Newbie Tobacco Cellaring Question
- Thread starter Austin
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I sure hope it's more than a couple of weeks! Maybe couple of months....preferably 3 or 4 ?
It depends on how long you intend to cellar a blend. If you're looking at more than 10 years, the rectangular and square metal tins are, from my experience, a dodgy solution. I'm currently enjoying Germain's Brown Flake from a 14 year old tin. It hadn't completely lost its seal, but the pressure over the years had nearly equalized and it took almost no effort to pop the tin. The contents were significantly drier than they were when originally tinned. Fortunately they were at the perfect dryness for smoking. A couple of other tins of this batch had completely failed. These tins were never intended for long term storage. Some will hold up and increasing persentages will not as the years pass.
The round tins are better at holding their seal. Canister tins generally do OK, though I've had a few from the '90's that have lost their seal.
If you're thinking less than 10 years on average, the tins will be okay. More years than that, better to transfer the contents to .7 mil food grade mylar bags and heat seal. Use jars as well.
This is all wrong. What you need is an Olympic regulation size pool, a lot of diving weights and few largest Yeti coolers. Put no more than three tins in the Yeti cooler, tape it shot, weight it with diving weights then sink 'em in the pool. To cover the pool for UV or alien penetration beam is optional.
Come on. Everyone knows aliens prefer Skoal to pipe tobacco.
Great questions Austin! For me, if I buy it loose in a bag or tin, I'll transfer it to a mason jar. Unless it's a flake, I tend to enjoy the flake so quickly (usually the week or two after buying a tin) that I'll just leave it in the tin until it's gone.
I recently discovered Mylar bags, in my opinion a superior solution to jars, I'm in the process of splitting my tobaccos to Mylar for longer term storage, and jars for regular dipping into.
I've been reading a lot about this, very intriguing. Do you vacuum seal yours?
Nope, just use an iron (for ironing clothes) on the edge you want to seal, it's done in a second. You can cram quite a bit of tobacco in the A4 size bags, and press it, and the thicker bags are very sturdy too and once sealed i'd guess are as good as any jar.
I don't vacuum seal mine eitherm though you can if you want to. I heat seal using a hair styling iron, which is what the vendor recommended for sealing their Mylar bags. Mine is a Kipozi Pro-Nano Titanium. Works great!
The only tins I have ever had fail were a few of the 2002 GL Pease tins. Other than that never had an issue with any shaped or sized tin. Square,rectangle, round doesn't matter. I kept my tins at 73-74 in a low humidity home and it has never been an issue. My oldest tins are from 1997 and I have recently smoked a couple of them.
Jesse has had problems because he lives in Cali and they came out with all the smoking bans everyone copied and the pipe gods have punished him and rightfully so. Sorry Jesse but the truth is the truth and there is no denying it.
Jesse has had problems because he lives in Cali and they came out with all the smoking bans everyone copied and the pipe gods have punished him and rightfully so. Sorry Jesse but the truth is the truth and there is no denying it.
Ok right on, this is a great tip. So much more convenient to store and transport than mason jars as well -
I store Granger in my left armpit and Mixture 79 in my right. Never seems to dry out and tastes better too.
I've read a lot in this thread, and skimmed the rest, so I may have missed some points.
What I'm getting, excluding mylar bags and focusing strictly on glass jars, is this...
I recently bought 6 16 oz wire bail jars and am now wanting to order more jars. These are the ones I'm looking at...
What are your thoughts on these jars?
What I'm getting, excluding mylar bags and focusing strictly on glass jars, is this...
- Small Mason jars are preferred over wire bail jars for up to 4 oz of tobacco.
- Unopened tins need not necessarily be jared but should be once opened.
- Bulk ziploc bags of tobacco should be jared.
- Smaller jars (8 oz.) are recommended over lager jars.
I recently bought 6 16 oz wire bail jars and am now wanting to order more jars. These are the ones I'm looking at...
Amazon.com: Ball Half Pint (8 oz.) Regular Mouth Mason Jars w/ Cap - Set of 12 AEP: Canning Products: Kitchen & Dining
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What are your thoughts on these jars?
Good jars all around, at least from my experience. I have about a dozen of this 8 oz. variety (holds a 50g tin pretty much precisely), plus just shy of three dozen of the 16 oz. type, and maybe half a dozen of the tiny 4 oz. ones. These all suit my needs perfectly. The only thing I would add to this is, either keep a few fresh lids on hand, or keep the lids you use on jars holding aromatic blends exclusive to other aromatic blends when you finish one; I wouldn't try to use one on a non-aro. The substance used on the rim of the lid to create the seal really holds odors, and that might get transferred to the leaf. Maybe it wouldn't, but why chance it? I've tried everything to get the odor out; lemon juice, white vinegar, baking soda...you name it. Once you jar an aro blend, the fate of that particular lid is sealed (no pun intended).
Others have had success with wire ball jars, but I wouldn't screw around with them, personally. Unopened round tins should be fine, but square/rectangular tins (Capstan, HH line blends etc.) have a reputation for possessing a weak seal. Some folks put the tins themselves in mylar for long term storage. Anything in ziploc bags for more than a few days may dry out, and should definitely be transferred either to mylar or jars. As you know, Lancaster and Frazier Park humidity percentages make Las Vegas look like Costa Rica. ?
Jars rock unless you plan to be in the tobacco a lot stopping the aging process.
I don't know about Frazier Park, but right now, were at 14% RH and 15 mph winds with 25 mph gusts, and I'm trying to get a pipe lit, lol. Here's to my zippo pipe insert
I would have never thought about dedicating the aro lids to aro blends, until it was too late, but it makes sense. Great tip.
Since I'm still in the newbie stage, I open pretty much everything within a day or two of its arrival so I can give it a try, so I figure 18 jars for now should keep me going for a while, but I'll be needing to jar everything too.
Depending on how much I like or dislike a tobacco, some often, others, not so much.
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