Rusted Can - Still Good to Smoke?

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spartacus

Lifer
Nov 7, 2018
1,022
795
Mesa, Arizona
Opened some Sutliff tins from 2013/2014. Bottoms are rusted. Tobacco is a little dry but smells good.

Any issues health or otherwise smoking these?

8175
 

mikestanley

Lifer
May 10, 2009
1,698
1,126
Akron area of Ohio
I've opened more than a few tins with rust inside over the years, especially when I was buying old tins on eBay. Granted, most had a paper lining between the tobacco and the tin. I never worried. Sometimes, the tobacco tasted like an iron heavy well water but, otherwise. No biggie.

Mike S.
 
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I didn't heed any of the warnings about the Sutliff paper tins either, and set back 20 tins in 2014. I am about half way smoking through these, and not a bit of rust and the tobacco still seems very moist. I think that maybe a lot of my good luck is coming from keeping the tins at about 70F year round.

But, yeh, the Sutliff rolled paper tins aren't the best way to store for long term... unless you feel lucky. puffy
 

jpberg

Lifer
Aug 30, 2011
2,904
6,540
Maybe it’s a trick of the light, but what’s the white stuff on the tobacco?
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
My questions would be, is that mold or crystals on the tobacco (I can't tell from the picture) and did the rust expose the blends to air from outside the tin, which would make it probable that the white stuff is mold. I don't think you want to smoke mold. If you want to be scientific, you could put a small quantity of the white stuff in a jar with some bread and see if it grows there -- that would be mold. If I looked it over, in person, and didn't like its looks, I'd toss it. The photos don't look appetizing to me.
 
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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,675
29,393
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
a good rule of thumb is if it's spoiled it doesn't taste right or smell right. If the tobacco smells fine, tastes fine, and looks fine it will give you cancer at the age of 125 so.... And clearly you've never seen where they make the tobacco in the first place, if rust was dangerous we'd all be dead or crazy (wait I think we are all crazy.)
 

David_Lawrence

Might Stick Around
Sep 25, 2019
62
97
Maybe it’s a trick of the light, but what’s the white stuff on the tobacco?

I was horrified at this too until I realised it's not anything on the tobacco, it's the bottom of the emptied tins with little crumbs! It looked like frost or some ungodly mould, yeesh.
 
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jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
All tinned tobacco has enough moisture to rust it, but conditions and time have to be right. (Heating and cooling cycles would be pretty ideal to promote enough moisture to collect on the bottom and promote rusting.) Then, a great many tins are coated to prevent or reduce rust. I have just opened a tin of 15 year old Margate, and the paper was black, and the tin it rested on was brown, as in iron oxide. No problem.
 
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