastic. With Ziploc baggies, the major issue for pipe tobacco storage is that they're gas-permeable and thus tobacco stored in them will dry out over time.
As for pipe tobacco and humidity, I live in a fairly dry climate (Colorado) and have not had too many problems with drying out tobacco over the relatively short-term (2 years at this point) that I've been smoking. Most of my storage jars are either Ball canning jars (for long-term storage) or bail-top jars with silicone seals that I got at IKEA (for short-term storage of blends I'm smoking). European-style tins that are closed will stay nicely sealed for decades, and I have yet to purchase any tins not in that sort of container. I have some smaller jars that don't seal all that well for the last ounce or two of a blend, and I've had one or two get slightly crunchy, but those blends actually benefited from some drying time, IMHO. I have yet to use any of the hydrating disks or other methods you'll find digging around in the archives here...
I suppose that with a wooden tobacco jar that has no silicone seal, a humidity disk might not be a bad idea, but I'll let the experts weigh in on that. :D

 

[huntertrw]

"How Long Does Tobacco Keep?"
A pouch of Mixture 79 was among the artifacts found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, and subsequently

cataloged by the late British Egyptologist Howard Carter. A pipe-smoker himself, he could not help but sample the well-aged leaf. It is purported that, like the King, he found it to be well-preserved, and that there was no difference between it and the currently available version: both tasted like violets and orange peel.
A box of Twinkie cakes was also found, similarly well-preserved, but was never placed on display, as they were devoured one afternoon during a tea break by Mr. Carter's assistants.

 

[kcvet67]

A pouch of Mixture 79 was among the artifacts found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, and subsequently

cataloged by the late British Egyptologist Howard Carter.

Now we know the real cause of the curse of Tut's Tomb. :rofl:

 

[mso489]

Tobacco that is cured to dryness will last a very long time and remain smokeable.

 

[melvinsunsmokedcastello]

Proper;y kept it will last forever...and forever is a very long time.

 

[pilgrim]

Humidor? is that what you call those wood lid glass bowls in some pipe racks? They have a moisture disk under the lid. I know this thread is about Long Term storage; for the Short term, for just the stuff i'm smoking this week, isn't it proper to put it in one of those? Thanks

 

[username]

A very long time I just cracked a tin of half and half from we think the mid 40's based on the tax stamp but you never really know since that only means the stamp was from that series. Anyway It smokes just fine.
As for short term storage I just transfer what I am currently smoking from the tin/pouch to a mason jar and have yet to have a problem with it drying out as I am smoking it also works great for when I decide to smoke something else just screw the lid back on and put in the cellar.

 

[iamn8]

It's been my experience that tobacco doesn't keep long at all. It almost seems like once I smoke it it's gone. I've been unable to successfully keep tobacco more than a month. It's frustrating and expensive. I've tried jarring and vacuum sealing and I'm frustrated. I just seem to keep smoking it.