Square tins and factory vacuum seal

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sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,832
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
These aren't a perfect seal. Round tins are better, but all of them slowly leak. The leakage is slow enough that they can be good for years, but they're not a perfect seal and eventually the contents will dry out. Put a few tins in a sealed bin, leave them for a few weeks, pop the lid off the bin and take a whiff. You'll be smelling tobacco. That's one reason that I keep all of my Latakia blends separated from the Virginias. You can run a metallic tape seal around the join to improve the seal, or bag them in heat sealed food storage bags. Or you can just jar the stuff.

 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
One thing I would dearly love to hear explained is how they vacuum seal the tins in the first place.
It's one of those things like a radial engine...I just can't get my head around how it works :roll:
Regards,
Jay.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,065
Carmel Valley, CA
I believe one way to create a small vacuum is to close the tin/jar under heat. When it cools, the air and moisture inside will compact, creating a bit of a vacuum. But for a factory run, I suspect it's pretty cool equipment that creates a vacuum around the whole tin before attaching a lid.

 

calabashed

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 10, 2015
160
4
See Russ' post about half way down this thread:

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/war-horse-tin-seal
Seems they just get closed at ambient pressure then stuck in a vacuum chamber.

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
When you guys say "radial engine", are you talking about the old-school aero engine, or that goofy-ass perversion of a rotary engine that Mazda fiddled around with for a while?

 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
"When you guys say "radial engine", are you talking about the old-school aero engine,"
Aldecaker, I was indeed referring to the aero engine, the one where the cylinders actually rotate.
Seems hellish too complicated for me to figure out quite how the damned thing works :roll:
Regards,
Jay.

 

toobfreak

Lifer
Dec 19, 2016
1,365
7
I've not investigated it, but by the sound of it, it just sounds like they rotate the cylinder around a fixed eccentric. Same result, just a different way of doing it.
As to the tins, I can't say I have ever had a problem with a square tin--- until after I opened it. Once open, they don't seem like they want to seal worth a damn. Probably why I try to avoid them.

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
The one where the bank of cylinders whirls around a fixed crankshaft is a rotary (such as in the WWI Sopwith Camel). A radial aircraft engine (such as in the B-17), by contrast, has a fixed bank(s) of cylinders, with the crankshaft rotating. A simple way to visualize it is this- one has the prop bolted to the crankcase. The other has the prop bolted to the crankshaft.
They can be a bit goofy to wrap your mind around at first (how do they actuate the valves? Where do they even keep the camshaft? What the shit?), but they are a fascinating powerplant. While not exactly intuitively obvious to the casual observer, they do represent the pinnacle of aviation engineering, IMO. Jets are for kids; radials are where it's at.

 

grouchydog

Can't Leave
Oct 16, 2013
413
1
...

Aldecaker, I was indeed referring to the aero engine, the one where the cylinders actually rotate.
Seems hellish too complicated for me to figure out quite how the damned thing works [:roll:]
The cylinders didn't rotate - there was/is a single-pin crankshaft on which rotates an articulated, radial connecting-rod assembly attached to all the pistons; basically a "master rod" with a split big end, and other rods attached inside its split big end. Hard to describe without images...

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
The cylinders of a rotary aero engine rotate.

The cylinders of a radial aero engine do not rotate.

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
I smoke a fair amount of OGS and MacBitey's Navy Flake, and I've never had any sealing issues with either of those in the square tin.

 
Jul 28, 2016
7,564
36,058
Finland-Scandinavia-EU
just have made an experiment with square tins,this is how I went: I did seal the tins around the joins using a plastic electric tape and ten put these two tins in a cettle with boiling water for bout 50 seconds, and tell you what:eek:bviously these tins got a flatter in their appearence asumably creating this way some more inside vacuum.But seriously this somewhat boyish playing around and was not necessarily perform in any sense, but who knows this measure migth have some advantages too in it,

 

beezer

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 12, 2013
618
743
Threads like this is what provoked me to seal my tins up in mylar bags for long term storage. It gave me some peace of mind even if perhaps a bit overkill.

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
No one knows. The charts are calibrated for Half a Bee, not Unladen Swallow. Some older engines, though, have conversions for Furlongs per Fortnight (fpf).

 
Jul 28, 2016
7,564
36,058
Finland-Scandinavia-EU
Jitterbugdude: I already did with one, the result was something alike but tidy bit in lesser degree than with square tin ones, now no more experiments on this, otherwise I consider myself being something not adult but oddball''whos has too much speartime

 
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