To Vac Or Not

[Frozenoak]

I received a new Foodsaver in the mail today, for saving food. I am also debating whether to vac seal my bulk tobacco. I have a couple options as I purchased the Jar Sealer accessory as well.

I currently re-pac all the bulks I receive without a box into 1/2 pint Kerr Smooth Wide Mouth jars using the threaded ring to capture the lid. And have been leaving the boxed bulk in the received condition, which is to say in their original bag, inside the box. My plan, if I decide to execute it, is to use the Jar Sealer Accessory to seal the jars and Mylar bags to seal the bulk and store them in their boxes both under vacuum. The other option is to package both in Jars and pull vacuum on them.

I am curios about the prevailing thoughts regarding vacuuming the tobacco. The major purpose for my cellar is aging and I believe oxygen retards aging until consumed but dues the tobacco need air to age? What are your thoughts on Vacuum Packing tobacco for Aging?

 

[3rdguy]

For bulks I vacuum seal just enough to get it fairly snug then seal. If it is a tin I put it on the “dry” setting and let it crank them down good. Been doing this for about 9 years now and never had an issue. I have a 1 1/2 lb bag of LTF going back every year for the last 7 years. Still tasty and needs to be dried a bit before smoking.
My 2 cents.

 

[gervais]

I choose to leave whatever oxygen is left in the jar and just tighten the lid. I think the air is beneficial and mason jars are a damn tight seal, so I don't worry anymore about air escaping. I use to believe that unless it's "vacuum" sealed then it's not truely airtight. But if you ever take the lids off your jars and look at the rubber on the lid, you'll see the rim imprint compressed the whole way around. I don't worry about a "vacuum seal" anymore. Just give the lid a good crank

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I wouldn't vacuum seal any of it. Oxygen is a key ingredient to the reactions that take place inside your container that results in positive aging results. What possible value is there in removing that minor amount of air/oxygen? No matter how much air/oxygen is in the container, there's still nowhere for the moisture in the tobacco to go.

 

[Rebub24]

Go ahead and use a vacuum sealer if that's what you prefer to do. Using a sealer and removing the oxygen isn't going to hurt the aging process of the tobacco, just make sure you don't crimp down on the tobacco and possibly crush it. If you're planning on cellaring either bulk or bags like the Esoterica packages, I would recommend using a vacuum sealer especially if your are trying to save on space. Mason jars take up a lot of room. And getting back to the aging process of tobacco, there are two types of fermentation which occur during this process: Aerobic and Anaerobic. Anaerobic is the process which people look for when cellaring because that is when the microbes present in the blend begin to consume the sugar.

 

[Frozenoak]

Thanks for the input. I think I have decided to just heat seal the boxed bulk into Mylar bags and continue with the jars as I have been. I may vac a few items just to see what happens but in general, I think I'm going to continue down the road I'm on.

 

[sandollars]

I use a VACUUM sealer on everything but my jars. It doesn't mean I actually vacuum out the air on anything but I do take out the excess air then seal manually.

Air is a good thing. Too much or not enough air we are being told is not a good thing for the aging process.

 

[SpookedPiper]

I received a new Foodsaver in the mail today, for saving food. I am also debating whether to vac seal my bulk tobacco. I have a couple options as I purchased the Jar Sealer accessory as well.

I currently re-pac all the bulks I receive without a box into 1/2 pint Kerr Smooth Wide Mouth jars using the threaded ring to capture the lid. And have been leaving the boxed bulk in the received condition, which is to say in their original bag, inside the box. My plan, if I decide to execute it, is to use the Jar Sealer Accessory to seal the jars and Mylar bags to seal the bulk and store them in their boxes both under vacuum. The other option is to package both in Jars and pull vacuum on them.

I am curios about the prevailing thoughts regarding vacuuming the tobacco. The major purpose for my cellar is aging and I believe oxygen retards aging until consumed but dues the tobacco need air to age? What are your thoughts on Vacuum Packing tobacco for Aging?

I tried vacuum sealing the jars and now they are stuck with suc-tion! It's pretty incredible how much force is needed to remove the lid. I used a tip of the fork to lift it because I was worried it was going to rip my nail off! The kicker is that I was having a grad time sealing everything that I figured what the heck..might as well seal my current rotation!

Dumbass....? haven't smoked in 3 days...good thing synjeco delivered on time!