Opening Tins And Mold

[aquadoc]

Having had my fair shake of mycology classes many years ago, I early on adopted the habit of opening new tins far away, as in "on the porch" or anywhere outside due to the nature of mold spores. Do any of you open in the general area of your cellar and if so have you seen any obvious cross contamination with jarred tobaccos.

 

[saintpeter]

I have never taken active measures as to where I open tins and jars. By happenstance I just never have two jars or tins open at the same time.

 

[Worknman]

I haven't thought about that but it seems like a good idea. If any spores from a contaminated tin get loose in your cellar area you risk cross contamination.

 

[lightmybriar]

I’d guess that opening a tin outside exposes it to a far greater level and variety of molds than opening it inside your home...I know that’s not the question being asked, but that’s the first thing that came to mind upon my reading of your question.

To answer your question, I’ve only experienced mold three times in my six years of smoking, and all three times I realized it in the vicinity of all my other tobaccos. I tossed the tin, washed my hands, and selected another tobacco. No outbreak problems for me.

 

[augiebd]

My practice is similar to @saintpeter but I think I might be a tad more cautious in the future. It would be easy to open new tins in a part of the house isolated from my stash.

 

[BROBS]

I always jar my tobaccos in the living room or kitchen one at a time.

 

[Spa32]

I've never thought about cross contamination before. I generally open new tins in my kitchen for whatever reason. My tobacco is stored in the basement. I have opened a few tins in the basement but have never seen mold in any tins.

 

[tkcolo]

I've never thought about cross contamination before. I generally open new tins in my kitchen for whatever reason. My tobacco is stored in the basement. I have opened a few tins in the basement but have never seen mold in any tins.

I always jar my tobaccos in the living room or kitchen one at a time.

Yall are brave. My wife needs not know anything more about my tobacco. haha

 

[Casual]

Exchanging samples at the pipe club meeting.

 

[aquadoc]

I’d guess that opening a tin outside exposes it to a far greater level and variety of molds than opening it inside your home...I know that’s not the question being asked, but that’s the first thing that came to mind upon my reading of your question.

To answer your question, I’ve only experienced mold three times in my six years of smoking, and all three times I realized it in the vicinity of all my other tobaccos. I tossed the tin, washed my hands, and selected another tobacco. No outbreak problems for me.

I agree and disagree. But let's agree that your statement is correct regarding outside vs inside.... You still will only have one contaminated tin even if you inadvertently expose the tin outside.

Now, regarding your in vs out and spores. I am not sure I agree. The air inside of a home, short of having powerful HEPA filters running is going to have at least the same spores as outside. And in fact, it may have more due to environmental conditions in a home.

Specific molds to tobacco may not be present at all without bringing them in to the home via a bad tin. Not sure if there are tobacco specific mold species. Nicotine kills a lot of things.

 

[Spa32]

Yall are brave. My wife needs not know anything more about my tobacco. haha

My wife has seen many of my pipes and a lot of the tobacco I've purchased. She just doesn't care, which I guess is a good thing.

 

[BROBS]

Same here she doesn’t know if it’s tobacco I’ve had or if it’s new. ?

 

[cigrmaster]

I normally have around 20 plus tins and half a dozen jars open at any given time and have yet to see a drop of mold at any time. It just never happens to me.

 

[aquadoc]

I normally have around 20 plus tins and half a dozen jars open at any given time and have yet to see a drop of mold at any time. It just never happens to me.

Knocking on wood.... Nor to me.

 

[smokeyweb]

I think moldy tins are probably pretty rare. Maybe one out of 1000 tins has mold... possibly from being improperly stored... somebody posts a picture of that one moldy tin... and then we all freak out worrying about our cellars!

 

[bullet08]

been lucky so far. then again, my stashes are rather young.