Really Dry Tobacco?

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nitemair13

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 24, 2018
267
1
North Carolina
I recently got a tin of Virginia Gentleman and it is like straw. I light a bowl of it goes up in minutes. Even in my deepest bowls it burns up like straw and I dont get to enjoy the taste.
Is there a way to rehydrate it or is it just naturally like this? If its suppose to be like that I won't be reordering it that's for sure.
Note: Thank you autocorrect for flipping dry to fry in the post subject... :clap:

 
I smoke slow and love really dry tobacco. But. There are numerous ways to rehydrate. Spritz with distilled water, or try one of those fancy ways using a couple of plastic containers where the water is in same container as tobacco covered, but in a seperate plastic container. Or, hold it in a colander above a steaming pot. Any way really works. Tobacco rehydrates really well.

 

uncleblackie

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 20, 2014
280
10
Correct me if I am mistaken, but I believe this blend features C&D’s “new” fine ribbon cut. If so, it’ll definitely burn fast, especially when it is also dry.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,065
Carmel Valley, CA
Is there a way to rehydrate it or is it just naturally like this? If its suppose to be like that I won't be reordering it that's for sure.
If you pinch a small clump between fingers, does it crumble and break? Or slowly swing back to shape? If the latter, it's all right. Maybe need to tamp firmer. Let us know!
If it crumbles, rehydrate slowly, testing along the way.

 

pianopuffer

Can't Leave
Jul 3, 2017
491
140
NYC
I’m with cosmic, the drier the better. You may try doing a different pack? I’ve found really dry or fine tobacco like shag works well with a tight wad and stuff prep method.

 

nitemair13

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 24, 2018
267
1
North Carolina
If you pinch a small clump between fingers, does it crumble and break? Or slowly swing back to shape? If the latter, it's all right. Maybe need to tamp firmer. Let us know!
It does the latter so I guess this is normal for it. I'll just smoke slower than usual and tamp and little firmer.

 

tslex

Lifer
Jun 23, 2011
1,482
13
Apple slice in the tin will not flavor the tobacco but will, over a day or so, moisten the tobacco.

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
In my experience dry tobacco burns fast and hot. I prefer my flakes to have a bit of moisture as they burn cool and have lots of flavor.
As far as rehydrating tobacco, I take a large mixing bowl and then cover it with a damp kitchen towel. I make sure the towel doesn't touch the tobacco. I would never put an apple in my tobacco as that can cause mold.

 

nitemair13

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 24, 2018
267
1
North Carolina
I would prefer it a little more hydrated as it does burn so fast. I may try the towel method.
The apple slice is a new one on me.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,337
I like tobacco bone dry, but if I decide to rehydrate, I fill a bowl and blow through the pipe until I feel heat rising from the chamber.

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,087
6,394
Florida
The bowl and wet towel method works fine and faster than you might imagine.

I usually just try to pack tighter and smoke mine dry. JimInks is a rehydration exponent. I haven't got the chops, yet.

I keep mine dry and I think it compensates for a tendency to smoke improperly, cuz it likes to burn, relieving the anxiety of a self extinguishing pipe. (oh, it doesn't eliminate that phenomenon, it just reduces its frequency)

 

unadoptedlamp

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 19, 2014
742
1,368
Opinions about tobacco moisture vary a lot. Your only option is to try a range and settle on what's best for your tastes. If you suspect something is off, then it seems to reason that it is. To your tastes.
To my tastes, overly dry, nearly crispy but still bouncing back tobacco, does not taste as full or interesting as something moist and "spongy". For whatever reason, removing most of the moisture, for me, somehow also removes most of the flavour. At least one high profile blender has written articles about this in the past, that you might want to consult. I don't have them offhand.
I think a lot of it has to do with your preferred smoking technique. Dry or moist tobacco will usually suit a preferred style better.
There seems to be trends over the years on this forum. It's just my sense, but there appears to be a chorus of people proclaiming the benefits of dry tobacco. In the past, it was the opposite. I expect it will volley back and forth over the years, depending on who is commenting the most. Your best bet is to experiment and see what's best. For my tastes, it's not dry tobacco. For others, it obviously is. Find your own way and it will be the best way.

