Opening Cellared Jars

[cosmicfolklore]

I really recommend half pint jars. I know that some like to save a few pennies and use large jars, but with 3oz in a half pint, you can smoke from one while the rest age. Plus, when you have 20+ years on a jar, when you open one, you can smoke it all before it turns to crap on ya, or you get bored with the blend. YMMV

 

[gervais]

I really recommend half pint jars. I know that some like to save a few pennies and use large jars, but with 3oz in a half pint, you can smoke from one while the rest age. Plus, when you have 20+ years on a jar, when you open one, you can smoke it all before it turns to crap on ya, or you get bored with the blend. YMMV

Does the tobacco turn to crap after its been sitting for that long?

 

[Sobrbiker]

Plus, when you have 20+ years on a jar, when you open one, you can smoke it all before it turns to crap on ya, or you get bored with the blend.

I doubt I’ll get 20+ years on one, but will a blend really “turn to crap” if the jar it’s sitting in gets opened to grab some, then closed and put back on the shelf?

 

[seanv]

I doubt I’ll get 20+ years on one, but will a blend really “turn to crap” if the jar it’s sitting in gets opened to grab some, then closed and put back on the shelf?

I think there are too many variables to have a definitive answer. It may be a real possibility though so I use smaller jars to offset the risk.

 

[gervais]

I doubt I’ll get 20+ years on one, but will a blend really “turn to crap” if the jar it’s sitting in gets opened to grab some, then closed and put back on the shelf?

I think Cosmic believes that when a cellared tobacco get past the 20year mark, it starts to degrade. I think. Lol

I hope that's not the case, or else my retirement stash is gonna be a bunch of unsmokable garbage.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Like others have said; opening the jar can interrupt the aging process, however, how much no one can tell you. To answer your question, yes you can smoke a bowl or two and put the jar back and it will continue to age. Just because you open the jar and then re-seal it doesn't mean the aging process stops. The tobacco will continue to age.

I have about 60 jars I smoke from in my cabinet, and I don't always smoke everything, so sometimes blends go months or years between a smoke. They're all aging just fine. Would they taste different if I had never opened the jar and waited years, maybe... but if so it's probably very little difference. If you want to smoke a blend then smoke it.

 

[gervais]

I think there are too many variables to have a definitive answer. It may be a real possibility though so I use smaller jars to offset the risk.

You guys always set off my cellar OCD with all this crap every time.

That's it. I'm putting my mason jars in mylar bags. Let's see the moisture leach out of THAT setup!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I doubt I’ll get 20+ years on one, but will a blend really “turn to crap” if the jar it’s sitting in gets opened to grab some, then closed and put back on the shelf?

My experience with 20+ year blends is that it oxidizes and dries to dust much faster than a younger blend. Tobacco is cells filled with the essential oils that give us the flavors of tobacco as we smoke them. When someone says a tobacco is “stale” they mean it lacks these oils. Just drying a fresh blend means that these oils are still intact, but just the water is pushed off and the cells of oils are still strong. But, when you age a blend these cells break down, so they dissipate faster.

Opening a really old blend means that you are exposing a much more fragile product to oxygen and the elements. It’s very different from a freshly aged product.

Store tobaccos however you want, but after smoking tobacco that has turned to shit in a few weeks, I use much smaller jars so that I can smoke aged blends before they lose their flavors.

20 years is NOT that long once you start setting tobaccos back.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Does the tobacco turn to crap after its been sitting for that long?

Think of it this way… aging causes the cells holding the essential oils to become much more fragile. I just don’t treat a 20+ blend the same way I do fresh blend.

 

[elvishrunes]

I use 3 Oz dollar store jars for one or maybe 2 tins jammed in tight to smoke within the year or two. I know I should use brand name jars, lol, but 4 for 3$ is a good deal and so far, no rust on the stainless steel after 3 yrs…

For longer term, I use original tins, and if I was to use big jars of bulk, I wouldn’t be regularly dipping into them, except to transfer to smaller smoking jars…. Makes sense, whether true or not.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I think Cosmic believes that when a cellared tobacco get past the 20year mark, it starts to degrade. I think. Lol

Once the enclosed environment in jars of tobacco that old, or tins, is exposed to open air it degrades very quickly. A tin that old should be smoked in a matter of days

 

[gervais]

Once the enclosed environment in jars of tobacco that old, or tins, is exposed to open air it degrades very quickly. A tin that old should be smoked in a matter of days

What if you cut off the oxygen to it in between smokes? Like keeping a portion vacuum sealed or something?

