How Tight to Stuff a Mason?

[NookersTheCat]

I'm pretty much just looking for people's opinions/musings. I already have my own method. Obv it depends on the blend. For flakes or something I'm gonna just loose fill as to not destroy them (I've noticed they then settle down further like potato chips too) but when it comes to mixtures, I pretty much compress them tighter than a hydraulic press lol.

I know some airspace is considered by many key to the aging process so when it comes to aromatics especially, my thought is to leave as little of it as possible to maintain their integrity. I've had aros now 5+ years old that have maintained most of their flavor even after being opened/partially empty for some time so I tend to believe much of the worry about that issue to be overdone.

Generally I find that I can fit 1lb per Quart Mason, 8oz to a Pint.. whereas a loose fill would barely give half that efficiency.
Thoughts?

 

[Scottmi]

In this episode (or perhaps the next one follow-up comments) Brian and Jeremy discuss jarring to age and differences of loose pack (more aerobic aging) or tight pack (stoves the baccy).

 

[Peter Turbo]

I usually pack 4oz in 8oz jars

and

8oz into 16oz jars

its a tight fit for both.

 

[BingBong]

I read the title and thought "steady on, old boy". Jars. Phew.

 

[huntertrw]

How Tight to Stuff a Mason?​

Not too tight, as you don't want to rip that expensive suit!

 

[georged]

Why do you want to stuff him at all, tight or otherwise?

In any event, at 970 pounds I don't think much more will fit:

 

[samuelgawith01]

Leave some air space,at least in my opinion.

 

[wyfbane]

Because they have gone up to an even more expensive amount than they were pre-covid, I stuff the ever-loving shit out of my jars. But I 2nd @Peter Turbo . That is about how much you can stuff in there.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Pack it somewhat form but not overly so. Primary reason is that after multiple years of storage being jam packed, it's a PITA to get out of the jar.

 

[Skippy B. Coyote]

My rule of thumb is whatever the jar size is, pack 1/4 of that amount of tobacco into it. For instance, an 8 ounce jar will hold 2 ounces of tobacco, a 16 ounce jar holds 4 ounces, and a 32 ounce jar will take 8 ounces. You can pack them tighter if you want, but in my experience Virginias in particular seem to age and smooth out the best with a little breathing room.

With aromatics though you don't really want them to age, so packing tighter is certainly reasonable, but if you go tighter than 2 ounces of tobacco per 8 ounces of jar space with the wetter aromatics you run the risk of opening the jar a year or two down the line to find that you have a sticky congealed plug on your hands where all the moisture and sugar has turned your tightly packed ribbon cut aromatic blend into a solid mass not dissimilar to a fruit cake.

Another factor to consider is the relative humidity of the air where you live. If it's a hot and sticky summer with 90% humidity then whatever air you seal up inside the jar with your tobacco is going to be very humid and may lead to mold growth. On the flip side, if it's an extremely dry winter with 20% or so humidity then the dry air sealed up in the jar can make your tobacco dry out and lose flavor over time. Around 50% to 60% humidity is fairly ideal for jarring tobacco at 2 ounces of tobacco to 8 ounces of jar space, but if the humidity where you live is very high or very low when you're jarring your tobacco then you might want to pack it tighter to push as much air out of the jar as you can before sealing it up; just to lessen the possibility of mold forming if the humidity is high or your tobacco drying out if the humidity is low.

 

[NookersTheCat]

With aromatics though you don't really want them to age, so packing tighter is certainly reasonable, but if you go tighter than 2 ounces of tobacco per 8 ounces of jar space with the wetter aromatics you run the risk of opening the jar a year or two down the line to find that you have a sticky congealed plug on your hands where all the moisture and sugar has turned your tightly packed ribbon cut aromatic blend into a solid mass not dissimilar to a fruit cake.

All good points. That was my thought process in general that something you want to "age more" you'd want more oxygen space and aromatics less to "age less" aka lose/change less of the added flavor. I'm assuming the leaves (more burley) in aros would lead to less natural sugars but still a good point about it getting like a cake. Tho I'm sure that could also have desirable effects too as long as ya don't mind chipping it out with a pickaxe haha

 

[NookersTheCat]

I usually pack 4oz in 8oz jars

and

8oz into 16oz jars

its a tight fit for both.

