Tins or Mason Jars???

[metalheadycigarguy]

Being that I'm still pretty new to the hobby of pipes I have a dumb question. Since it's seems to be canning season, I found some mason jars on sale at the local store. I bought 16, 8 oz jars to use for storing my pipe tobacco. So my question is this:
Is it better to leave my un-opened tobacco in the sealed tins or to open them and then store them in the mason jars? I've heard that some tins aren't sealed air tight and others are, so I'm curious which is a better way to store my pipe tobacco. My tins are a mix of aromatics and non-aromatics.
Any suggestions or comments are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[crk69]

If it's a blend that you smoke often, I usually leave it in the tin and smoke it up. With all of my large tobacco purchases, I usually put them into jars. If you are concerned about the tins drying out, might want to look for the airtight jars that you can find at stores like walmart. I have several tins in them, and keep like styles of tobacco together in them so they dont "marry"..

 

[pipedreams101]

long term storage....mason jars. everyday smoke..just leave it in the tin. no harm.

 

[judcole]

If the tin has not been opened, leave it in the tin. There is no reason to open a sealed tin of tobacco to put it in a jar if it is just going to be stored. My cellar is loaded with unopened tins.

Once the tin has been opened to smoke, of course, it's a different story. If it's going to be lasting you a while, then you could jar it.
As for aros, everything I have ever read says they do not improve with age, so smoke 'em any time. I barely smoke the things, so have no direct experience.

 

[damnyak]

I prefer to dump into jars right away, I have some nice squat jars and teh tobacco look great in them, and you know its sealed.

 

[topd]

I'm with Jud. I have 'non-aero' tobaccos that have been in the tin for over 20 years, and have never

opened one to find it bad or dried out. I have read all my smoking carrier that good tobaccos improve

with age in the tin, but it's hard to tell with mine. The ones I buy were so dang good in the first place!

 

[theotherspace]

To be honest I just leave it in the tin, but then I tend to smoke it once I open it! So ageing is never an issue. I have to agree with Jud, ifbthevtin is unopened store it as is, unless you are concerned about corrosion due to damage or condition. If you open it and decide to age it then place it in the jar.

 

[taerin]

I tend to just throw them in my airtight jars with gaskets right away and label them so that it is ready to go.

 

[strave19]

Jud has it. Also, the round tins that McClelland/GLP/C&D use are sure to be sealed. The square ones and MacBaren or Escudo type have been hit or miss for me if they are absolutely sealed or not.
Keep your unopened tins sealed until you want to sample or smoke them. The tobacco will age best if kept under sealed anaerobic conditions, once you open them to jar them you've exposed them to a bunch more oxygen that will halt/alter the aging until the aerobic critters use up all that O2. I've had tins bulge with CO2 after a couple of years which means that there is some good stuff happening in there that you wont get (or will greatly delay by a year or 5) if you expose it to air to jar it!
Once you just have to sample or you want to smoke the tin. Open it, and if you're planning to finish the tin in the next month or 2 you can probably leave the tobacco in the tin and smoke away. Or - you can take 3/4 of the tin (or however much you want) and jar it, leaving you 1/2oz or so to smoke soon. The rest of the tobacco wont dry out and, if left long enough, will continue to age (albeit differently than it would have in the original tin due to the new oxygen).
If you buy bulk then by all means jar it right away but keep some out to smoke so you're not always opening the jar. If you're going to jar something and expecting benefits from age, it should sit in there sealed for a minimum of 6mo if you want any aging to occur. Otherwise you're just preventing moisture loss (which can be fine) if you're constantly exposing it to fresh O2. IMO of course... It depends on your goals.
Heavy lat and aromatic blends will benefit the least from aging.
GLP goes into this a lot on his website.
edit: sorry long-winded

 

[garyovich]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have a related question. Sealed tins, no doubt about it, I leave them sealed. But I'm undecided about tins that were never sealed airtight and the bacco is inside in a sealed bag. Specifically the 5 tins each of Pete's special reserve and summertime I just received. The bags aren't really sealed, they appear to just be taped. Obviously being aros I'm not concerned about aging, but I do plan on staggering the tins out over an undecided period of time. I'm leaning toward taking the bags out of the tins and placing them in mason jars without removing the bacco from the bags Your thoughts?

