To Jar or Not To Jar?

[TCnBham]

I have found myself with several different tins open at the same time, mostly 50g tins, but some 100g as well, so I have a question for you more experienced pipers.

As a general type rule, how long will an open tin stay "fresh" before you need to jar it.

Same question, but with a larger zip lock bag of leaf.

What is the consensus of opinion on what kind and what size jars to use. Pint sized Mason Jars? That seems to be about the smallest I can find without spending a bunch of $$$

When you jar, do you include one of those humidifier disc things?

If one of your tins has become dry, is it a good idea to jar it and stick a disc in there, moistened with distilled water, of course?

If you have an unopened tin, will it stay moist indefinitely?

 

[gravel]

I have found myself with several different tins open at the same time, mostly 50g tins, but some 100g as well, so I have a question for you more experienced pipers.

As a general type rule, how long will an open tin stay "fresh" before you need to jar it.

Same question, but with a larger zip lock bag of leaf.

What is the consensus of opinion on what kind and what size jars to use. Pint sized Mason Jars? That seems to be about the smallest I can find without spending a bunch of $$$

When you jar, do you include one of those humidifier disc things?

If one of your tins has become dry, is it a good idea to jar it and stick a disc in there, moistened with distilled water, of course?

If you have an unopened tin, will it stay moist indefinitely?

Some of it comes down to personal preference. How dry do you like your tobacco? How often do you smoke? What climate do you live in and is your cellar climate controlled?

When to jar depends on how wet the tobacco is and how dry you want it. Some people have reported smoking an entire tin without jarring. For me, I jar within one to two weeks - unless its C&D. Their blends are on the dry side, so they get jarred as I pop them. That said, I'm a 1-3 bowls per week guy at this point.

For bags, I'll jar at my earliest opportunity. If the bag is quality, they can keep for sometime without breaking down, which seems to be a bigger concern than the tobacco drying out.

When I jar, I don't use a humidifier disk, but my climate is wet. I keep my cellar in a climate controlled place and avoid temperature extremes, which seems to be key.

There are multiple ways to revive tobacco, if you think it is too dry, G.L. Pease wrote about his adventures with adding moisture to tobacco here.

Unopened tins are subject to loss of seals, rust, etc... Periodically check them to ensure there appears to be no compromise. If there is, drop the contents in a mason jar.

Also, tighten those mason jar lids every now and then.

I'm sure someone with more experience could add, subtract, delete or multiply what I've written.

 

[TCnBham]

Well...I live in Alabama, where it's hot as Hades and lots of Humugity, so moisture is generally not a problem, other than winter time, when the humidity generally drops back to what we consider to be "normal" The places where I stash my tobacco are inside the conditioned part of the house, so the temp stays relatively consistant. I am about to move to another part of my state, and this house will not have a basement as my current house does, so I will be setting up a tobacco storage area. I would assume the pint sized Mason Jars would be large enough for all but bulk buys of more than 4oz. I keep my favorite in a humidor jar on my 12 pipe stand so it's always handy. It's those I don't smoke often that I was most concerned about. Thanks.

 

[TCnBham]

Oh...I generally smoke a couple of bowls per day, usually in the late afternoon/evening.

There's a couple of tins that are feeling pretty dry to me, but then I'm comparing to bulk bags I buy from out of state. It's kind of hard to know what's "too dry", as it's sort of a relative concept.

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

With out getting into all the nuances related to personal preferences, local weather, etc., I store anything I am currently smoking in bail top jars. Typically I have 5-6 tins open at a time. Anything I am aging, if it's not tinned, goes into a standard Mason jar with a fresh lid.

You bring up a good point questioning how well some tins are sealed. Pull tops are usually fine for a long time, but I find that some of my coin style tins, even brand new ones are a bit suspect. If I at any time can smell the tobacco around the edges of the tin, I open it and dump the contents into a jar.

 

[Tim_Haggerty]

Short answer: Jar.

The size of the jar doesn't matter much, the half pints and pints are convenient for 2 to 4 oz. at a time. and unless your going for long term cellaring, just keeping the lid screwed down works fine. They're cheap and reusable; you're just keeping the tobacco sealed, not preserving it, so opening and closing a jar shouldn't effect humidity levels enough to notice.

Jarring generally can't hurt, and a tin, once opened, will dry out over time, irregardless of your best intentions. If you've got more than one tin open and you're only smoking a bowl or two a day, it'll keep the tobacco moist and once you start experimenting with new blends, it's easy enough to have a half dozen tins open and going. If the tobacco is too moist, drying it out is easy, bringing dry leaf back can be disappointing. The humidifying discs can work well, but so can a moist paper towel.

I try -- though don't always succeed - in keeping my open tin number relatively low, maybe that half dozen at a time.

 

[Smoker99]

If I am going to smoke something in 3-4 wks, I leave it in the tin when I open it. I store a lot of tobacco in tins, but mostly the round pull tops, but some of the rectangular that have proven to be reliable. The rectangular tins are the most susceptible to having the seal broken. Solani 660, in particular comes in a large rectangular tin that is not vacuum sealed, and it must be jarred immediately.

I would not put any kind of humidifier in a mason jar, it will just make the tobacco mould. They are airtight. If a tobacco is too dry before jarring, I lightly spritz it with distilled water then jar it.

 

[Brewdude]

Like many have already stated, I'll jar up a tin if I don't plan to smoke the whole thing in a few weeks. Here in the Pac NW it's not very dry so moisture content stays pretty constant, so there isn't a concern about it getting too dry in a short period.

If I want to age it or find that it's not something I'm going to be reaching for often, I'll jar it up right after opening.

All that said, I pretty much jar everything up since it's rare that I finish a tin in a couple weeks since I like to ring the changes.



Cheers,

RR

 

[KevinM]

Just experiment a little and see what works for you. Couple more options not mentioned so far --

After opening a tin, just put it -- i.e., tin and all -- in a sealable baggie. This "pants and suspenders" approach works pretty well for me over long periods of time, partially because I keep the stuff in a wooden cabinet, away from a/c and heating.

I save tobacco tins with airtight plastic lids and sometimes tranfer tobacco from coin-opened, all-metal tins into them. They're a nice size, stackable and the seal is pretty good. I keep a supply of office supply store labels to keep track of what's inside and how old it is.

I've had good luck with a spritz with distilled water. There are various alternatives that are also effective. The spritz is EZ, which appeals to me. But go light on the spritz. Just don't -- DO NOT -- put a slice of fruit or potato in your stored tobacco, which I sometimes still see recommended, mostly by obviously daft non-smokers with hateful chips on their shoulders.