PSA: Check Your Tins Folks!

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woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
12,645
20,167
SE PA USA
I have a question since this thread is posted. What about the paint can types of tins? Good or not good for long term storage? Also, once cracked open how long before it needs to be transfered to a jar? Unlike round tins there is no real rubber seal to engage.

thanks
I've had mixed results.
Unopened, they seem to do just fine, so far. Once opened, and then closed again, it's a crap shoot.
 
I'm just done buying from companies that use square/rectangle tins. There is just no value in spending extra to get something that obviously no one trusts.

The ones in my cellar, I do try the lids occasionally, and never an issue yet. :::knock on wood:::

But, the bulks that I do have in my cellar will only ever go into jars. I do not have any issues or fears that the weight of the jars will bust through my floor, nor is space an issue, because I don't live in my car or an RV.
I am not afraid of bags. I did put most of my burley crop from a few years ago in big bags that could hold the whole leaf bunch. But, I have jars, so any new batches of ready to smoke stuff will go into those.

I have no issues with how others want to store their tobaccos. However, I think it is sort of foolish to buy the square/rectangle tins. Companies that are sticking with these and not selling them in bulk are more about the money than their products. IMO.
 

Winnipeger

Lifer
Sep 9, 2022
1,288
9,690
Winnipeg
FWIW, vacuum sealing on tins is done just to keep the lid on. It actually removes very little air.
Right. Makes me wonder if it's actually "anaerobic" fermentation if there's still oxygen in the tins (ie: in contact with the leaf). Maybe that's a topic for another ad nauseam thread.
 
There's nothing wrong with rectangle tins as long as you open them right away and smoke the contents, or transfer them. I'd still buy them, they just aren't appropriate for storage.
Buy it... and just smoke it right away... like a psychopath? Ha ha. I don't think I have ever popped a tin in under a year.
 

Sigmund

Lifer
Sep 17, 2023
2,963
28,290
France
Ive taken up pipe again after 13 years and a transatlantic move. Waiting for tobacco to age isnt an option. I dont like rectangular tins but a few tobacco blends I like are in them. I just put it in jars. The blends also aren’t available bulk. I think the design is silly but I guess I missed the call from the factory:(
 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
12,645
20,167
SE PA USA
Ive taken up pipe again after 13 years and a transatlantic move. Waiting for tobacco to age isnt an option. I dont like rectangular tins but a few tobacco blends I like are in them. I just put it in jars. The blends also aren’t available bulk. I think the design is silly but I guess I missed the call from the factory:(
You should really try encapsulating them in epoxy.
 
Last edited:
Apr 26, 2012
3,585
8,062
Washington State
So, since I haven't checked my cellar in a while, I gave it a once over. Like mentioned in my previous post I do it about once a year. Usually, to remind me what I have sitting around. This thread was a good reminder to take a look.

I currently have 17 square tins in my cellar (mostly Samuel Gawith), and they range from 2013 to 2017 (production date), and all and the seals are all intact. I have 35 round tins of the same style (mostly Dunhill and Hearth & Home blends), and they range from 2012 to 2023, and all the seals are intact. I have 32 round tins of the McClelland, C&D, GLP style, and they range from 2012 to 2018, and all of their seals are intact.

I see no issues with any of my tins except one Dunhill tin that has a dent on the top edge, and looks like the side is pushed out a bit (like when you put your pipe tool in to pop it open), but the seal is still intact. I have one Seattle Pipe Club tin that some stuff on the bottom that looked like it was rusting through, but the stuff flaked off. All appears well with the cellar at this time.

Since I was going through the cellar I figured I'd pop a tin of something I haven't had in a long time. I pulled out a 100g tin of Mac Baren HH Highland Blend (which was discontinued in 2013). I bought a few tins knowing it was going to be discontinued, so this tin was from 5/9/13. It had that sweet sound of the sealing popping, and the tobacco was in ready to smoke condition. So everything appears well in my cellar as it sits currently.
 

