I have several pipe tobaccos in my collection, but since I am new with preserving them, most of them have dried out. I even most idiotically rubbed out an entire tin of Full Virginia Flake, which has thus fully dried out to the bone. Which is better? Dried out tobacco or semi-most from the tin? What about aged tobacco? Is it like wine which gets better with age? And what are some ways to bring my dried out tobacco back to life? Or is that not advised and better smoked dry? I know most of these things are up to my own preference, but from a fellow pipe smoker I would like to know the best way to go about smoking pipe. I look forward to hearing your response. Cheers!
Salvaging Pipe Tobacco
- Thread starter mrporter
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Hi MrPorter. Welcome to the forums!
I can only recommend to never actually let the tobacco go completely bone-dry. Like any "living" thing, drying out will be detrimental to the natural processes that are involved in aging, and might also lead to the destruction of the volatile components of the tobacco leaf, which make it what it is. For the same reason, freezing your tobacco is also not recommended ;-)
However, once in a while it happens (mostly by accident or by forgetting about a tin) that your tobacco dries out. You can "revive" the tobacco through a couple of different methods.
One method involves having the tobacco absorb humidity from distilled water, i.e., through a paper towel suspended over the tin. The other method, uses cigar humidor liquid instead of distilled water. If you search the forums you will find both ("re hydrating tobacco").
I can only recommend to never actually let the tobacco go completely bone-dry. Like any "living" thing, drying out will be detrimental to the natural processes that are involved in aging, and might also lead to the destruction of the volatile components of the tobacco leaf, which make it what it is. For the same reason, freezing your tobacco is also not recommended ;-)
However, once in a while it happens (mostly by accident or by forgetting about a tin) that your tobacco dries out. You can "revive" the tobacco through a couple of different methods.
One method involves having the tobacco absorb humidity from distilled water, i.e., through a paper towel suspended over the tin. The other method, uses cigar humidor liquid instead of distilled water. If you search the forums you will find both ("re hydrating tobacco").
mrporter:
I keep all of my tobaccos in their original tins until I'm ready to smoke them. Then, I open the tin and put it in a sealable glass jar. I smoke out of that jar until a blend is gone. . . and I typically have about six open jars going at one time (that is, with different blends in each one; I enjoy the variety). There have been a few blends that have stayed in their jars for over a year, without drying out much at all. (But if it takes me a year to smoke a tin, then I'm clearly not enjoying that particular blend!)
Bob
I keep all of my tobaccos in their original tins until I'm ready to smoke them. Then, I open the tin and put it in a sealable glass jar. I smoke out of that jar until a blend is gone. . . and I typically have about six open jars going at one time (that is, with different blends in each one; I enjoy the variety). There have been a few blends that have stayed in their jars for over a year, without drying out much at all. (But if it takes me a year to smoke a tin, then I'm clearly not enjoying that particular blend!)
Bob
I'm sure there are numerous methods for rehydrating your tobacco that will work and yes, it is best to avoid having it dry out in the first place. I simply put a few drops of distilled water directly into the tin, more or less according to how much tobacco is there. This avoids the possibility of any mold forming on any humidifying device (or, God forbid, the proverbial apple slice!). After a day the tobacco usually feels somewhat wet and after two days it seems to become pliable and may be smoked. In some cases three days seems to be required for the best effect.
I keep all my open tins in plastic tupperware like containers that have an excellent seal. It will keep my open tins fresh for months like this. I am way too lazy to jar up open tins and since I have around 20 blends in my rotation going at the same time, my plastic containers work best for me. On the bottom shelf of the picture, you can see what types of containers I am talking about. I bought them at walmart,they come in a pack of 4 different sized ones.
As mentioned above: Yes, dread the apple slice. Apple slices are suggested at several internet sites
as a way to re-humidfy tobacco. Yup, I tried it. One tin and one jar survived, and we'll see how they
do. But several others became really moldy. Fortunately, it wasn't much tobacco, and nothing I really
liked. But, lesson learned. Just FYI, in case anyone wondered why apples slices are dreaded.
as a way to re-humidfy tobacco. Yup, I tried it. One tin and one jar survived, and we'll see how they
do. But several others became really moldy. Fortunately, it wasn't much tobacco, and nothing I really
liked. But, lesson learned. Just FYI, in case anyone wondered why apples slices are dreaded.
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