Warm Tobacco Storage Conditions

[tobefrank]

Summer has well and truly started with this December already earmarked to be the hottest December on record here in Perth, Western Australia.

With multiple 40 C (104F) days in a row and no aircon in our house, I’m a bit worried that my tobacco is no longer stored in cool and dark conditions.

I’m wondering if this may have negative effects on the tobacco such as increasing the chance of mold. Maybe it is not such a problem if it happens occasionally? What are your thoughts?

 

[BROBS]

I only store tobacco long term in our cellar that ranges from 60-65 degrees F.

warmth will cause it to spoil faster.

 

[diamondback]

The crew that built our house put the vents in some weird locations. Like in a master bathroom closet :-/ Anyway, my cellar is that same closet and I’m able to keep it around 70F year round. Sometimes I’ll fully or partly block the vent, depending. And I keep a good digital thermometer/hygrometer in there. Door closed sealed during showers.

Oh, yes, try as much as reasonable to keep it ~70F is my understanding.

 

[Mr.Mike]

In you can't find a cool dark place you could always dig a trash can root cellar. Dig a hole to fit a trash can or similar container that won't let water in (a 5 gallon bucket might be deep enough) flush with the ground so you can open it up without digging. Cover the top with a piece of wood. I did this to store apples from my apple tree and it worked great. I filled the dead space with newspaper.

 

[cortezattic]

The heat will encourage mold, and day/night temperature cycling will eventually weaken the seal on tinned tobacco. My initial response would be to buy a refrigerator for storage, but set the thermostat to it's warmest setting. Hopefully you can keep it no colder than 60° or so. Too cold, and condensation inside the tins will cause them to rust from the inside - out.

You might also experiment with drying all your tobacco, and rehydrating it only as needed. Could be interesting.

 

[BROBS]

Winter conditions in my cellar.

 

[5star]

I have one small room with electric heat and A/C where I keep cigars and pipe tobacco. Temps vary from -8F to 104F during the year. But, one wonders what methods were used in the past. Given the 500 year history of tobacco use Europe, they must have come up with some solutions.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I have one small room with electric heat and A/C where I keep cigars and pipe tobacco. Temps vary from -8F to 104F during the year. But, one wonders what methods were used in the past. Given the 500 year history of tobacco use Europe, they must have come up with some solutions.

Probably underground where the temp is consistent, like a root cellar.

 

[mso489]

I think low humidity is most important, then keeping tobacco as cool as possible in hot weather. A few inexpensive thermometers may tell you what is the coolest available spot for storage. If you have a quantity of tobacco, you may want to see if you can store it elsewhere, with family or a friend, for example.

 

[greeneyes]

Dig a hole to fit a trash can or similar container that won't let water in (a 5 gallon bucket might be deep enough) flush with the ground so you can open it up without digging.

Is this outside? I imagine if he did that in rural Australia, all the added protection in terms of poisonous snakes and spiders that will make a home on his tobacco will probably keep them nice and safe. From everyone.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Is this outside? I imagine if he did that in rural Australia, all the added protection in terms of poisonous snakes and spiders that will make a home on his tobacco will probably keep them nice and safe. From everyone.

Haha yea. However the lid should keep them out.

 

[Waning Embers]

all the added protection in terms of poisonous snakes and spiders that will make a home on his tobacco will probably keep them nice and safe. From everyone.

Maybe not from me.?

 

[TinCup]

No idea what the time scale for spoil/mould would be
I've had tobacco in a drawer for three years regularly at 100 degrees and high humidity and its fine (this is in a country where the humidity destroys metal, plastic, leather, fabrics etc etc but tobacco seems fine)

 

[tobefrank]

Thanks for all the responses. I’m sitting here in my underwear because of the heat while writing this message. I think the answer is to just get some aircon installed.
????

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Thanks for all the responses. I’m sitting here in my underwear because of the heat while writing this message. I think the answer is to just get some aircon installed.
????

I would get the air conditioning so you can be comfortable. In this case, you can kill two birds with one stone.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The reason I keep mine cool isn’t so much for the tobaccos sake, but to help prevent the tins and tops on my jars from rusting any quicker than they have to.

Pipestud once posted that he had a friend who aged his tobacco in a warm window. Over 100F for long periods should stove it to a sweet black color, quicker than those of us who keep ours cool.

Whether or not it molds is out of your hands now. 60-75F isn’t going to do much to prevent mold... unless there’s some unusual knowledge of mold in general I don’t know about. But, if you’re stowing away quality tobacco that has used a good inhibitor... then you should be good.

Keeping it so hot wouldn’t be a #1 choice for storing jars and tins, especially for a long haul on aging.,, but if your about to smoke it within a few years, I wouldn’t worry.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I wouldn't worry about humidity levels outside the jar. Temperature, yes, but I'm not sure anyone can really say over the short-medium term (up to a couple of years, I'd guess.)

 

[tobefrank]

One of the benefits of the Perth heat is that it is very much a dry heat, with low levels of ambient humidity. As such, rusting of jar lids and tins should hopefully not be too big a concern.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

@tobefrank , in comparison to our hostile' climate conditions,if I could choose I'd take your weather any day now, even without no A/C in my apartment