Storage of Tobacco Long Term

[realypk]

So I only recently got into smoking and have bought a bunch of tins trying many different types. I smoke at most once per day so itll take me a while to get through it all.... some of em i wasnt a huge fan of right out of the tin but ive heard aging changes taste somtimes.

So my friend told me just take it out of the tin and put it in a mason jar and leave it. That simple. Is it true? Can i just vaccume pack the tins so i dont need to store a buncha fragile glass jars? How long can i leave tabacco in a tin thats been opened and just screwed shut before it goes bad?

Thank you for teaching a newb!!

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

If where you're storing it has some reasonable humidity, it should be fine for a month or two. I assume by vacuum sealing you mean you're going to use plastic wrap and a good sealer. That should be good for a year or two, maybe longer. For really long term, use mason jars. You could also buy some 7 mil mylar bags and put the tobacco, or the entire tin, in the mylar bag and heat seal it.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

️

 

[realypk]

My only potential issue with mason jars is.... kids & cats. Ive had bad experiences with those and glass. Also plan on moving in a few years. Currently i live in a fairly humid environment.

Yea I have a foodsaver type vaccume sealer i was thinking of using.

How long would mylar bags sealed using an inpact sealer last? Also would i need to boil the mason jars to seal them like i would making jellies? Or just insert tabacco and screw shut tight?

 

[kcghost]

I buy my tobacco in tins and have been doing it for a real long time - 20+ years and they are still fine. For bulk I would concur on mason jars.

 

[boston]

I use vacuum sealed mason jars for open or compromised tins and for bulk. I vacuum seal flat tins in food saver bags... probably ocd...no offense intended for ocd folks. I do not use those food saver bags to hold and seal tobacco because remarkably the tobacco will dry out despite a good seal. Amazing, but true.

 

[realypk]

I buy my tobacco in tins and have been doing it for a real long time - 20+ years and they are still fine. For bulk I would concur on mason jars.

Even with tins youve opened?

I use vacuum sealed mason jars for open or compromised tins and for bulk. I vacuum seal flat tins in food saver bags... probably ocd...no offense intended for ocd folks. I do not use those food saver bags to hold and seal tobacco because remarkably the tobacco will dry out despite a good seal. Amazing, but true.

Vaccume seal mason jars? How? You vaccume seal unopened tins?

I saw mylar bags discussed in another thread.

 

[DanWil84]

Even with tins youve opened?

Vaccume seal mason jars? How? You vaccume seal unopened tins?

I saw mylar bags discussed in another thread.

I think this works

https://amzn.to/3plxtrC

I open tins and leave them in the tin, you can rehydrate tobacco easily if you want. I live in a generally dry environment, so my tins get to smoking dryness quite good.

 

[Peter Turbo]

tins and mason jar storage is fine as long as the place you keep them is cool and dry. my B&M i buy tins from is basically a walk in humidor and his old tins (between 5-10years) have quite a bit of rust because the humidity in the shop is quite high. luckily i was able to rescue a lot of those old rusty tins.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Well, not hot and not humid! Tobacco storage doesn't need the same tight conditions as some other natural foods/leaves/medicine.

 

[captpat]

I've not experienced any issues with unopened tins losing their seal, so I don't vacuum seal unopened tins unless there's evidence of a breach. Some Solani tins are not sealed, by design, so their contents need to be repackaged if not consumed right away. Mason jars work great, they're relatively inexpensive, reusable, don't require any special process to use, and are nearly unbreakable. I predominantly use mason jars to store opened tins that I'm not going to smoke up right away or stuff I've tried but think it might be improved with age. Recently I've been storing my bulk purchases in mylar bags that I vacuum pack, primarily because the bags don't take as much room as mason jars -- besides it's another use for my vacuum packer. People say that mylar bags seal as well as mason jars, so far so good in my experience.

 

[realypk]

Thanks for all the input guys!!! I think ill start trying mylar bags for the bigger stuff and small mason jars for the more expensive opener tins. May experiment with leaving some of the cheaper stuff in the tin even when opened to see how that goes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Once you open a tin, I would advise you to put it in a jar for long term. Also, if you open tins and then put them into bags or jars, they’re yours for the most part. If you decide to sell them, not many of us will buy stuff in jars or bags, so you’ll be greatly reducing your market, if you decide to quit for whatever reason. I know that I (and have seen many posts by others) would never buy a jar or bag of something, and still more wouldn’t pay premium prices for said jars or bags. Too many people open and close jars to trust someome’s “best practices” for aging.
Some will, but that reduces the size of the net you’d be casting if you were to sell. YMMV

 

[kcghost]

I only have 3 tins open at any time and they are consumed in a two week period. When they are consumed I open another 3 tins.

 

[btp79]

If mason jars end up a poor choice for long term storage, then I'm screwed lol.

 

[realypk]

Once you open a tin, I would advise you to put it in a jar for long term. Also, if you open tins and then put them into bags or jars, they’re yours for the most part. If you decide to sell them, not many of us will buy stuff in jars or bags, so you’ll be greatly reducing your market, if you decide to quit for whatever reason. I know that I (and have seen many posts by others) would never buy a jar or bag of something, and still more wouldn’t pay premium prices for said jars or bags. Too many people open and close jars to trust someome’s “best practices” for aging.
Some will, but that reduces the size of the net you’d be casting if you were to sell. YMMV

This makes good sense, yea i wont open everything just to open it. Im trying to discover many different kinds while tabacco is still relatively cheap and then stock up on the stuff i like in bulk. But its a bit wasteful to have 2-3 bowls and let it turn to dust. So ill be trying to preserve the tins i open for longer term personal use and then bulk of the stuff i like will be preserved or unopened tins.

I only have 3 tins open at any time and they are consumed in a two week period. When they are consumed I open another 3 tins.

Haha wow how many bowls a day do you smoke atm? I max smoke maybe 2x per day and can see a tin lasting me a good month... takes me a good long while to get through one while im outside.... maybe im doing something wrong lol

 

[timt]

Also plan on moving in a few years.

This is a thought I deal with too. Packing up a ton of jars and moving them is something to take into consideration. Or, if I get to live a life of a vagabond like I dream about.....then what?

 

[realypk]

Glass and moving is a constant fear of mine.... ive had some horrific experiences involving shards of glass everywhere in boxes even though they were well packed and bubble wrapped. Moving companies can really stink... it would be especially sad with a large bulk buy of good stuff.

 

[trouttimes]

Mylar heat sealed. Come on…it’s the 21st century.

 

[hawky454]

If I had a re-do I would go with all mylar. The 7mil mylar will last just as long as the jars but it’s just a better set up in my opinion. If you do get the 7mil, your food saver will not be able to seal them (at least mine didn’t) I had to buy a hair straightener which works perfect for sealing the bags, sure beats spending $250 and up for a commercial sealer.

And agree with Cosmic, I wouldn’t open a tin just to jar it or put it in mylar, I only store bulk or opened tins in jars. That being said I have at least 300 plus jars full of tobacco right now. I only got turned on to mylar a couple of years ago and my cellar is complete.