Sun Dried Tobacco

[Growley]

Let me start off by admitting that I'm not very judicious about keeping my tobacco, probably because I don't have enough to really put it into jars. I mostly have samples. I've got about 2 lbs total, and I separate my tobacco into two groups, aromatics and non aromatics. I keep my aromatics in their original baggies, but all bunched up into one giant ziploc bag, and I do the same with my non aromatics. The few tins that I have remain mostly unopened, as I'm apprehensive about smoking higher quality tobacco until I learn a bit more.

Everything above this line is probably enough to get me beat down by people who really know what they're doing and have good systems of perfectly catagorized and cellared tobacco. If not, everything below this line certainly will be....


Normally I smoke outside on my porch. The other night, I started out here (on the porch) but got chased away by a massive blowing rainstorm. I was enjoying my pipe and time on BOB so much, that I decided to just open my garage door and sit in the bed of my truck and finish my browsing and pipe smoking. So, tonight when I went to my closet to my bag of non aromatics for a smoke, I couldn't find it. No problem, I must have left it in the bed of my truck.....that had been sitting outside.....all day today.......in the sun. :x It didn't get that hot today, but I'll be darned if when I opened the giant baggie (which normally smells like a wonderful blend of all kinds of tobacco) it didn't smell just like a hot plastic bag. I opened each baggie to see if they had any aroma, and either I lost my sense of smell, or it's all gone, nothing.

It's only a pound of tobacco...but it's all the non aromatic, non tinned tobacco that I have.

Did I just ruin it, or will the aroma come back???

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Not bashing, but plastic bags, in my mind, are only good to transport bulk tobacco. Tobacco degrades when stored in them; only the Pease bags of yore were reputed to be suitable for long term aging, but only for 5 years. I had at least a half dozen 8 oz Pease bags and discovered leaks after 5 years. I promptly jarred all of it.

And as you know exposing tobacco in plastic bags is not recommended. I would go get as many pint and jelly mason jars as I needed to jar everything you have. Like others, as soon as I crack a tin it goes in a jelly jar. Jars are not expensive. In my mind they are the only way to store tobacco.

As regards your sun-dried tobacco, it may come back, but I would think it has suffered damage, not the least of which is its acquired plastic bag aroma. If it doesn't respond to whatever treatments you employ, throw it out and buy more. Tobacco, for the moment, is still cheap.

 

[Growley]

I was afraid of that. I need to get jars. The problem is that I have mostly samples with just a few pipes worth each, that having a jar for each one has seemed almost silly. I guess the jars can be reused though....

Lesson learned the hard way. Life goes on.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

I hear you about those baggied samples, but how many do you have? From what I know tobacco should be kept in baggies no longer than 2 weeks. The question to ask is how long will it take me to smoke all of it? If on receiving the tobacco you know that it will all be smoked up shortly, no worries. If not, jar it. Yes the jars can be reused; it's the lids that wear out; the rubber holds the indentation of the rim of the jar. Soaking such depressed lids in hot water helps pop them back out. If you're jarring for the long term, I'd use a fresh lid. If not, they can be reused, particularly if they have been so soaked.

 

[idbowman]

I'm apprehensive about smoking higher quality tobacco until I learn a bit more.

Don't be. Better quality tobaccos perform better and aren't necessarily any more difficult to smoke than the lower quality stuff - in fact, the reverse is probably true. Don't think of "lower quality" blends as a sort of training ground to improve your technique/palette for the big leagues; lower quality often means more difficult to keep lit, keep from biting, and enjoy depth of flavor. Just my $.02, but I'd say using better tobaccos to find you "sea legs" would be more efficient - and more enjoyable.


As far as you current tobacco-in-baggies problem, I'm guessing you might be in a tough spot. The heat of the day probably did less damage than the actual sunlight did. Everything I've ever read suggests storing away from sunlight...I'm sure there's a nice scientific reason why, but I couldn't say what it is. What sort of tobacco did you leave out? Aro?

 

[Growley]

I had about 20 different samples. I emphasize "Had" because last night I ended up needing to discard a good portion. I did however make an immediate trip to Walmart where I was able to pick up some jars and get things tucked away nicely.

They were sort of Candle jars with very tight seals. I got some small ones for small samples, and larger ones for well...larger samples. I'm on my way now!

Here they are : 4oz Jar

And I got several that are much larger. They should work well.

 

[Growley]

I'm apprehensive about smoking higher quality tobacco until I learn a bit more.

Don't be. Better quality tobaccos perform better and aren't necessarily any more difficult to smoke than the lower quality stuff - in fact, the reverse is probably true. Don't think of "lower quality" blends as a sort of training ground to improve your technique/palette for the big leagues; lower quality often means more difficult to keep lit, keep from biting, and enjoy depth of flavor. Just my $.02, but I'd say using better tobaccos to find you "sea legs" would be more efficient - and more enjoyable.


As far as you current tobacco-in-baggies problem, I'm guessing you might be in a tough spot. The heat of the day probably did less damage than the actual sunlight did. Everything I've ever read suggests storing away from sunlight...I'm sure there's a nice scientific reason why, but I couldn't say what it is. What sort of tobacco did you leave out? Aro?

I left out my "non aro" as I'm calling it, everything that doesn't smell like an aromatic. At this point my mind is wide open for what I'm willing to smoke. Everything has some value, if not at least for comparison sake. I haven't really developed many strong preferences yet, which is why I've learned so little I think. I tend to smoke something and think.."That's pretty good". It's only when something really catches my tastebuds that I want to learn about it and figure out what it is that I like about it. I'm beginning to learn that I like flakes a lot. Ocelot sent me several samples that I've been enjoying.

I'm the kind of guy who will most likely never narrow it down to just a few different choices. The vast amount of diferences in tobacco is part of what I love about pipe smoking. I kind of feel like there's a time and place for everything.

Now, that I have my jars, I may go ahead and open up a tin or two my better stuff and see what I think.... You've got me thinking.

 

[petertschantz]

Growley I used the 4 oz mason jars for storing snuff, work just fine. just watch the seals on those bottles. Probably be fine for samples, but if you buy a larger quantity you might want to get better sealing jars.

Good luck

 

[deepbass9]

I keep my samples in the baggies in which they come. I have multiple samples, too, and I bag those that are similar (say, all lat blends) all together in a larger baggie. Then....I store the big bag of baggies in a jar.

I end up having a big bag of lat blends, a big bag of va blends, etc....and then I can store them together in the same jar without worrying about too much bleed (big jar here, obviously, but just a couple in my collection). Then, I can just grab a big bag and go, or pick my little baggie out and run with that...or, just fill and walk to the couch and smoke!

Everything gets jarred. Even and especially baggie samples. On the road I pack my pipe bag tobak pouch or take a baggie. Jars stay home...they're storage.

 

[gravel]

I keep reading the title as "sun dried tomacco."