Why Care about Tobacco Drying Out?

[sablebrush52]

Jeez, everyone is getting so cranky!

Go and change your Depenz. You'll feel MUCH better.

Or you won't because it's all based on personal experience.

Same with pipe smoking. What I shared is my personal experience and is what works best for me. Might not work best for someone else. I have a very acute palette and not everyone does, so what matters to me may not matter to someone who can't tell the difference. Doesn't mean their enjoyment is any less, just that the metrics are different. What matters in enjoyment of pipe tobaccos is personal and valid to that one person, to that one person only, and is not universal law.

So while many of you recommend practices that I know will offer a pretty mediocre experience for me, because I've already tried them and moved on, they may be absolute perfection for you, and what I do doesn't work for you.

Which comes back to why I say to anyone who want to find out what works for them is to experiment and keep doing it with every new tobacco or pipe, because that's how you get the most out of anything.

 

[kcghost]

Sable has spoken. Time to fall in line gentlemen.

 

[GawithPiper]

I don't see why that would hurt the tobacco, but given that it's in an unopened bag, what's the point of vacuum sealing it?

Pin holes in the bag maybe??

 

[sablebrush52]

Pin holes in the bag maybe??

I just bagged it in .7 mill Mylar and heat sealed it.

 

[brian64]

Not all bones are equally dry.

 

[TN Jed]

There isn't a single answer to your question. Dry time varies with the blend, and the pipe in which that blend is smoked. Experiment. Try 30 minutes, an hour, 2 hours, then try smaller variations within the range. What you're looking for isn't a specific time so much as a condition of moisture. Personally, I don't go by time, but by feel. How does the tobacco feel when I squeeze it, and what does that sensation tell me.

I've succeeded at over drying and under but yet to reach the perfect moisture. I tried an hour and it wasn't quite there yet. I'm getting closer. My quest for the perfect pipe continues.

 

[sandollars]

Pin holes in the bag maybe??

I do it.... I seal everything that might fail to ensure it won't. It's no trouble and I sleep better. If I ever find pinholes in any of my Eso bags, it won't be a problem because I sealed them. If they don't have pinholes when I open them the only thing I'm out is a dime on the sealed outer bag for the insurance.

 

[sandollars]

I've succeeded at over drying and under but yet to reach the perfect moisture. I tried an hour and it wasn't quite there yet. I'm getting closer. My quest for the perfect pipe continues.

Time is relative to one's local ambient humidity. If I left anything out for an hour in St. George, Utah it would be as crispy as Tabac Manil. Well, unless it was laden with PG, but I don't buy or smoke those kinds of blends.

An hour in some locations might be like 5 minutes in Southern Utah.

 

[JKoD]

Drying tobacco - photographic evidence that might make people cringe…might give people some ideas…and lead others to smile and nod in agreement. Ask me if I care about anyone’s opinion on how I do this particular tobacco… wait, don’t ask - I don’t care ? it’s with the Stanwell Authentic I have dedicated to this blend. Who said inexpensive couldn’t be blissful!

It was time to get more PS LBF ready for smoking. I truly enjoy this process in pulling a jar of coins out of storage and rubbing out the coins, then finding the centers that need extra attention to sprinkle over the pile. I will leave this out overnight and put back in the jar in the morning. I don’t do this with any other blend except this one. My method gives me the sugary sweet I thoroughly enjoy.

 

[GawithPiper]

I do it.... I seal everything that might fail to ensure it won't. It's no trouble and I sleep better. If I ever find pinholes in any of my Eso bags, it won't be a problem because I sealed them. If they don't have pinholes when I open them the only thing I'm out is a dime on the sealed outer bag for the insurance.

Thanks. I was starting to think I’m crazy.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Jeez, everyone is getting so cranky!

Go and change your Depenz. You'll feel MUCH better.

Or you won't because it's all based on personal experience.

