Quality Of Tobacco - Bulk VS. Tin

[hmhaines]

Okay so here's what I have:
Generally, the tobaccos are the same, though perhaps different plants or sections of plants are used to process some blends that are sold as bulk and tinned.
Always transfer bulk to a good container. (Already got my mason jars.)
If you're ordering bulk, perhaps store the tobacco for a little while after ordering to allow the tobacco to marry and mature a little better.
But, perhaps it isn't a huge deal.
And EMP shoukd be bought in tins. (Woops, already have an ounce of bulk on the way.)

 

[cosmicfolklore]

"Cosmic may have a more definitive "who cares" advice for this "

Who cares? How did I get dragged into this... twice? I was just reading through this to learn which bulks to avoid. Obviously my reputation as a huge tobacco snob is slacking. I need to work on that. ::

 

[carver]

There is no need to open a sealed coin twist or pop top tin unless you're going to smoke the tobacco inside that tin. My 2 cents anyway.

Leave your tin tobacco sealed until ready to smoke. No reason for opening and storing in a jar. Your tin tobacco will age and ferment better in a sealed tin.

My cellar is nice collection of air tight pots that line up on the shelves with nice labels etc...

So every new blend, is immediately transferred to a pot. Whether I will smoke it soon or not.
Are you saying that I shouldn't do that if I am not smoking it right away?
I don't know what most people do, but personally, I like to smoke something different every time, at maybe smoke 2 bowls of the same blend but then move on to something else.

I haven't gone to "cellaring" much, I am still in the discovery phase, which seems it's going to be the only phase ever. I have loads of different blends (90+) but usually max 4oz per. And they're all in their pots.

 

[fitzy]

Carver most here won't open a tin unless they plan on smoking it. Opening it can change the way it ages. So for example if I buy 4 tins of a tobacco I enjoy I'm not going to open all 4. I'll only open one as needed and that one then goes straight into a mason jar. The one difference is with a new tobacco I haven't tried yet I'll usually open it right away as I want to try it out then jar it.
Also as far as bulk vs tin. I'm a big McClelland fan but for some reason I have a hard time finding a bulk of theirs that I like besides 5100. Mean while pretty much every tin of theirs I have tried I've loved. Am I the only one that has found this to be the case?

 

[carver]

So for example if I buy 4 tins of a tobacco

I understand... However, actually, I've never done that. There's a similar thread, quite recent actually, that talks about cellar variety. So far I have bought again a tin of something for only 4-5 blends because my jar would soon be empty. But mad I've bought so many different blends, I just open them as soon as they get here, want to try.

 

[fitzy]

I've done the same thing for a long while Carver until I zoned in some that I prefer but I still find myself doing that now from time to time. Hell I think I still have something like 80 mason jars with tobacco I haven't finished yet.
For example I really want to try Temple Bar, Regents Flake and Black Frigate so I will end up buying and opening all 3 and then jarring them.

 

[hextor]

I think since the tobacco is in a tin and compressed, it gives it a chance to meld all the flavors together, I think tin gives you better flavor than bulk, I need to buy bulk though, it is cheaper and plus you can get a lot.

 

[fitzy]

Sounds like a plan 1coyote!!!

 

[carver]

For example I really want to try Temple Bar, Regents Flake and Black Frigate so I will end up buying and opening all 3 and then jarring them.

Haha, me too, I just ordered some Temple Bar, can't wait for it to arrive.

And I've heard so much about Black Frigate !!

 

[hmhaines]

Still trying tobaccos, so mine also go from tin to mason jar with some frequency. Though, I did order extra tins for the first time recently, just for aging.

 

[hakchuma]

Aristacob had made a video a while back. He purchased his first tin of Lane 1Q and was blown away by the difference. Apparently he had been a long time smoker of bulk Lane 1Q almost exclusively.

 

[hextor]

I love tins, you can stack them on top of each other and organize them really nice and also some of the art work is awesome.

 

[skraps]

Tins are cool. Bulk is cheap. I like tins. I like cheap.
I have both.

 

[mawnansmiff]

When I started with the pipe exactly a year ago I quite wrongly looked down on bulk/loose tobacco as being somewhat inferior in some way. I have since learned that many of my preferred blends only come loose in plastic wrappers, most notably blends by Gawith & Hoggarth.
That is not to say all bulk/loose tobaccos are as good as tinned blends as most 'shop blends' are sold in bulk/loose and in my experience they are the ones to avoid.
As for a blend that is sold both as tinned and in bulk, I have never come across one myself so can't comment in that regard.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[tobaccojoe]

I'm with skrapsoftobacco: Tins are cool and I usually prefer the taste of the tinned to the bulk, BUT bulk is cheaper and allows more cellaring. I usually stick with tins, but do have both as well.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Bulk allows me 100% more tobacco for the price (on average.) Tins are cool, but I only get them sparingly.
As far as aging in tins vs. jars, yes they will age differently. Whether one is better than the other certainly isn't definitive, consistent, or predictable. A blanket "tobacco ages better in tins" is rubbish.
If you don't trust tins (and a lot don't), transferring to jars makes sense. I'm not that paranoid, but I get it.
90 out of every 100 of my dollars will go to bulk until I run out of bulk that interests me.

 

[mso489]

I'd guess the tinned and bulk are out of essentially the same batches. It seems unlikely that the blenders would go to the trouble of making separate blends for the two different modes of sale. They want the customer to be happy and want to be able to cater to the two different motives, the premium benefits of tinned tobacco, and the price break on the bulk. So I think blenders would do their best to get the same product to the customer in both formats. It just makes sense. Milking a few more bucks out of cutting corners on the bulk blend, other than packaging, would be expensive to execute and counterproductive in customer satisfaction. I think it wouldn't be smart, and I think most blenders are generally smart.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

I have no reason to believe there are material differences.
They'll be different just by virtue of different methods of storage. A bulk blend could taste like a tinned blend if it ages a certain way for a certain period of time. Where/when those two lines intersect is probably a question only answered by a lot of experience and trial and error.
Sam Gawith is one I've heard is much different from the tin than it is bulk, unless the bulk has some time in it. The moisture levels they are known for, which is maybe a product of topping would affect the tinned differently than bulk at a different rate.
Interesting to contemplate.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I don't have much experience with bulk..always preferred tins.

However, one day I was at a local shop and they had bulk Dunhill mm965. I had never tried the much loved blend so I bought a couple ounces.
Bland, boring, blah. That's what I thought of it.

I figured there was no way THAT stuff could be so popular so I eventually bought a tin. Big difference. Still don't think it's amazing, but the tinned was a marked improvement over the bulk.
Your experience may vary.

 

[pitchfork]

I received Old Joe Krantz as a Birthday gift, Just over 8 oz. It was aged for 3 years by a fellow pipe smoker. I must say I was pleasantly surprised how well this bulk smoked compared to the tin/can version. This definitely goes on my next tobacco order list.

I've only smoked the bulk version of OJK and my beloved Haunted Bookshop. I bought a tin of each and plan to age them for a couple of years just for kicks. Are you saying the bulk was better than the tin or just remarkably similar?