Vinegar Note

[Pipke]

Seattle Pipe Club's Plum Pudding seems like a popular blend, so I bought a tin to check it out. I rubbed about an ounce of it into a small mason jar, and after smoking some of it I set the jar aside. A month later I open the jar and got a pretty strong vinegar whiff that I didn't smell before.

Now, I heard about vinegar odors in tobacco, and I'm not freaking out thinking my tobacco is spoiled. I'm more inclined to just wait and see what develops. I have a couple of questions.

1. Is my sample of Plum Pudding just fermenting in the jar?
2. Is this a normal symptom of aging tobacco?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Vinegar finds itself in tobacco in one of two ways...

it is formed by a bacterial infection while the tobacco is in the fermenting stage. This creates a very pleasant tangy affect in the tobacco that can also strengthen the sweetness of the smoke. I have played around with doing this with my own curing of homegrown. It doesn't take too long to form, once infected. It can create a different type of acetic flavor depending on what type of tobacco it is formed in. It can either smell and taste catsupy or smell like horse shit.
or...
It can also get into tobacco by lazy blenders who just spray it on, which makes for a terrible smoke, IMO. But, it good as a mold inhibitor. Personally, I am not fond of this method.

 

[greeneyes]

Vinegar finds itself in tobacco in one of two ways...

it is formed by a bacterial infection while the tobacco is in the fermenting stage. This creates a very pleasant tangy affect in the tobacco that can also strengthen the sweetness of the smoke. I have played around with doing this with my own curing of homegrown. It doesn't take too long to form, once infected. It can create a different type of acetic flavor depending on what type of tobacco it is formed in. It can either smell and taste catsupy or smell like horse shit.
or...
It can also get into tobacco by lazy blenders who just spray it on, which makes for a terrible smoke, IMO. But, it good as a mold inhibitor. Personally, I am not fond of this method.

I was reading the recipes for old British tobaccos, like St. Bruno, that are available in the tobacco archives. The recipes are all coded, with the ingredients having code names. But there is a master document with all the codes written in.

Long story short, vinegar (glacial acetic acid) is in a lot more tobacco than you'd think.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

is in a lot more tobacco than you'd think.

I am aware. But, there are many vastly different types of vinegar. Distilled vinegar, which is almost toxic levels of acetic acids. Malt vinegars, and vinegars made from just about anything that ferments.
But, it can also easily be made from tobacco, which is the one that makes the most sense, but requires more knowledge of tobacco curing/fermenting processes than most pipe tobacco blenders are aware of.

 

[Hillcrest]

It can either smell and taste catsupy

So that's what that is ... interesting ... I've had that taste in a few aros usually at the bottom third of the bowl ... good to know ! Thanks.

 

[kcghost]

If it was McClelland's I would say its normal for their Virginia's but being SPC Plum Pudding I'd say it is most likely something that they put on it.