Tobacco Storage Questions

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Samuel Perez

Lurker
Dec 26, 2022
42
80
Hey people! I was very interested in knowing how do you store tobacco, where do you store tobacco you smoke regularly? Is it aged? I was wondering this because i have some new tobacco and i have seen a lot of people storing new tobacco on mason jars immediately, what do they smoke regularly now that they have to wait 5+ years to the tobacco to age, thanks
 
  • Like
Reactions: chopper

Piping Abe

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 27, 2021
604
1,695
North Dakota, USA
Store your tobacco in mason jars or mylar bags to retain its moisture. Open the jars or mylar whenever you want to smoke that tobacco. Do not worry about aging tobacoo since you are a new smoker.

Mason jars are heavy and are glass. Mylar is light. I use the standard ziploc closure on my mylar bags. No issues so far. Try both, see what you prefer.
 

Samuel Perez

Lurker
Dec 26, 2022
42
80
Mason jars for storage. Smaller jars, tubs, tins, or pouches for everyday use.

Pro tip: get wide mouth mason jars and just cut the plastic off the top of the box for sturdier storage in the original box.
And the tobacco put on the little containers is brand new tins or tobacco from your cellar?
 

gervais

Lifer
Sep 4, 2019
2,208
7,767
40
Ontario
Hey people! I was very interested in knowing how do you store tobacco, where do you store tobacco you smoke regularly? Is it aged? I was wondering this because i have some new tobacco and i have seen a lot of people storing new tobacco on mason jars immediately, what do they smoke regularly now that they have to wait 5+ years to the tobacco to age, thanks
It sounds like you will want to split it up into separate jars. Fill some for aging and put them to rest, and fill a jar/bag that you plan on opening to smoke from!
 

Samuel Perez

Lurker
Dec 26, 2022
42
80
I moved everything I had in mason jars which isn't much, I think 22 pounds or so, into mylar bags. I keep out about 1/2 pounds of my favorite blends (5 or so) in mason jars easily accessible on my pipe cabinet.
So basically your “daily” tobacco is on mason jars and the tobacco in those mason jars is from your cellar tins?
 
  • Like
Reactions: gervais

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
10,340
41,838
RTP, NC. USA
Don't think too much into cellaring. It just means putting unopened tins away to smoke later. I used to put them on my bookshelves. Then it became too clustered. So I put them in old plastic bin. Now I don't even take them out of shipping box. You don't even have to think about aging them. Unlike wine, no right way to store the tin. As matter of fact, you don't have to think about tobacco at all. They will accumulate all by themselves as long as you have credit card and membership to this forum. You will take out your credit card without thinking when there's a new release of some blend!
 

Val

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 18, 2019
143
334
I use ball jars both for what I’m currently dipping into as well as for long term storage. Mylar is interesting and I have considered it, but to the best of my knowledge no one knows the long term ie,10,15,20 year or more storage results of Mylar.
 

boston

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 27, 2018
561
1,284
Boston
Don't think too much into cellaring. It just means putting unopened tins away to smoke later. I used to put them on my bookshelves. Then it became too clustered. So I put them in old plastic bin. Now I don't even take them out of shipping box. You don't even have to think about aging them. Unlike wine, no right way to store the tin. As matter of fact, you don't have to think about tobacco at all. They will accumulate all by themselves as long as you have credit card and membership to this forum. You will take out your credit card without thinking when there's a new release of some blend!
On storage, a friend of mine had boxes of tins in his cellar. Here in New England, many old homes have periodically wet basements and his was not an exception. And many of his tins had developed exterior rust.

There is no way I have found to prevent interior rust - as was common with some older GLP blends in the narrow tins, and with some other brands as well; so, I jarred the old GLP's and keep my fingers crossed with others like the old rectangular Bengal Slices, Penzance, and Krumble Kake. I will note I have not had that problem with any Mccelland tins.

In any case, one can fight back against exterior rust. And doing so can make good sense in the longer term - some of these tins become rare and valuable for trading or selling. I have a dehumidifier in my basement, and the temps are fairly stable / cool. I went over the top (likely) by using vacuum seal food saver bags on all my rectangular tins...thinking that maybe the vacuum pressure will mitigate some risk of those tins coming unsealed. And I sealed up my round screw top tins (Dunhill, Esoterica, etc) as well - less necessary with those because of the threads but I apparently had too much time on my hands when I did it. I did not seal up any of my Mccelland tins or Rattray's tins with the pull tops.

My long-winded point is that humidity is probably not a friend for cellaring, and significant temperature fluctuations / extremes may not be either; I do not store tins in my attic because it gets super-hot in the summer.
 

Samuel Perez

Lurker
Dec 26, 2022
42
80
Great thanks! And when you are going to age do you keep the tobacco on tins? They age that way?
Don't think too much into cellaring. It just means putting unopened tins away to smoke later. I used to put them on my bookshelves. Then it became too clustered. So I put them in old plastic bin. Now I don't even take them out of shipping box. You don't even have to think about aging them. Unlike wine, no right way to store the tin. As matter of fact, you don't have to think about tobacco at all. They will accumulate all by themselves as long as you have credit card and membership to this forum. You will take out your credit card without thinking when there's a new release of some blend!
 
My tins fill a cabinet in my smoking room, and my oldest jars fill a cabinet in my studio, where it is temperature controlled year round, and I have boxes of jars that fill a closet in my smoking room also. I also have bags of whole leaf stacked in coolers in the barn awaiting to be made into twists. But, I’m waiting for it to just set for another year, before spending a weekend making the twists.
All in all, about +\- 400lbs.