About a year ago, I opened a sealed vintage tin of Dunhill London Mixture from the 1970's. The tobacco was still moist and I enjoyed the smoke. I only smoked less than a third of the tin. Although I thought that I had sealed the tin securely with Parafilm, I recently discovered that the tobacco became dry to the bone! Sometimes with cigars, I can re-hydrate them by placing them in a sealed Tupperware box along with a small container of steaming water. The questions I have are: Should I throw away this dried-up tobacco or should I try to re-hydrate it? Once pipe tobacco dries out, is it considered 'NO GOOD'? I welcome your suggestions. Thanks.

Yes it works well on most "good" tobacco, not so well on some of the highly sauced aromatics. If you decide it is too much work,what with steaming up you glasses and other onerous drawbacks just post it to me and and will take care of the rehydration and even the smoking of this old smelly, dried out "stuff".

Al (in canada)

Careful with how much moisture you put back in. Too moist and it can mold easily.

This works for me: I keep an eyedropper bottle of distilled water on my desk. When I open a tin of tobacco that seems too dry for me I put about 4 drops of water on the tobacco. Then close up the tin and put tin and all in a ziploc bag. Let it set for 3 or 4 days and when you open it again you will find that the moisture is uniform throughout the tobacco. I don't stir dry tobacco because stirring very dry tobacco makes snuff out of it.
Stan41

Depending on how dry the tobacco, I either:

Spray a wee bit of distilled water directly on it, then let it sit a sealed glass jar for a few days. I keep this process going until I am happy with the moisture level, or

Spary a wee bit of distilled water directly on it; then put it and a sandwich baggie containing a wet washcloth into the sealed glass jar, adding moisture to the washcloth until I get the wanted results.

I utilized the latter method to "restore" three pouches of Troost Slices (found in the back of a drawer!) last year. Took me six months of slowly introducing moisture; however, the results were outstanding!!! Excellent tobacco! FTRPLT

As my name implies I don't actually smoke but I still plan to. I have both tabacco and a pipe but don't want to get into it just yet.

I had some tabacco that was dry and the best way that i have found to revive it is to use the same home remedy for moistening brown sugar that has dried out- a piece of bread.
simply open the package, tin or box and lay the slice over or within having as much tabacco suround it as possible. leave it there and the bread will surrender it's moisture to the tabacco in a gradual manner. check periodically, mix around and replace with a fresh peice until desired moisture is attained.

Enjoy.

I have an idea. Buy a modern tin of London Mixture and and mix it with equal parts of your aged stuff. Myself and others have had great luck with doing this.

Being impatient and given to immediate gratification, what I came up with is to boil some water in a tea kettle. Place said dry tobac in a wire kitchen strainer. Hold same in steam for maybe ten seconds. Jar tightly and check in an hour. Repeat as necessary.

[quote="Puff Daddy"]

Nonsmoker wrote:

As my name implies I don't actually smoke... I had some tabacco that was dry and the best way that i have found to revive it is to use the same home remedy for moistening brown sugar that has dried out- a piece of bread.

You don't smoke, but you are telling us how to........

So how did that tobacco smoke for you? Or did it just look smokeable? [/quote

Puff Daddy

I have used Greg's method with tremendous success. It works like a charm - all you need is patience - the payoff is well worth the wait...

Maybe nonsmoker is just a tobacco collector. I guess there is such an animal.

I like my tobacco fairly dry anyway but if it is absolutely necessary to re-hydrate, I lay it out even on a paper plate and very very lightly spritz it with distilled water. You can purchase a spritzing bottle most any where that sells women's hair care accessories. Craig Tarler (C&D) recommended this method to me over ten years ago.