Nalgene Wide Mouth Bottles vs Ball Glass Jars

[aquadoc]

I work as a field scientist, at least I am trained as a field scientist, and we use Nalgene LDPE bottles for all of our field chemicals, samples, and trace metal sampling because of their very standard and stable properties. I have read that many folks think that Nalgene bottles leach..well, that simply is not true. And, besides being rugged, they can be sterilized and they do not break very easily and they come with various types of seals. I prefer the silicone o-rings.
In any case, the point of my post is that I frequently find myself in very wet environments for weeks at a time and the 1-8 ounce size wide mouth nalgene bottles are most likely ideal for carrying whatever blends you might need for the duration of time away from your home or office base. And, you can label them with sharpies and later erase it with EtOH for a different blend..and you can autoclave or acid wash the bottles to run off any ghosts. Lighter than glass and you do not have to fiddle with ring tops and worry about breakage. I hope to be putting these to the test soon.
One caveat: they are not cheap. 4 dozen 500ml LDPE wide mouth bottles will set you back around 180 USD. Cheaper if you have a friend that works for a research University where they move a large volume.

 

[woodsroad]

Sounds like a viable alternative, if $ isn't an issue. How good is the O2 barrier?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Sounds perfect for your application as well as supply. But costing many times Ball or Kerr jars as well as far less convenient to find, I doubt many other will avail themselves of this route.
Thanks for posting a great idea.

 

[didimauw]

Yes I'm interested to see pictures as well as hear results.

 

[aquadoc]

I could not afford these but I have a large surplus in storage. When I dig them out I will throw some out for folks to have to try, first come and all of that. The smaller 1 to 2 oz size seem perfect for travel and they are not very expensive. I have not checked Amazon but I bet they carry something in that size range and the cost should not be more than 5 usd.
You can autoclave them if you would like to create a vacuum seal. Also, there are specialty caps that you can put a vacuum hose on and make a vacuum sealed container. For cellaring, the larger 500 ml to 1000 ml size might be great alternatives. I will explore the pricing more tomorrow.

 

[woodsroad]

The old, original white translucent Nalgene plastic was soft and it off-gassed. The new clear, hard plastic...what is it?

 

[aquadoc]

The LDPEs do not outgas. We could not use them for sensitive organics sampling work otherwise. These are not the generic Nalgene bottles you find at Walmart or Target or even the first generation lab Nalgene bottles. They are made for analytical work and are a bit pricier but I do think the price is coming down and is more reasonable. That said, I have some that have been acid washed and autoclaved but have never been used in the field. Since they are collecting dust, those interested can use them as they will. Obviously, I have a finite number but I will never use them all and it seems silly just to keep them in storage.

 

[ashdigger]

Aquadoc, I don't know what kind of field work you do, but when I was in college I worked in the Limnology department and we would take water and plankton samples for counting and analysis. Fun tedious job. I would count plankton on a 1 cm counting slide and microscope rig. 2 Daphnia, 1 Rotifer.......oh crap, I'm going to have nightmares.

 

[aquadoc]

Ashdigger: I did my share of picking samples. I ran stable isotope analyses on individual copepods and picking/identifying to species was a headache maker. Especially in the middle of the Atlantic with 10 foot rollers. Looking into a scope with the ever present diesel fumes was a fun time. All in all, I enjoy the work and it has taken me all over the world but it was grueling during grad school. We worked all hours. I still had my pipes those days and there was nothing better than sitting on the top deck under the stars with no lights for hundreds of miles around but for the stars and phosphorescence of the plankton in the wake with a good smoke. I miss being disconnected from all news and TV's. And the internet was in it's infancy...and still used only for moving data around. What do you do now? Are you a biologist?

 

[ashdigger]

Aquadoc, life took some tumbles and turns......I'm a fire investigator. The science is the easy part.

 

[aquadoc]

I hear you. It happens. Best laid plans... Your career path sounds challenging, interesting, and rewarding... As well as being important. Can't ask for better than that. I can always send you some sample vials to pick through.

 

[woodsroad]

I remember going into work with my parents at the hospital lab and watching the women in the Hematology dept doing blood counts by hand with one of these:

Then they went and bought one of these:

 

[jpmcwjr]

Holy moly! Can you, Tim, and waterdoc, use this skill for categorizing types of bloom and types of mold??
And then introduce the good bloom spores to favorites tobaccos??

 

[ashdigger]

Categorizing molds and types of bloom is the same style setup. It requires a "key" and the right microscope and slide rig....the difference with modern technology my Dino-lite, its stand and my computer slaved to a flat screen monitor makes the task easier.

 

[aquadoc]

Isolating mold spores should be straightforward. I am surprised that if this is something that would be beneficial that someone had not done this. Educate me since this is new to me. What do some molds do that is beneficial to tobacco? Break down what components.? And is this the same "sugar bloom I have seen mentioned in flake and cake cut tobaccos?

 

[woodsroad]

I think that you'll find that tobacco is fermented by yeast and bacteria. Flavor and sweetness is also influenced/determined in the cure phase by enzymatic action on the starches. Good bloom is sugar, bad bloom is mold. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I thought that bloom isn't really sugar, but just minerals that have started to leach or crystallize out of the leaf. Wasn't there a Greg Pease post on this. When you lick it, it's not sweet, nor does it really sweeten the taste of the smoke. It just means that some majorly different restructuring has gone on within the leaf. Usually, good stuff.

 

[woodsroad]

Well, then non-mold "bloom" would be a good candidate to take a closer look at, but if it doesn't have flavor or sweetness, then it isn't adding anything to the tobacco flavor profile. It's just an indicator of...something?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's just an indicator of...something?

I think that we anticipate that our tobacco is going to get sweeter, tastier, more mellow, and that bloom would be the pinnacle of that. In reality, as we've seen with some taste tests, not all eggs hatch the way we anticipated.

Yes, much more study needs to be done on tobacco aging, but we are a cheap bunch, not willing to pay the scientists, which half would all call a hoax, and the rest would just stare at the reports not understanding. "Bloom, good, ugg!"

 

[shaintiques]

Also I tend to think that the taste or smell of plastic leaches into food or tobacco over time if stored for long periods, but this would be awesome if you were traveling in the field a lot like you say.