Wow - I Turned Trash into TREASURE!

[ScienceSmoker]

I recently posted about some Sutliff 515 RC-1 Red Virginia I bought over a year ago. It was drenched in vinegar and unsmokable. (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/sutliffs-515-rc-1-has-way-too-much-vinegar-any-way-to-remove-it.87886/)

But as recommended by some guys in the thread, I tried airing it out, then re-hydrating it. I did that five times, and the vinegar smell decreased pretty dramatically... but it was still too harsh to smoke on it's own. So I aired it out one more time, re-hydrated again, and then tried mixing it with various other blending tobaccos.

Well, I think I struck gold. I don't have the specific %'s right now, but it's approximately:
30% of this vinegar-doused then aired out and re-hydraded 6 times 515 RC-1 Red Virginia
40% Stoved Virginia
25% Latakia
5% or just a small sprinkle of Izmir Turkish

Wow. It's great. The vinegar is actually still a tiny bit too much, but I'm going to try to tweak this recipe a bit and see what I come up with.

 

[Inspired Idler]

Looks like you're living up to your name. Keep experimenting!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I love playing around with blends like this, and it's good to see you making lemonade out of the whole lemon thing.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

That blend is primarily intended as a blending component vs being smoked stand alone. Same as true of 5100 although many people enjoyed it stand alone, me included.

 

[sablebrush52]

I recently posted about some Sutliff 515 RC-1 Red Virginia I bought over a year ago. It was drenched in vinegar and unsmokable. (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/sutliffs-515-rc-1-has-way-too-much-vinegar-any-way-to-remove-it.87886/)

But as recommended by some guys in the thread, I tried airing it out, then re-hydrating it. I did that five times, and the vinegar smell decreased pretty dramatically... but it was still too harsh to smoke on it's own. So I aired it out one more time, re-hydrated again, and then tried mixing it with various other blending tobaccos.

Well, I think I struck gold. I don't have the specific %'s right now, but it's approximately:
30% of this vinegar-doused then aired out and re-hydraded 6 times 515 RC-1 Red Virginia
40% Stoved Virginia
25% Latakia
5% or just a small sprinkle of Izmir Turkish

Wow. It's great. The vinegar is actually still a tiny bit too much, but I'm going to try to tweak this recipe a bit and see what I come up with.

Congratulations on finding a solution to your problem! I do have one question. Why would you need to rehydrate after airing out? 515 RC-1 is very wet when shipped and I've never once needed to rehydrate after airing it out, or airing out any McClelland blend to lose the vinegar.Were you leaving it out for days?

 

[ScienceSmoker]

That blend is primarily intended as a blending component vs being smoked stand alone. Same as true of 5100 although many people enjoyed it stand alone, me included.

Still, I am 100% convinced my bag was from a fouled batch. Taking whiff of the bag was like sniffing smelling salts. I involuntarily jumped back, it was horrific. It's not "normal" 515 RC-1. Other people have said the same thing, some bags are normal and slightly vinegary... but others are drenched (maybe it wasn't mixed properly, I don't know).

 

[ScienceSmoker]

Congratulations on finding a solution to your problem! I do have one question. Why would you need to rehydrate after airing out? 515 RC-1 is very wet when shipped and I've never once needed to rehydrate after airing it out, or airing out any McClelland blend to lose the vinegar.Were you leaving it out for days?

Because airing it out once did nothing. The whole room stunk of vinegar. I had to open the windows. The act of moistening then airing out the tobacco over and over helped dissipate the vinegar in the tobacco.

 

[sablebrush52]

Airing it out once certainly won't do the job. I'd vent a tin for a minute or two on sequential days for about a week and a half to two weeks and that always did the job. When you wet it down,did you use distilled water? Storing tobacco that is on the drier side has the advantage that it is less likely to grow a beard.

 

[ScienceSmoker]

Airing it out once certainly won't do the job. I'd vent a tin for a minute or two on sequential days for about a week and a half to two weeks and that always did the job. When you wet it down,did you use distilled water? Storing tobacco that is on the drier side has the advantage that it is less likely to grow a beard.

I didn't just open the tin, I poured it out in a flat pan. And yes, I used distilled water... I'm glad you said that, because I thought I may have been being overly fastidious.

 

[Ocam]

I had a similar issue with a home made tobacco, where I used too much vinegar for casing by mistake. I solved it by heating the tobacco in the oven at lowest temp, re-hydrating when it got dry and so on, for five or six times. It was smokeable in the end.