Vacuum Sealed and Well Aged

[Searock Fan]

No ALL CAPS!!

About 10 years ago I used our kitchen vacuum sealer to bag up some tobacco for long term storage. I smoked it all up (or so I thought) about 3 or 4 years ago. The other day I found a bag that I have overlooked all this time. It was P.S., E.O.S.. (Don't you hate it when someone uses initials instead of words and you can't figure out what the hell they're talking about? But, that's for another thread). Any way, it was Peter Stokkebye, English Oriental Supreme. I cut it open and what I had was a solid brick, slightly day, and hard enough to drive nails. Let's cut to the chase, how did it smoke? Actually, I'm sorry to say, no improvement. Just slightly drier than I like and seems to have lost some flavor. Smokeable, but not as good as it used to be. Now we know....

 

[Old Millwright]

Good to know. I thought about the wife's vacuum sealer but right now I'm just getting started with some glass jars.

 

[sablebrush52]

If you used clear Mylar, it doesn’t offer much protection because it’s permeable. Contents will dry out over time. For long term storage you need to use metallized Mylar, which is non permeable.

 

[MRW]

No ALL CAPS!!

About 10 years ago I used our kitchen vacuum sealer to bag up some tobacco for long term storage. I smoked it all up (or so I thought) about 3 or 4 years ago. The other day I found a bag that I have overlooked all this time. It was P.S., E.O.S.. (Don't you hate it when someone uses initials instead of words and you can't figure out what the hell they're talking about? But, that's for another thread). Any way, it was Peter Stokkebye, English Oriental Supreme. I cut it open and what I had was a solid brick, slightly day, and hard enough to drive nails. Let's cut to the chase, how did it smoke? Actually, I'm sorry to say, no improvement. Just slightly drier than I like and seems to have lost some flavor. Smokeable, but not as good as it used to be. Now we know....

Well, that was disappointing for sure!

 

[Homer]

I noticed today that some of my unopened Samuel Gawith tins were actually easy to open and not vacuumed at all.
Are all Samuel Gawith tins vacuumed?
If so my navy flake and KC flake tins have lost the vacuum before I even got them.
I don’t have any space for jarring all my tobacco so I thouht that I might vacuum seal them in plastic bags.

 

[vosBghos]

I noticed today that some of my unopened Samuel Gawith tins were actually easy to open and not vacuumed at all.
Are all Samuel Gawith tins vacuumed?
If so my navy flake and KC flake tins have lost the vacuum before I even got them.
I don’t have any space for jarring all my tobacco so I thouht that I might vacuum seal them in plastic bags.

General consensus concerning SG and GH without starting another long winded thread is smoke em or Jar em immediately.

They started using using different tins around Covid and the new tins are not meant for long term storage (ageing)...

Still some of the best baccy on earth.

 

[huckleberry]

This may be somewhat off topic, but, can you use a food saver vacuum to seal Mylar bags? Please excuse if OT

 

[ThermionicScott]

I noticed today that some of my unopened Samuel Gawith tins were actually easy to open and not vacuumed at all.
Are all Samuel Gawith tins vacuumed?
If so my navy flake and KC flake tins have lost the vacuum before I even got them.
I don’t have any space for jarring all my tobacco so I thouht that I might vacuum seal them in plastic bags.

The story as I understand it is that in 2020 or 2021, the tins GH&Co had been using went out of production, and they had to scramble to find a replacement. Those didn’t hold a seal as well, so the plastic wrap was added around them. They switched to yet another supplier last year, and I’ve heard those are holding up better.

A tin with a healthy vacuum (not truly a vacuum but somewhere around half of atmospheric pressure) will be noticeably concave at the lid and bottom. If I receive one with a lid that’s more or less flat, I’ll crack it open and jar it. But the ones with that good “sucked-in” appearance, I’m pretty comfortable just putting in the cellar and planning to check again periodically.

 

[gawithhoggarth]

The story is that GH/SG tins have never been made for long term storage. Our tobacco is and always has been made to smoke, not store for years and years.

GH tins were not actually historically vacuum sealed. That's a relatively new thing in the last 15 years or so.

ALL GH tins and SG tins are vacuum sealed. A tin does not have to be concave to be sealed. Just because a tin does not need a tool or massive amount of strength to open, does not mean it is not sealed. This is just a misconception.