Or keep an oxygen absorber in the jar?

 

[gervais]

Has anyone else experienced this fast degradation of long aged tobacco?

 

[MRW]

I have a question that has probably been answered here but I didn’t find it with a search.

If I have jarred tobacco that I want to age, should I leave the jar closed for the full time, or is it okay to open the jar, smoke a bowl or two, and put it back in the closet?

If aging the tobacco is your ultimate goal, leave it be.

 

[yanoJL]

Has anyone else experienced this fast degradation of long aged tobacco?

I have. I did not age the blends myself. I have not been a pipe smoker that long. But I got ahold of a few aged blends as part of a trade; the oldest of which date back to the late 90s. And my experience is just as @cosmicfolklore described. The only thing I might add is that the flakes and crumble cakes held up better than the ribbons. At least that's what it seemed like to me.

 

[Chasing Embers]

What if you cut off the oxygen to it in between smokes? Like keeping a portion vacuum sealed or something?

Or keep an oxygen absorber in the jar?

Once done it's done.

 

[anotherbob]

I have a question that has probably been answered here but I didn’t find it with a search.

If I have jarred tobacco that I want to age, should I leave the jar closed for the full time, or is it okay to open the jar, smoke a bowl or two, and put it back in the closet?

my suggestion is to put it in two jars one for aging and a smaller one for consuming.

 

[woodsroad]

You guys always set off my cellar OCD with all this crap every time.

That's it. I'm putting my mason jars in mylar bags. Let's see the moisture leach out of THAT setup!

Glass is the best container for keeping out oxygen. Decidedly better than Mylar bags. Heavy Mylar bags, however, are better than jars in keeping out light. UV is known to cause unfavorable degradation in stored food products, so the same may (or may not) prove true for tobacco. Either way, I keep my jars in the dark.

What we have to realize, and regret, is that there is scarce scientific data readily available to the public to back up the assertions or to definitively answer any of the questions in this thread. We can make inferences from what is known about how other stuff ferments and decays under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, but all the minutia around tobacco and aging in completely anecdotal. Especially all the claims pertaining to taste and smell...those are highly subjective. If any of vast and well documented knowledge about beer flavors and the role that yeast and bacteria play in creating those flavors is also applicable to tobacco, then much of the claimed flavor/aroma improvements that come with aging tobacco actually come from the anaerobic bacteria and yeasts that are activated with aging.

Me? I cellar in the smallest jars that Ball makes, those little 4oz. quilted jelly jars. I make sure that the tobacco is moist enough to support living organisms, adding water with a spray bottle, if needed. I don't open the jars until I am ready to smoke the contents. I, too, have noticed a degradation in aroma and taste in the contents once the jars have been opened. I attribute this to volatile compounds off gassing, but, again, that's just a wild-assed guess.

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[Homer]

I have understood that if the tobacco is in round tin the best way to store it is in its original vacuumed tin.
If the tin is not round I have vacuumed the tin in plastic bag so It won't dry if the seal is broken.
If the tobacco is sold in pouches I have vacuumed the pouches in plastic bags.

 

[elvishrunes]

I have understood that if the tobacco is in round tin the best way to store it is in its original vacuumed tin.
If the tin is not round I have vacuumed the tin in plastic bag so It won't dry if the seal is broken.
If the tobacco is sold in pouches I have vacuumed the pouches in plastic bags.

Pretty sure plastic covered vacuumed sealed tins will rust, this has been mentioned lots before, but lots don’t know. Anyhow my tins in a humidor rusted after something like 3-5 years. Open air is best for sealed tins. Vacuumed pouches would work though.