Storing Stonehaven

[ajpl]

I was lucky enough to acquire an 8oz bag of Esoterica Stonehaven (finally!), and now I'm opening it up to transfer it to a mason jar. However, these flakes are rather enormous and don't stack horizontally in the jar like most flake tobaccos—do you guys do anything about that or just stuff them in the jar and let things work themselves out?

 

[Brewdude]

I was lucky enough to acquire an 8oz bag of Esoterica Stonehaven (finally!), and now I'm opening it up to transfer it to a mason jar. However, these flakes are rather enormous and don't stack horizontally in the jar like most flake tobaccos—do you guys do anything about that or just stuff them in the jar and let things work themselves out?

That's what I do and it works just fine. You're going to be rubbing them out, cubing, fold and stuffing, or whatever your preferred method is anyway.

And as they come pretty moist, I like to dry a bowls worth first. Works for me.


Cheers,

RR

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

This may be sacrilegious, but I have a small pair of scissors that I use to cut my flakes into more manageable pieces. 1.5 inch long flake pieces stack nicely into those small 2 inch high 4oz jelly jars. Most important to me is that I am only opening and dipping into small amounts of any tobacco at a time.

 

[Wet Dottle]

I store the bags intact. I'm currently smoking from a 2006 Stonehaven bag and the flakes are as moist as if packed yesterday. Having said that, I had a couple of Dunbar bags dry out on me.

 

[Brewdude]

This may be sacrilegious, but I have a small pair of scissors that I use to cut my flakes into more manageable pieces. 1.5 inch long flake pieces stack nicely into those small 2 inch high 4oz jelly jars. Most important to me is that I am only opening and dipping into small amounts of any tobacco at a time.

Actually that sounds like a helluva good idea. I'll have to give that a try next time I'm lucky enough to snag a bag!


Cheers,

RR

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

This may be sacrilegious, but I have a small pair of scissors that I use to cut my flakes into more manageable pieces. 1.5 inch long flake pieces stack nicely into those small 2 inch high 4oz jelly jars. Most important to me is that I am only opening and dipping into small amounts of any tobacco at a time.

Yup, same with my SG and GH&Co flakes, I cut them in half and then fit them into the jar. I can get a 250g box into a single 16oz wide-mouth jar.

Someone suggesting coiling the long flake and stacking the coils, but I couldn't get it to work right and gave up.

Besides, the pre-cut flakes are easier to smoke.

 

[Blackhorse]

The terms 'Stonehaven' and 'long term storage' are mutually exclusive.


Plus, what all those other guys said. If you have a dedicated Stonehaven pipe...or group size...cutting the flakes into 'one bowl's worth' size sub-flakes just seems like a great idea somehow.

 

[Anonymous]

I got a bunch of Mylar bags from Iwan when I bought there.  I've got Navy Flakes and a bit of others aging in them and have used that successfully for aging but I go for months rather than years.  The Mylar and some tape seems to work out well.  The bag holds two of the 1.5# boxes quite well.

 

[Brewdude]

The terms 'Stonehaven' and 'long term storage' are mutually exclusive.


Plus, what all those other guys said. If you have a dedicated Stonehaven pipe...or group size...cutting the flakes into 'one bowl's worth' size sub-flakes just seems like a great idea somehow.

Agree. Fresh is better in this instance.


Cheers,

RR

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

To me, Stonerhaven has a really mellow flavor, period. I think some are disappointed with it because it doesn't blow them over with incredible flavor-massiveness. I like it fresh and aged but altogether it really doesn't matter because from the start it's really easy going. If anything it loses a tad of that treacle sweetness after sitting in a jar for a while.