In around 2018 the tin manufacturer we had historically used was bought out by another company and stopped making the tins. We spent ages trying to find a new tin supplier, we visited various manufacturers, even looked to try and bring in house as such. There were no real viable options. Eventually with much R&D we worked with the current manufacturer to develop the current tins in around 2020/21. It seals well. It has a thick rubber seal inside that ensures the tin lid fits well and the tobacco remains fresh. You can take the lid off and put it back on and its fairly well sealed. You could not do this with the old tins.

The plastic wrap is an anti-tamper seal so that you know the tin has not been tampered with before you get it. This has become more and more important as there were reports of people going into shops and testing lids, wanting to smell or see the tobacco and then putting the lid back on and putting it back on the shelf. Plus there is a larger and larger problem with possible counterfeit tobacco out there and being sold online etc. This way as long as the tin is sealed with the plastic strip we can be fairly confident it is our tobacco. Along with appropriate health warnings, tax stamps and new security measures coming in.

 

[Homer]

The story is that GH/SG tins have never been made for long term storage. Our tobacco is and always has been made to smoke, not store for years and years.

GH tins were not actually historically vacuum sealed. That's a relatively new thing in the last 15 years or so.

ALL GH tins and SG tins are vacuum sealed. A tin does not have to be concave to be sealed. Just because a tin does not need a tool or massive amount of strength to open, does not mean it is not sealed. This is just a misconception.

In around 2018 the tin manufacturer we had historically used was bought out by another company and stopped making the tins. We spent ages trying to find a new tin supplier, we visited various manufacturers, even looked to try and bring in house as such. There were no real viable options. Eventually with much R&D we worked with the current manufacturer to develop the current tins in around 2020/21. It seals well. It has a thick rubber seal inside that ensures the tin lid fits well and the tobacco remains fresh. You can take the lid off and put it back on and its fairly well sealed. You could not do this with the old tins.

The plastic wrap is an anti-tamper seal so that you know the tin has not been tampered with before you get it. This has become more and more important as there were reports of people going into shops and testing lids, wanting to smell or see the tobacco and then putting the lid back on and putting it back on the shelf. Plus there is a larger and larger problem with possible counterfeit tobacco out there and being sold online etc. This way as long as the tin is sealed with the plastic strip we can be fairly confident it is our tobacco. Along with appropriate health warnings, tax stamps and new security measures coming in.

My tins has Kolhhase KOPP stickers (importer to Germany maybe), but no plastic wrap or rubber seal.
Maybe the tins were opened at the shop.
The tins were so easy to open that I am pretty sure that the vacuum was lost.
In the future I will use food vacuum sealer to wrap my boxes that I am not going to open anytime soon.

 

[Mike N]

No ALL CAPS!!

About 10 years ago I used our kitchen vacuum sealer to bag up some tobacco for long term storage. I smoked it all up (or so I thought) about 3 or 4 years ago. The other day I found a bag that I have overlooked all this time. It was P.S., E.O.S.. (Don't you hate it when someone uses initials instead of words and you can't figure out what the hell they're talking about? But, that's for another thread). Any way, it was Peter Stokkebye, English Oriental Supreme. I cut it open and what I had was a solid brick, slightly day, and hard enough to drive nails. Let's cut to the chase, how did it smoke? Actually, I'm sorry to say, no improvement. Just slightly drier than I like and seems to have lost some flavor. Smokeable, but not as good as it used to be. Now we know....

The universal idea that all things get better with age finally debunked!

 

[gawithhoggarth]

My tins has Kolhhase KOPP stickers (importer to Germany maybe), but no plastic wrap or rubber seal.
Maybe the tins were opened at the shop.
The tins were so easy to open that I am pretty sure that the vacuum was lost.
In the future I will use food vacuum sealer to wrap my boxes that I am not going to open anytime soon.

This is because previously Kopp put on their own tax stamps so we could not band them or they had to take the bands off to put the tax stamps on. Now everything is done in house. The rubber seal is inside the tin so every tin has this. The tins are manufactured and come with the seal on the lid. Impossible not to have this. The tins are not always hard to open but are still all sealed.

 

[Homer]

Thank you for help.
I am not trying to age tobacco. I am just trying to keep the tobacco as good as possible. In Finland pipe tobacco is ridiculoisly expensive and that’s why I buy lot of pipe tobacco when I travel to countrys where it’s cheaper. Next week I go to Canary Islands and there is much more selection and prices are 1/3 of the prices in Finland.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Thanks for the clarification, Rachel @gawithhoggarth . I'll update my notes.

 

[kcghost]

It does happen that a tobacco doesn't improve with age. Looks like you found one.