Keeping Tobacco In Open Tin

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James8855

Might Stick Around
Sep 23, 2019
52
27
EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

I just bought a new tin of Macbaren’s Vanilla Cream Loose Cut and opened it.

Should I leave the tobacco in the tin or put it in a mason jar? You can twist and close the lid of the tin. Would that be could be good enough to keep the tobacco from getting too dry?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Spinkle

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 16, 2019
892
5,950
42
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I just bought a new tin of Macbaren’s Vanilla Cream Loose Cut and opened it.

Should I leave the tobacco in the tin or put it in a mason jar? You can twist and close the lid of the tin. Would that be could be good enough to keep the tobacco from getting too dry?
I found with the Mac Baren 100g blends that leaving them in the tin while I smoked through them forced me to sort of pay attention to what the ideal dryness level is. You could take it as a bit of a learning experience to see how dryness changes the taste. The only Mac Baren blend I’ve ever had to jar was the Doblone D’Oro which came quite dry. I would say the longest I’ve had one of those tins open was 5ish weeks and the tobacco has never gotten to dry to still be enjoyable.
 

peregrinus

Lifer
Aug 4, 2019
1,205
3,787
Pacific Northwest
Should I leave the tobacco in the tin or put it in a mason jar?
Generally, I don’t worry about It because I normally smoke through the tin before the tobacco becomes too dry. Because I prefer my tobaccos on the dry side, so as long as I can load the pipe successfully it isn’t too dry for me. It actually adds to my enjoyment of tobaccos when they shed some moisture. So personal preferences play a factor. I have had a tin of HU Directors cut open for 6 months and still dry it out for a time before smoking.
If I planned on spending a year or two smoking up a tin I likely would jar it to be safe.
Of course I live in Seattle and it is a very moist part of the country.
 

stokesdale

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 17, 2020
845
2,532
Stokesdale
If it is just a 2 oz tin, which is all I get unless its bulk, I always dump the entire tin into one of these Ziploc Twist n Loc containers; they work great, pretty air tight, reusable, are stackable and cheap. You can find these and/or their Rubbermaid counter parts at any box store usually. Nice thing about these is that they are small unlike mason jars. A 2 oz tin pretty much fills one up.

ziploc-food-storage-containers-18036-64_1000.jpg
 

greeneyes

Lifer
Jun 5, 2018
2,126
12,193
There's a trick to closing the lid on an open tin.

Don't twist it on, just line up the lid and base retaining points to where a perfectly tightened lid would be, then press and snap it on. No twisting against the friction of the rubber seal.
I noticed this but somehow it never occurred to me. I have tins where the lid doesn't screw off, but it pulls off, and they seem to retain moisture longer.
 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
Tobacco supposedly has volatile essences that dissipate on exposure to air, and the common thinking is that if you want to keep it at its best, you should jar it after the two week mark. Yet this standard practice can be questioned because no one has ever proved that these volatile essences exist. Yet it stands to reason that oxidation will occur according to the air's interaction with the tobacco, chemicals abutting chemicals from the two surfaces.