Exactly, this is what I find for the right amount of a tight "stuff" half pounds (8oz) in pints (16 fl oz) and pounds in quarts (32 fl oz) or essentially 1:2 oz to fl oz ratio.
Less for Virginia's and stuff ya don't mind aging/reacting with a tad more of the trapped oxygen

 

[NookersTheCat]

On a related note, I find the sutliff/MacBaren factory pound bags in particular to be of pretty high quality/low permeability and presealed with appropiate amounts of oxygen to the blend type.

I have a sealed pound of 504c Aromatic English going on 5yo and it seems good as new. I'll be cracking it open soon to pu it in rotation and find out for sure, but I think going forward my strategy will be to jar any loose ziploc bulk or loose bagged tins but with the factory sealed pound bags to just double seal in mylar (prob unnecessary but for peace of mind) and take with the other mylared blends (like KBV) and just chuck them in 5 gallon food grade hdpe buckets with gasket sealed lids and call it a day. Even though god knows I have mason jars galore I think it'll save tons of unnecessary jarring time of something that seems gtg as is.

 

[AroEnglish]

I pack them as tight as possible since I don't want them to age.

 

[NookersTheCat]

I pack them as tight as possible since I don't want them to age.

My thinking too, at least with aromatics. Ofc things will always age/chemically change even anaerobically but limiting the oxygen as much as possible is the ticket to slow it as much as possible.

Any recommendations on off-the-beaten-path aromatic English blends btw? I still need to try Northwoods but a couple of my favorites so far are 504c and Eastfarthing.

 

[tracerbullet]

I pack it as tight as I can get. Then down to the cellar it goes

 

[AroEnglish]

My thinking too, at least with aromatics. Ofc things will always age/chemically change even anaerobically but limiting the oxygen as much as possible is the ticket to slow it as much as possible.

Any recommendations on off-the-beaten-path aromatic English blends btw? I still need to try Northwoods but a couple of my favorites so far are 504c and Eastfarthing.

I like all of those (haven't tried eastfarthing but assumed it's the same as 504). 504 is more of an aromatic with light Latakia. Northwoods is solidly in the aromatic English camp but it's not super strong on the lat. If I remember correctly it's just cavandish and lat.

My favorite is Sillem's Black but also enjoy HGL and C&D Constellation as bulk options.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

However tight, it must be done from west to east.

 

[woodsroad]

On a related note, I find the sutliff/MacBaren factory pound bags in particular to be of pretty high quality/low permeability

The bags appear to be polyester, but they aren't multi-layer foil laminated. I wouldn't trust them beyond a year if the storage humidity drops below 65%.

and presealed with appropiate amounts of oxygen to the blend type.

Where did you find this information? The bags are filled with product, then sealed. No metering of air or O2, no special packaging for any given blend.

I have a sealed pound of 504c Aromatic English going on 5yo and it seems good as new. I'll be cracking it open soon to pu it in rotation and find out for sure, but I think going forward my strategy will be to jar any loose ziploc bulk or loose bagged tins but with the factory sealed pound bags to just double seal in mylar (prob unnecessary but for peace of mind) and take with the other mylared blends (like KBV) and just chuck them in 5 gallon food grade hdpe buckets with gasket sealed lids and call it a day. Even though god knows I have mason jars galore I think it'll save tons of unnecessary jarring time of something that seems gtg as is.

That all makes sense. I double-bag the pound bags into 7mil foil laminate Mylar bags. Usually, I move everything into 4 or 8 oz Ball jars, but my recent Sutliff Spree has overwhelmed me. Besides, I'll be selling all these bags back to y'all in ten years, so they'll me worth more unmolested!

 

[Snook]

I try to stick to 4oz of tobacco to one 16oz mason jar. That seems to be a good ratio for having decent air space while still being able to stuff a good amount in there. It does kind of depend on how many jars I have available, though. More jars = leave more air space. Almost out of jars = cram them to the brim.