Winnipeger

Lifer
Sep 9, 2022
1,288
9,690
Winnipeg
Since I was going through the cellar I figured I'd pop a tin of something I haven't had in a long time.
That's what I've been doing. Since I'm just going ahead and putting everything in Mylar (except the C&D/GLP, McClelland, and Rattray's tins), I'm popping things I've never gotten around to trying before, like Dunhill Durbar and Astley's No. 44 to name a couple. I used to try to only pop tins once in a while, but now I have ready access to most of what I've been cellaring all these years, and the upshot is more shelf space in my basement. It's all gotta get smoked anyway. Will transferring it to Mylar alter the aging process? Maybe. I don't really care. I've got a lot of good McClelland Virginias that can sit a stew in their tins until I'm in my twilight years. I'll graze on all the rest over the coming decades.

Also! I'm finally going through and inventorying everything in a spreadsheet and weighing it all. I know everyone isn't going to want to go to such extremes, but for me, it's all in the name of reducing clutter, which I abhor, and ultimately making it easier for me to find what I'm looking for and enjoying the variety of blends I have on hand; not digging through heaps of jars. I counted my glass jars yesterday and it was 152, which means that number was close to 200 when I started this process. Insanity. I could see myself falling deeper and deeper down the glass jar rabbit hole a few years ago. Now...why do I need to cellar so much tobacco in the first place? That has a lot to do with the fact that I live in Canada and I tried to get as much as I could while the getting was good. That's a topic for another thread I guess.
 

jon11

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 25, 2013
619
599
The paint can types of containers are not good for long term storage. After a few years the contents will become noticeably drier and will eventually dry out. This is much less of a problem if the can also has a plastic lid over the metal lid.
I have a fair amount of HU tobacco that I bought in 2016 and 2018. Back in 2016, most of the tins came with the secondary plastic cap. When I checked those 2016 cans a few years later, the cans with the plastic lid were fine while the cans without were very dry, a couple so dry that I felt obliged to rehydrate them. I've saved the plastic lids from the cans I smoked and added them to the other lidless cans after making sure the contents were still moist. I should probably just put them in Mylar and toss the cans.

When I bought a kilo of Director's Cut in 2019 I jarred it. For the move I transferred the contents to Mylar and heat sealed it.
Here's a few pics of the tin I just opened. Looks good after 10 years in the cellar.

View attachment 261190View attachment 261186View attachment 261187View attachment 261188
These 100 gr MacBaren tins hold up very well!!
 

jon11

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 25, 2013
619
599
No problems with those. In general, the round tins seem to hold up better. Being circular, the pressure is better equalized around the circumference. Still, even these round tins occasionally fail.
I agree. As far as the paint cans go they seem to rust from the inside because they are not coated like the C&D tins. So even if the seal remains good they will start to rust from the inside. This also goes for the Rattrays 100gr tins.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,675
48,798
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I agree. As far as the paint cans go they seem to rust from the inside because they are not coated like the C&D tins. So even if the seal remains good they will start to rust from the inside. This also goes for the Rattrays 100gr tins.
I had one 100gr Rattray's tin, from the mid 90's, fail at the point where the metal had been scored for the pull top. The others have been OK so far. Stuff happens. It's a fact of cellaring. I don't worry about my round tins. So far they've held up. But most of those are older and stouter in construction.

Pre 2004 C&D tins were poor quality. By 2005 they were properly coating the interior, except at the solder joint, which improved things, but didn't guarantee anything. All of that has been bagged, and I'm glad I did that since some 16 oz C&D tins from 2010 and 2011 were corroding at that joint. Not all C&D blends corrode their tins, but I have a lot of Haddo's and that's one that does corrode tins.

Even some McClellands tins from the '90's fail, and those were better quality than C&D.

Ultimately we'll make our own decisions and get what we get.