How to Rehydrate Tobacco Successfully
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 7:37AM | Neill Archer Roan | Permalink tagged Rehydrating tobacco, Vintage Tobacco | in Pipe Tobaccos, Successful Smoking
Updated on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 6:52AM by
Neill Archer Roan
A recent run of bad luck with valuable vintage tobacco has nearly put me off buying it. But, thankfully, in both cases I will discuss here, I was able to rehydrate the tobacco for jar storage. In both cases, the tobacco is extraordinarily delicious, and I am looking forward to a series of very special bowls.
Imagine paying $300 to $400 for a tin of very special tobacco and discovering, upon opening the tin, that the tobacco had completely dried out or, worse, had become rife with mold. At the time - having had this happen twice within the span of a couple of weeks – these events feel catastrophic. However, unless mold has attacked the tobacco, chances are that most, if not all, of the tobacco can be saved through rehydration.
As much as we might wish it were otherwise, chance favors an old tin’s compromise, especially with larger tins. And square tins are also especially vulnerable to compromise. These tins were not manufactured with long-term storage in mind. When this tobacco was sold, most people opened the tins to smoke the contents. The notion of cellaring tobacco was alien to the times. While one occasionally lucks out, buying these old tins is risky.
