The Reliability of Mason Jars for Long Term Aging/Storage

[olkofri]

Are you guys heating up the lids so that they stick, or are you just screwing the lids on like anything else?

The latter.

 

[B18]

Are you guys heating up the lids so that they stick, or are you just screwing the lids on like anything else?

In my opinion, if you heat the lid you deteriorate the rubber of the seals. Making the rubber dry at possibly crack it.

 

[gervais]

If you are wondering if the jars are sealed, then take the ring off and check to see if the lid comes off easily, or turn it upside down and shake it. If the tobacco comes out, it never set.

The brass ring that holds the lid on, is designed to merely hold it in place. No matter how tightly you crank it down, it will not make the jar lid tighter. So, if the tobacco doesn't use up the oxygen and seal the lid, it's never going to seal.

The ring is designed to merely hold the lid in place while under the mild pressure of a pressure cooker, which allows the air to escape easily. In instances of canning green beans accidentally under too much pressure, I have had all of the beans in a jar shoot out from under the lid and ring, leaving the beans floating in the cooker with the jars empty but the rings and lids undisturbed. It was like a weird magic trick.

That said, if a tiny bit of tobacco comes between the jar and lid, or the lid just never sets, or the tobacco just never starts eating up the oxygen as it ages, the lid will not set. Also, extreme fluctuations in temperature or pressure will unset a lid also.

I take the rings off of mine after they set, to make sure the lids all stay set. I can easily check by turning the jar upside down and shaking them.

Once sealed, the lids should stay sealed. I have never heard of a seal failing because of age.

So I have had several jars closed now for a month about, and I tried to take the ring off and the lid just fell off. Could it potentially take more time for the air to get used up and have the vacuum seal occur? The rim was free of debris and the indent around the lids rubber looked deep and tight, so I'm assuming it was still "airtight"

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I tried to take the ring off and the lid just fell off.

If the lid fell off, no it was not airtight. Was this bulk or did you empty a tin into a jar?

 

[gervais]

If the lid fell off, no it was not airtight. Was this bulk or did you empty a tin into a jar?

It was bulk flake Virginia

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It should have sealed. But, maybe try putting a couple of teaspoons of water in the jar, put the jar in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, just pour the water out (I'll leave the inside a little wet), and then repack the jar, and lid it.

I do this with used jars. You'll hear it pop in a few minutes, which is the lid sealing down. New jars seal more quickly, without a need to do this, but if you are using old jars, just make sure you are using a new lid each time.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The warmed air is expanded inside the jar, so when you lid it, and then the air cools, a vacuum has formed... similar to the way pressure canning works, except with less pressure.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Just a few months ago, I went to pop a jar of something that had been jarred from a tin. I had bought a half pound tin and wanted to separate it out to smaller jars, and it was a C&D product, kinda on the dry side. But, the lid just fell off when I picked it up. I checked a few other lids from the same batch by tilting the jars, and none of them had sealed. I assume it was lack of water in the blend, along with the fact that it was changing the atmosphere it was in that prevented it from sealing. It happens. I just did the microwave thing, and they are all still set.

If I had of relied on rings to hold the lids on, I probably wouldn't have checked them. But, all of the rest are easily checked just by moving them. I definitely want to know if a jar isn't sealed as quickly as possible. I don't want to open a jar from five to ten years of aging to find out that it never sealed and is as dry as a mummy fart.

 

[gervais]

Just a few months ago, I went to pop a jar of something that had been jarred from a tin. I had bought a half pound tin and wanted to separate it out to smaller jars, and it was a C&D product, kinda on the dry side. But, the lid just fell off when I picked it up. I checked a few other lids from the same batch by tilting the jars, and none of them had sealed. I assume it was lack of water in the blend, along with the fact that it was changing the atmosphere it was in that prevented it from sealing. It happens. I just did the microwave thing, and they are all still set.

If I had of relied on rings to hold the lids on, I probably wouldn't have checked them. But, all of the rest are easily checked just by moving them. I definitely want to know if a jar isn't sealed as quickly as possible. I don't want to open a jar from five to ten years of aging to find out that it never sealed and is as dry as a mummy fart.

So I am not a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but I was wondering if you could clear this up somehow for me. If the tobacco is too dry, it won't create a "vacuum seal" on the jar. But could the jar technically still be airtight and sealed even if the vacuum is not created? The reason I ask is because I have alot of dry goods like beans, rice and what not in mason jars, and not one of them have a stuck lid, which I'm assuming is from no moisture in the jar, but I'm thinking they could actually still be airtight. Again cosmic, hopefully it's not just me being too dense to understand the difference, but I would think that a jar can still be sealed, and not vacuum sealed.