 

[mluyckx]

Gary: I have an open tin of Peterson 2011 Holiday blend that's been open since Thanksgiving. I had a bowl last weekend and it was just fine. Once I open a tin, I just put the tin in a tupperware container by itself.
Pop tin, smoke a couple of bowls, get a sealable plastic square container, put tin in, close lid. When needed or when you want to take the tin with you, just open container and off we go. It works for me. No need for jars to have 1 or 2 Oz. in it. Besides I like taking the tins with me.

 

[lankfordjl]

Unopened tobacco stays stored in their tins. Once I open a tin, I usually smoke it - If it takes me too long to smoke the entire tin then I may have to rehydrate the tobacco, which is not a problem. I only use mason jars for bulk tobacco.

 

[garyovich]

@mick-thanks for the reply, putting the tin inside Tupperware is a solid suggestion
@lankfordjl-I agree 100% on tins that seal, these don't really seal, they kind of "snap"

 

[whitebriar]

i jar everything right away--i do have two tins unopened--they came to me with some age on 'em already so i'm sort of experimenting with them--everything else; in the glass--

 

[shawn622]

If I open a tin, I put the entire tin in a zip lock baggie. I have a tin i opened on July 14th that is as moist as the day I opened it. It is not aging like it would if it were in an unopened tin or if I put it in a mason jar and didn't touch it for a couple years.. I have done a lot of research on how tobacco gets better with age and its exactly the same as wine. A small amount of fermentation keeps going on if not exposed to oxygen. The fermentation is why the tins bulge. There is natural yeast in with the tobacco that consumes the sugars. The byproduct is co2 and alcohol. Not a lot, but enough to give the aged tobacco an more robust and earthy smell and flavor. I just opened a tin of MacBarens Navy Flake from 04 and it was noticeably better than new tins. The reason I store my open tins in zip lock bags is because it would be useless to jar them up. I am going to be smoking the open tins. They are my tobacco rotation. The zip lock just helps keep it moist. If I open a tin and think it will be better in a couple of years, I jar it up and forget about it so it will start aging again and hopefully be better. That's what my research has taught me. Correct me if I'm wrong as I always want to learn more.

 

[pipeinhand]

I put everything in a jar as soon as it is opened. But unopened stays like it is. One note about Tupperware, do not use it for storing tobacco as is. Two things will happen, ghost your Tupperware with tobacco and ghost your tobacco with Tupperware, BTDT long ago.

 

[daytonsean]

I keep two smokes in Jars; Blue Note and 1Q. Those are really the only regulars I buy in bulk. Everything else just stays in the tin as I smoke it. Obviously the aro stuff I buy I smoke it as it comes. The Lat blends I've bought I don't worry about losing to dryness, because, I smoke them everyday.

 

[photoman13]

Rothnh you have a lot of pipe and tobacco wisdom. I'm glad your here with us.

 

[cigrmaster]

I store my open tins in a large tupperware container that is air tight. That will keep my tins fresh for weeks on end. I take my sealed tins and put them in a large plastic container that is in a cool dark place. I never let the sun get at them. All my bulk tobacco's I store in large plastic jars that have a bale top and a silicone gasket. I buy them at Walmart and they ain't cheap( the large one is 7 bucks and holds 2 pounds). I have found that even after 12 years the tobacco stays perfect. I don't use any bale tops that have rubber gaskets because I have had them go bad after 7 or 8 years.

 

[johncorosz]

I found several plastic containers that have locking sides and a rubber gasket at the Dollar Tree store. I highly recommend them to tobacco lovers who like to save up the baccy and blend at home. They are a dollar each and work better than anything I have tried except a mason jar but the jar is heavy and you need a special space to put them. The plastic containers stack easy and you peel the labels off of them when you need them for something else. I even put a little chapstick on the gasket assuring me of a true seal.