Keeping Tobacco In Open Tin

[James8855]

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?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Once the tin is opened, it's no longer airtight. If you don't plan on finishing the tin in a week or two, I would put it in a jar.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yep. Depending on the humidity on where it's stored and the starting moisture level, 1-6 weeks is the range I've experienced.

 

[gervais]

Leave a quarter / half of in tin, jar the rest incase you can't smoke the whole tin in time

 

[tradition]

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.

 

[Spinkle]

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.

 

[cshubhra]

I have had open tins for 2+ years which are smokable. I think it depends on no of times you open the tin along with other factors. On the other hand the 100 g tins start to get dry after 3 months or so, since I open it 40-45 times.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Primarily depends on the relative humidity where the tin is stored. Right now in Indiana, I could smoke it out of the tin for several months. In the Arizona desert, it may dry out in a week.

 

[peregrinus]

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.

 

[buzkirk]

Here in the Soggy South, a open tin will stay smokable 2 or 3 months before drying out.

 

[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.

 

[greeneyes]

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]

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.