Same with pipe smoking. What I shared is my personal experience and is what works best for me. Might not work best for someone else. I have a very acute palette and not everyone does, so what matters to me may not matter to someone who can't tell the difference. Doesn't mean their enjoyment is any less, just that the metrics are different. What matters in enjoyment of pipe tobaccos is personal and valid to that one person, to that one person only, and is not universal law.

So while many of you recommend practices that I know will offer a pretty mediocre experience for me, because I've already tried them and moved on, they may be absolute perfection for you, and what I do doesn't work for you.

Which comes back to why I say to anyone who want to find out what works for them is to experiment and keep doing it with every new tobacco or pipe, because that's how you get the most out of anything.

Damn, went commando today and now I’m sitting in a puddle in my Jeep! I guess wearing them and not remembering are related? ?

Okay, I don’t really know, lol, but I’ll just say I now err on the side of pretty crumbly and it’s made a big difference in my enjoyment. I probably need to consider with some of the juicier tobacco I’ll go ahead and plunge into sometimes and think I’ve “gotten away” with something that maybe it’s just the way it should be (for me) with that blend if I enjoy it, and usually do.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

So instead of moving on to the next pipe I had ready, I let the pipe cool, dumped the ash and grabbed some Vanilla Roll Cake out of the tin and no drying. It doesn’t seem as moist out of the tin as Wilke bulk which usually comes very fresh and very moist. A couple of relights, bit fine so far! Nice experiment!

 

[mingc]

Title edited. See rule 9. -jpm

So I just started smoking last year and heard a lot of dire warnings about not letting tabacco dry out etc.. never really understood why, especially when i let it dry out a bit before putting it in my bowl.

So i let one half used tin of my favorite go to balkan blend dry out totally, ie i left the lid untightened for 3 months and put it in the warmest place in the house i could find right next to a heating vent.

The stuff is dry... i mean preserved dry and if i roll it in my thumbs dust. So i loaded it up, it was a bit more difficult to pack but not unreasonably so. And it smoked just fine, in fact it still tastes pretty much exactly like a fresh tin im currently smoking i wouldnt be able to tell the difference from a smoke flavor perspective. So my big question is why does everyone care about not letting tabacco dry out?

Because dry = chafing, Duh.

 

[STP]

I like dry, but not dust dried ?

 

[Egg Shen]

I’m not reading all the replies, so hopefully not to reiterate but this is my opinion: moisture preserves the essential oils of a plant/fruit/etc. These oils are it’s essence. You want these intact for optimum flavor and nutrient content, plus potency and bioavailability too. Also, if you burn it to dry, and your inhaler, that is going to be less pleasant than if the moisture content is as intended at the end of the manufacturer’s process. Also, as you become a more experienced smoker you may grow to notice taste loss in overly-dried tobacco that you may not perceive at first.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes, overly dried tobacco is terrible. So is over-moisturized tobacco.

Unfortunately few have the desire to use actual RH numbers, so concepts of what's dry, or too dry, wet, too wet, etc., vary greatly among us smokers.

 

[sablebrush52]

I’m not reading all the replies, so hopefully not to reiterate but this is my opinion: moisture preserves the essential oils of a plant/fruit/etc. These oils are it’s essence. You want these intact for optimum flavor and nutrient content, plus potency and bioavailability too. Also, if you burn it to dry, and your inhaler, that is going to be less pleasant than if the moisture content is as intended at the end of the manufacturer’s process. Also, as you become a more experienced smoker you may grow to notice taste loss in overly-dried tobacco that you may not perceive at first.

I'd heard this and believed it, unti I started hearing from people who grow and cure tobacco for the making of blends. Seems part of the curing process is to dry out the tobacco completely, such that it needs to be hydrated before it can be handled or it will crumble into dust:

Tobacco - Harvest, Curing, Processing | Britannica

Tobacco - Harvest, Curing, Processing: Tobacco is harvested 70 to 130 days after transplanting by one of two methods: the entire plant is cut, or the leaves are removed at intervals as they mature. The leaves are then cured by air, fire, flue, and sun curing. After curing, the leaf may be piled...

www.britannica.com

So I'm not sure how the essential oil argument works.