 
I think a lot of it has to do with your preferred smoking technique.

Maybe, it's funny how some of us, get more flavor from dry. Aromatics, however, seem to have more flavor when wetter. I wonder if those of us enjoying more tobacco flavor from dry, are bypassing the casing by smoking it dry, whereas some people enjoy that casing flavor, so wetter tobaccos are their preference. Just a thought.
In the past, it was the opposite.

Not true. Tobacco sold in plugs and ropes were sold bone dry, because the tobacco was left exposed to the air. And, loose tobacco was sold in little burlap pouches, with no protection from the air. It wasn't until the recent (recent being relative in history) that tins were used. And, even at that point pouch options for commercial tobacco were made of paper.

It is sort of the byproduct of tins coming into being that smokers started jarring and getting finicky about keeping tobacco moist, but in most books, especially thinking about authors like JM Barrie, who write about pipe smoking, also discuss keeping their tobacco dry, and drying out moister tobaccos.
I also remmber the pipesmokers of my youth, uncles and men who sat in front of the local store smoking, would set out tobacco in jars with gravity lids, letting their tobaccos dry out on their chair-side table, then just laying a lid on top of it when away from the house. Or, carrying their tobacco in paper bags.
Also, check out the PM radioshow. People have discussed drying tobacco since the very first show, years ago.
Also, it has been proposed that maybe the idea of keeping tobacco moist came from mall tobacco shops that mostly sold aromatics, coming up with that pinch test to check to see if the aromatic still had plenty of toppings.
I do not offer this up as dogmatic proof that anyone is wrong, or has a better method. I just offer it up as evidence that smoking dry tobaccos is not merely a forum phenomena. It does have a strong foothold in history for pipe smokers, and the ability and desire to keep your tobacco moist or wet can only be a newer idea in the grand scheme of things. But, if someone wants to smoke their tobaccos wet or moist, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with that also.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,065
Carmel Valley, CA
Interesting also to note that since we started talking about the need to dry most tobaccos before loading the number of posts about tongue bite and relights have dropped by over 80%. Folks come, read, adjust. Some stick around to become active members.
But we're still lacking any yardstick as to what constitutes "dry" or "moist" or just right. Too bad. Such has been available for five bucks on your favorite e-tailer. And, yes, I own several Chinese manufacturers of hygrometers.....
But whatever works for you works for you.

 
But we're still lacking any yardstick as to what constitutes "dry" or "moist" or just right. Too bad. Such has been available for five bucks on your favorite e-tailer. And, yes, I own several Chinese manufacturers of hygrometers.....
If we all got hygrometers (I have a digital one on my flue kiln, along with a wet bulb) I think that we would still disagree on how wet or dry is too much. Me, I don't even like the same dryness at all times. Sometimes a blend that usually tastes good to me when bone dry, I will feel a little dehydrated, or thirsty, or sometimes just a mood to smoke the same blend a little more moist. Or, maybe it is when I am smoking bowl after bowl that I find that I really crave the tobacco to be crunchy.

Plus, some tobaccos just don't taste as good bone dry, so then there is a blend to blend difference, which may depend on whether I want to taste whatever casing they added.
Then Winter to Summer my choices and tastes change. I just don't live by generalities. It is more of an art than an exact science to me. We are a finicky bunch. No one rule or guiding law will work for all of us. We have to be flexible.

 

nitemair13

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 24, 2018
267
1
North Carolina
The towel over the tobacco bowl seems to have worked. I left it overnight and part of today and the blend is not as dry as before. I'm getting a better taste off of it now so I apparently prefer my blends to have a little moisture to them. Thanks for the help.

 

buckaroo

Lifer
Sep 30, 2014
1,153
2,910
So. Cal.
Virginia Gentleman is the driest tobacco I've ever purchased and it looks like nothing has changed. I bought a couple ounces in 2009 and still have some left. Not my favorite at the time.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,065
Carmel Valley, CA
If we all got hygrometers (I have a digital one on my flue kiln, along with a wet bulb) I think that we would still disagree on how wet or dry is too much
Of course we would! But it could help folks starting out immensely. Plus any arrogant or disrespectful types who have been around the block.

 
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