Sunday
Nov282010

Keep your favorite tobaccos optimally fresh

In working on my book, I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time focused on tobacco blends of late. While I can determine whether or not I like a particular blend by smoking it, I’ve discovered that I can learn a lot more about a blend’s character and finish by comparing it and contrasting it to other blends within the same genre, e.g. Orientals, Virginia-Periques, etc. It is a lot of fun and quite interesting to smoke two or three tobaccos simultaneously. Among other benefits, I’ve started improving my taste-memory by this process.

There is a downside, however. Opening all these tins has presented me with challenges in preserving the condition of the tobacco since it is virtually impossible for me to smoke through these tins before they begin to dry out. At this point I think I have opened some 30 or so tins of tobacco some of which are quite rare and expensive, not to mention very tasty.

When I’ve opened some of these rare old birds - some have as much as 50 years aging in the tin - I have been astounded at the perfect condition of many of the tins’ contents. Conversely, I have also cracked a tin to find nothing but moldy tobacco dust inside. These anxiety-filled moments have instilled no little determination in me to steward the condition of these great old tobaccos when I find them.

Finding a convenient and effective means to store open tins has been a tad more difficult than I expected. It’s not as simple as re-using a jam or jelly jar after a thorough washing.

To maintain a tobacco in its optimum condition requires an appropriate air volume. Storing tobacco in a container that has too much air in it Coin twist-type tobacco tinwill still result in the tobacco drying out too much - at least to my preference. Unfortunately, I’ve learned these lessons through the school of hard knocks.

Different pipe tobacco tins vary in the degree to which they will reliably keep tobacco in optimum condition. I find that trusting any tin to keep tobacco in good condition is unwise unless you smoke so much from that tin that you won’t need to store the tobacco longer than a week.

Aluminum, pop-top style tobacco tinNewer aluminum pop-top tins used by McClelland, Cornell and Diehl, and G.L. Pease are far better than other types in maintaining freshness. In my experience, however, these tins are not perfect and may in fact leak if the tin is slightly out-of-round from shipping or having been dropped. I lost a tin of Beacon to dryness in the space of two weeks. Beacon is sold in aluminum pop-top tins.

Coin-twist tins such as the type used by Dunhill, McBaren, and Orlik are unreliable. When I open a coin-twist tin, I don’t count on that tin keeping my tobacco fresh for longer than a couple of days. I usually transfer it for storage as soon as possible to keep the tobacco in good condition.

Square tobacco tin for Pelican by ButeraLast weekend, I opened an eight year old tin of Butera Pelican, a favorite English and Orientals blend that I have hoarded with great anticipation. I left the tobacco in its square tin for just two days when I noticed an unacceptable degree of drying out. I immediately transferred the contents to a Ball Jar and placed a Water Pillow inside it. Thankfully the tobacco rebounded quickly. Had I left it in its tin, it would have dried out completely in the space of a week.

Though I love the look and feel of square tins, I find them to be the least reliable and the most easily compromised. Frankly, I worry about storing any tobacco in new square tins. I have opened too many compromised tins only to find dust inside. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that a number of favorites - Stonehaven, Penzance, Capstan, Three Nuns, Rotary Flake, Krumble Kake, Kingfisher, and Pelican all come in square tins. Take care in storing these tobaccos.

Unless you think you might want to resell a tobacco after cellaring it for awhile, I would encourage you to think about taking it out of the tin for long-term storage. The containers that I use are absolutely reliable.

Keeping my tobacco in great condition trumps my desire to have unopened tins around, unless I think I might wind up selling it. Obviously, unopened tins are exponentially more valuable to a buyer, guaranteeing the provenance of the tobacco. However, an unopened tin that has been compromised by some pin hole can absolutely ruin relationships between tobacco sellers and buyers.

While it is possible to revive an overly dry tobacco, something still seems lost in this process, especially with old red Virginias dusted with sugar crystals. When I’ve tried to revive these blends, the crystals disappear almost completely. It is far better to get storage right in the first place.

Wide-mouthed jars work best for retrieving tobaccoThere are also practical considerations, the first of which is that while storing tobacco in a narrow-mouthed container is possible, loading a pipe from such a container is vexing, unless the tobacco is a flake of some sort which requires rubbing out. Personally, I prefer to store my tobaccos in a wide-mouthed container where I can load my pipe without scattering ribbons or shag all over my desk or countertop.

