"Maybe mylar with a bad seal?"
Nope. My mistake, not realizing "mylar" was not synonymous with "cheap plastic bag tobacco comes in."
Nope. My mistake, not realizing "mylar" was not synonymous with "cheap plastic bag tobacco comes in."
What is the Oldest Tobacco Tried from a Mylar Bag?
- Thread starter wyfbane
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I year or two ago I opened an 8 oz. bag of Cairo by GLPease that was originally retailed in a Mylar bag. (It looked like the bags coffee is sold in.) It was ten years old when I opened it. The tobacco was WONDERUL. Now, this was a vacuum sealed Mylar bag, packed that way from the factory. (GLPease first introduced bulk quantities of his blends in this packaging.). It doesn't have a ziplock. Once opened, you need to transfer it to another container or heat seal it again.
Interestingly, a buddy opened a tin of Cairo around the same time that was also older, maybe 7 years or so. The 7 year old tin and the 10 year old bag of the same blend smelled entirely different. Cairo has a topping of some sort -- brandy maybe? -- and the bag smelled strongly of this topping. It was very sweet smelling. The tin smelled MUCH more muted, and had more tobacco with less topping smell. It was quite interesting. I even talked to Greg about it. One data point is not enough to draw conclusions from, but it sure seemed like the bag did a BETTER job of sealing than the tin did. This doesn't seem likely, as a poor seal would result in migration into the tin (until the vacuum was exhausted), not molecules traveling out of the tin. Never the less, the difference was stark and interesting,
Interestingly, a buddy opened a tin of Cairo around the same time that was also older, maybe 7 years or so. The 7 year old tin and the 10 year old bag of the same blend smelled entirely different. Cairo has a topping of some sort -- brandy maybe? -- and the bag smelled strongly of this topping. It was very sweet smelling. The tin smelled MUCH more muted, and had more tobacco with less topping smell. It was quite interesting. I even talked to Greg about it. One data point is not enough to draw conclusions from, but it sure seemed like the bag did a BETTER job of sealing than the tin did. This doesn't seem likely, as a poor seal would result in migration into the tin (until the vacuum was exhausted), not molecules traveling out of the tin. Never the less, the difference was stark and interesting,
Tins are vacuum sealed as well.
It's my understanding -- but only because of what I've read from people I trust over the years -- that aging is most substantial when it becomes anaerobic. I don't know if that's true, but I believe that's the basis for keeping tins sealed to age them.
I think the vacuum sealed thing is just a term that needs clarification. I am sure that tins and bags can be vaccuum sealed but in a tin, the rigidity of the walls means that SOME decent quantity of air will remain. In a bag that gets Vaccuum sealed where the bag is all hugged up on the tobacco there will be much less.
Esoterica seals their bags, but I have never seen one vacuum sealed to the point where there is no air in there for the Tobacco to mingle with.
I am contemplating getting larger mylar bags. I saw above a referral to sealing them. Can they be zapped with a heat sealer? If so that would be a GREAT way to store tobacco.
Esoterica seals their bags, but I have never seen one vacuum sealed to the point where there is no air in there for the Tobacco to mingle with.
I am contemplating getting larger mylar bags. I saw above a referral to sealing them. Can they be zapped with a heat sealer? If so that would be a GREAT way to store tobacco.
If you're talking about a kitchen type Foodsaver heat sealer then not really. They don't get hot enough to properly seal heavy duty mylar. Either a very hot iron or a dedicated mylar sealer is the way to go. I have a dedicated mylar sealer that makes full width perfect seals in only a couple of seconds. Not cheap but worth it for the peace of mind.
There is a bit of confusion here so allow me to offer this link. These mylar bags. are so drastically different from the plastic used by your favorite online tobacco retailer.
I made the mistake of keeping some great tobacco in one of the plastic bags they provided. As we all know you can smell the blend straight through plastic and as all of you could guess, my leaf dried on way to soon. For starters, the Mylar bags have a far superior zipper. There is no scent loss through the sealed bad. I have stored tobacco in these bags now for about 4 months and have had no loss of moisture or flavor.
iwanries.com offers what they call PermaMoist bags that appear to be very similar to concept and quality.
j/B
I made the mistake of keeping some great tobacco in one of the plastic bags they provided. As we all know you can smell the blend straight through plastic and as all of you could guess, my leaf dried on way to soon. For starters, the Mylar bags have a far superior zipper. There is no scent loss through the sealed bad. I have stored tobacco in these bags now for about 4 months and have had no loss of moisture or flavor.
iwanries.com offers what they call PermaMoist bags that appear to be very similar to concept and quality.
j/B
Don't confuse space with air. Just because a tin doesn't get smaller does not mean it can't have the same amount of air removed. Regardless, I really have no idea about the bio-chemistry of aging tobacco. The question I'd like to understand better is the realtionship of O2 with the aging process.
wyfbane, the bags like Jeremy linked to on e-bay are like the ones I am currently using. I seal them with a household iron on an ironing board. They have a pouch fold bottom, come in many sizes, and can be ordered direct in quantities of 25 and up direct. I am out of town on a friends computer so I don't have access to the site I ordered from last. They were just googled up at the time. Someone also showed another type that are just a packet. They are cheaper but have no zip lock below the seal and do not come with the pouch fold.
" The question I'd like to understand better is the realtionship of O2 with the aging process. "
The person that figures this out will be a genius!
The person that figures this out will be a genius!
Really, it's a pretty straight-forward experiment, but it requires some advanced instrumentation. Mass spectrograph for before and after aging analysis and a gas analyzer for the gas profile in the sealed container with the tobacco.
Then, of course, the tasting panel.
There must be a lab geek on this forum...c'mon, your Phd thesis awaits!
This isn't NASA. But for the sake of dialogue I will further clarify... I was referring to tins like McClelland, Pease, C&D, H&H, and SPC use. Not metal ones.
I agree, they Could get the air out of those, but I know they don't.
Also, I reiterate that they don't even remove the air from Esoterica bags so I am sure there are blenders that don't mind having more air in their product.
That said, metal tins age as well, so apparently there is air in most every source of tobacco we get.
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