I'd Rather Not Be A Pest

[lightmybriar]

Greetings friends!
I have encountered a strange dilemma and I'd like advice from you all on what I ought to do.
This past week, I received a tin in the mail from an online retailer that will for now remain anonymous. When I opened my box, even though the tin was packaged safe and sound, I could detect a faint smell of tobacco. Being afraid to set the (compromised seal) tin aside and let it dry out, or be susceptible to open-air microbes, I inspected it closer. Although it looked okay, when slightly pressed upon, the tobacco smell became stronger. I was worried I was just being paranoid, but I cannot ever recall smelling tobacco from a sealed tin like this before. I wondered if it were possible that perhaps I was just smelling residual odor that may have become trapped between the plastic lid and the top of the tin during the whole canning process.
I decided that knowing now would be better than coming to this tin a week or two from now to find a tin of crunchy leaf, and so I figured I would pull the tab to settle the matter.
The tab pushed into the edge and with much less resistance than normal, the seal gave way, and sure enough, the scent I was smelling was the same as the smell inside the tin. The contents were not terribly dry, but when I order tobacco, I would prefer it be properly sealed.
So, I reached out to Customer Service, and they very expediently got another tin on its way to me. No complaints here!
Here is where things get murky.
The new tin I received, again packaged responsibly, smells even stronger of the contents than the original one I received.
(I should note that this is not an aromatic)
SO, am I being overly finicky about this? Is this a somewhat common occurrence, or is there possibly a faulty run of tins going around? Should I request yet another tin and hope for the best? I do not want to be a pest to the very helpful and understanding retailer, so I didn't want to contact them again if this isn't a big deal.
What would you do in this situation?
Thanks in advance for your guidance! I look forward to reading your opinions.

 

[workman]

My Samuel Gawith tins certainly smell of tobacco. 1792 tins smell of tonquin. I have a few tins of Nightcap and they smell of latakia. They are sealed. I think it is normal. Well I hope it is, anyway.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

The only way to be “sure” (or at least “even more sure”) that your tobacco is properly sealed is to do it yourself.

Some people transfer everything out of the tins into jars.

Jars are also generally more compact, tins don’t tend to be packed very tightly (though I guess that depends on the cut).

 

[unkleyoda]

If you are concerned about it, jar it and be done. I've had plenty of tins smell of 'tobacco' that are properly sealed.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

What blend are we talking about?

My Samuel Gawith tins certainly smell of tobacco. 1792 tins smell of tonquin. I have a few tins of Nightcap and they smell of latakia. They are sealed. I think it is normal. Well I hope it is, anyway.

Yes it is. Tins of tobacco can and do smell like tobacco at times. My cellar has a slight tobacco scent to it that is actually very pleasing, and I'm yet to encounter a compromised tin.

If you are concerned about it, jar it and be done. I've had plenty of tins smell of 'tobacco' that are properly sealed.

^^^This^^^

 

[saltedplug]

I think there are two things in play:
1. square and round circular tins are neither of them sealed.

2. C&D tins have a much better seal but I wouldn't trust them if they contained redolent blends such as Mixture 79 or War Horse, which is the second point, the aromatic properties of the tobacco. I can't think of a single blend of "natural" tobacco whose aroma has been strong enough that I've been able to smell it through the packaging.

 

[mikethompson]

I was poking around my stash of tins last night and got a little whiff of tobacco, but always thought that was normal.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When I open the door to my pipe room, I get hit in the face with the smell of tobacco... oh wait, I literally have tobacco leaves hanging from the ceiling in there. Sometimes, I get hit in the face with tobacco leaves.
It would be helpful to know what tin it was giving you these issues. 2 for 2, means that the odds are we will all get unsealed tins of whatever that is. It might help prevent us from the same thing. Plus, we are due for another seige of threads on what dirty rotten scoudrels the producers of that blend are. ::

 

[lightmybriar]

I have noticed the round twist-top tins as well as the square tins do emit a tobacco smell, but I've never experienced the pull tab lid tins to do this. I would figure that if they are properly sealed, there should be no way for any of the inside air to escape. That's why I was asking, as I could easily jar it, but I didn't know if for some reason I was getting tins from a faulty run of unsealed tins. Even some of the more scented tobaccos I've received in this type of tin (Blockade Runner, Frog Cellar, Button Nose) didn't have any trace of smell, but this VaPer does. Perhaps I was just on a string of good fortune with all the previous ones?
If this is a pretty normal thing, I'd feel bad whining to the retailer and getting a free tin out of it!

 

[jamban]

Which VaPer is this? If i have a tin at home, i'll go inspect it for you to have some peace of mind.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

The only tin of tobacco I've ever been able to smell while still sealed is Warhorse Bar.

*shrugs*

 

[mikethompson]

I have the twist top style, the round pull tab style, and the square 'sardine can' style. They all have a little whiff to them. Just slight though, like a generic pipe tobacco smell, but nothing specific.

 

[condorlover1]

Yep War Horse Bar - the tobacco they just can't keep locked in the can. I use a can in my sock drawer and I have a can in a suit jacket to repel moths!

 

[balkisobrains]

What size tin & blend is it?
Sounds like something similar in the thread below. Did you check for air whistling?
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/smoking-pipescom-simply-the-best

 

[lightmybriar]

Yikes, Balkisobrains! I even commented on that post but neglected the problem mentioned in it! Mine is GL Pease and I am experiencing the very same issue. Yes, the tin does whistle as well. For continuity, I checked my other unopened tins from GL Pease and C&D. They are all either slightly bulged or slightly vacuumed inward, and none of them are whistling (and whistling obviously indicates an opening in the seal). Seems like this is an out of the ordinary occurrence. As I mentioned in the title, though, I do not want to make a big deal out of something that isn't significant. My main question then is, should we as the consumer expect a tin like this to arrive fully sealed, or are we to expect that they may have breaks in the seal and might possibly be broken?

 

[lightmybriar]

I should mention that the other tins I tested (which were perfectly fine) were dated 2016. I don't have any current tins, other than the two mentioned at the start of this thread. Perhaps those with tins from 2018 should test their seals, if this is something that's important to them?

 

[oldtoby]

Yeah, this was a first for me concerning the pull ring tins. Ever.
But,as stated, SPC made it right. My main concern was letting them know they may indeed have a bad batch of tins.

They were glad to have been alerted to the problem. All ended well. They're great guys and gals at SPC.

 

[lightmybriar]

Agreed, they are top notch in every way. So your replacement tins were fine then? My replacement has the same issue as my first one.

 

[oldtoby]

My replacement tins were also bad. So, not wanting to take another chance on the Haddos, I opted for Cairo instead. They were fine.

 

[d4k23]

I just opened a tin of C&D that I received yesterday, and it had its seal busted. I realized that I didn't check my stash and went to do so and found all other intact.
I opened it any way and tobacco looked good (it was canned in February 2018) but I like the idea of letting customer service know to check for future shipments.