There are two types of containers - both readily available - that I have found ideal for tobacco storage. I select one or the other based on my smoking plans.

250 ML Ball JarThe 250 ML Ball Jar you see pictured at right is fantastic for storing the contents from a 50 gram tin. When a tin’s contents are dumped into the jar, then tamped down, there isn’t much air in the container. I use an aluminum espresso tamper to tamp the tobacco as tightly as space requires.

I’ve found that tobacco stays wonderfully moist in these containers. This is the container that I choose for storage when I don’t plan to access the contents all that often and when the contents are fairly expensive. As you gradually smoke the contents away, you will eventually have too much air in the container to maintain optimum storage conditions.

Water Pillow Brand Humidification To maintain optimum humidity, I place a distilled-water-soaked Water Pillow in with the tobacco contents. Each pillow comes with a little plastic bag into which the soaked pillow is placed. Do not put a humidification element directly onto your tobacco because it very well may cause mold to grow on your tobacco. Make sure that the little plastic bag is perfectly dry before placing it inside the container.

These Water Pillows are widely available and are sold to keep cigars in good condition when they will be stored in a plastic zip-locked pouch. Their water contents evaporate quite slowly. I find that it is not uncommon for them to last a couple of months before it is necessary to recharge them with distilled water.

These Ball jars are available from a variety of online sources; I purchased mine at WalMart because they are much less expensive there, and I didn’t have to pay for shipping. Amazingly, I couldn’t find these jars anywhere in metro-Washington, DC and wound up purchasing several boxes of them in Moorefield, West Virginia where my wife’s grandmother shops.

It is easy to get a very good seal with these jars that will last for as long as necessary. Although they are slightly more expensive, I purchase the Platinum line jars because their lids are corrosion-resistant. Both the jars and the lids may be used repeatedly without compromising storage integrity.

OXO makes a wonderful food storage container that is ideal for tobacco storage: the Good Grips® Food Storage Pop Container. I have purchased these in a number of sizes and have been very happy with their reliability and ease of use. The large button, when depressed, creates a quick, perfect seal that can be release in a nanosecond. If you have arthritis or just don’t like twisting and prying Ball Jar lids off, then these containers are for you.

OXO .3 Quart Good Grips ContainerThese containers are stackable. Various square and rectangular shapes and sizes can be used in combination to maximize storage space. The .3 quart container pictured at right is perfect for storing a tobacco that you want ready access to. I use the long, short .8 quart container to store Stonehaven and Penzance; they are perfect for this.

There are only two downsides to the OXO Good Grips® product. One, they are not inexpensive. The .3 quart container retails at $7.95 which is considerably more than an equivalent Ball jar. Two, the interior volume is such that I have found I need to put Water Pillows in at an earlier stage to keep the tobacco optimally moist.

Still, I find these containers most convenient for those tobaccos to which I want ready access on a frequent basis. I have a dozen or so of these containers for those blends that I most frequently smoke and I find their convenience outweighs their cost.

I purchased my OXO containers at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They are also available at Crate and Barrel, Amazon, Zappos, and HSN Online.

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Reader Comments (14)

A very helpful and timely article for me, as I've been hesitant to open and try out several tins or bags of hard to find tobacco that I have stashed away. Thanks for another informative and well illustrated post, Neill.

November 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterScott Stultz

I bought a couple of the OXO canisters after seeing you use one in Richmond. They seem to be working great. They stack well and are an efficient use of space. Thanks for the tip.

November 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTim

Excellent information, Neil. What I enjoy about your blog is the range you cover, from waxing poetic about pipes and tobaccos, to incredibly useful how-to info such as this, to thoughtful entries on life in general. Words fail me when it comes to expressing my appreciation for your blog. I look forward to every post. Thank you kindly.

November 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRod

excellent post...will be sharing it with my group of friends!

November 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMatthew Adams

Great post Neill, I've been using the small Ball jars for both short and long term tobacco storage for the past few years now and I agree that they work flawlessly.

November 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterDaniel

I am a huge fan of aged tobacco and as a result I have cases of it that will be passed onto the great great grandchildren as my eyes are larger than my brain! I too have had some great success and some failures in my quest for tobacco storage. After a lot of trial and error as well as doing a little research, I find the wide mouth, Ball jars that you have pictured have brought me the most success. I believe that tobacco needs some air in order to obtain the full benefit of aging. Vacuum packed tins such as Dunhill, Samual Gawith etc age much more slowly. McClelland and Pease and others that use tins with air age far better and faster. Unless the goal is to maintain the tobacco in its original tin for reselling or trading, I often times will move tobacco to the Ball jar. These jars will hold about 50 grams of tobacco, but there is a drawback in that they do not stack well. I currently use blender Russ Ouellette, of Pipes and Cigars, method of storing and it works really well. He suggests that the Ball jar be placed with the tobacco in it, in very hot (NOT BOILING) water for a few minutes and then carefully place the lid on. This technique makes for a slight vacuum and a tight seal, while allowing the air inside to make magic. I have yet to have any tobacco go bad from this process.

I too find that the square tins are awful in maintaining freshness. Currently, I use jars sold by Penzy's spice company for storage of tobacco that I intend to smoke within two or three months. They can be ordered on line and are available in several sizes. The prices are reasonable and since these jars were created for storing spices, the seal is pretty good. Penzy's has a small number of stores as well, dotted throughout the US. I have moved away from the water pillow unless the tobacco has become very dry. If I have tobacco in the Penzy spice jars for more than two or three months, I suggest the small size "Humidipak" that will keep the tobacco at a perfect 68 or 72% humidity(depending on whick pack you buy). My tobacconist in NY sells them for $1 apiece and they last about 4 to 6 months.

Neill, I have spent so much time on this that my wife now forward's my mail to the basement. I think that she is planning on having a dumbwaiter installed for meals.

November 28, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterChris G

Thank you for this great tip. I will pass it on to my club members.

November 28, 2010 | Registered CommenterBruce Blum

Neil, I have found the Ball jars in the DC-Metro area at Target. They always seem to have some in the kitchen area with all the knives and peelers. It's always nice to know you can just run out and get some instead of having to wait for the UPS man.

November 29, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJeff

Hiya Jeff,

I haven't been able to find those Ball jars at my local Target. Guess I need to look again. Thanks for the tip.

November 29, 2010 | Registered CommenterNeill Archer Roan

Wegmans also carry ball mason jars. I store my bulk tobacco purchases in them for aging. However after this blog I just so happened to be at Bed, Bath, and Beyond Xmas shopping and picked up some of the OXO containers along with some labels.

My smoking area looks much more organized. Instead of tins all over, I now have neatly labeled containers. They are nicer for short term storage than the Ball imho. Good blog Neill.

Matty

November 29, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMatthew Cortez

Neill, I've been following your blog for a few weeks but this post in particular makes me want to thank you for such excellent and knowledgeable advice. I especially liked the tip regarding plastic containers being for only short-term storage. Keeping tobacco for both the short and long-term is an almost constant topic of discussion over on the Pipe Smokers' Forum: http://pipesmokersforum.com.

Many expressed the opinion that it's not necessary to heat Ball or Mason jars as you don't want a perfect vacuum inside the jar. So far, "cold" jarring has worked well for me, but I have nothing stored more than a year as yet. Your experience may differ.

Thank you again for such an engrossing, intelligent, and well-written blog. It's always a treat for me when you post an update!

November 30, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBri2k

Turns out that Ace Hardware is a great source for the little Ball jars. They have a whole canning section there, and the half pint jars were in plentiful supply for about $1.25 a jar.

Thanks for the great tip, Neill!

December 2, 2010 | Registered CommenterSimeon Turner
I would not recommend using the water pillows, I had mine in a new bag of tobacco and then I started getting back headaches when I would smoke the tobacco only a week after having the water pillow in the bag and after another week I looked at the water pillow and it became a mold pillow
December 11, 2013 | Unregistered Commenterciggirl22
It took me three years of experimenting with various jars to determine the wide-mouth 250 ml jars Neill describes here work the best. I wish I'd have read this entry a few years earlier. Our annual neighborhood yard sale this year will have quite a variety of available jars....
I wish those 250 ml jars stacked better.
March 16, 2014 | Registered CommenterRiff Raff

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