Help with stocking up on tobacco?

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bentbulldog

bentbulldog

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So I can NOW honestly say I REALLY enjoy pipe smoking. I've been smoking an equal amount of aromatics, virginias and english. I found out that prior to my discovering this, pipe tobacco used to be much cheaper. Before April 09, a 50g tin of FVF was $5 :shock: So I can only say I wish I had found this sooner. So Ive been buying my favorite blends in large quantities and putting them away for just in case. If I buy something that comes in bulk I put it in a clean mason jar, close tightly and put it in a cardboard box in the top shelf of my closet.

While I'm not as much concerned about aging as I am about just having it around for backup, is this a good way(cardboard box in closet) and place to store it?

I bought a few lbs of Christmas cookie and a tin of Capt Black. I heard aros don't do well with aging, but since Im just storing and don't expect it to get better, will I LOSE any of the flavor by storing aromatics for long periods of time?

Fortunatley, while stocking up some of the blends I heard age well.
I bought 16oz of FVF but unfortunatley, it didn't come in a tin. I used mason jars, put the lid on, put the wax paper over the lid, closed it tight, then put the jar in a zip lock. Will this help?

I bought a few tins of other stuff. Should I store these in zip locks as well?


Anyone else have advice on storing tobacco?
 
Mason jars with new lids should hold fine and keeping them out of light and heat only helps so the closet/box idea is good. Aromatics are said to lose flavor over time and I've even heard people complain that they turn unsmokable but I have not experienced that.

I keep all my sealed tins in a cabinet and that's it. A very knowledgeable board member here swears by mason jars even when he buys tins he pops them and jars them for storage. He had been screwed by rust too many times.
 
Aro's dont age well, Virginias age very well and can be kept for decades, litteraly. Square tins like Sam Gawith's, should be checked for vacuum seal by simply trying to open the tin with your hands, if it doesn't open, the seal is good, to assist the seal, sellotatpe (scotch tape) around the rim and store. Latakia will "store" but will not age anywhere near as well as Virginia. After a few years, Latakia components in tobacco can go flat.
 
don't bother aging aro's, don't store where there will be fluctuations in temp and humidity and stock up on straight virginia's. oh and keep away from sunlight! when you buy a baccy you haven't tried buy 3 tins. smoke one, age the two. with the screw on top mason jars ill take a lighter and give a super quick heat to the actual lids bottom where the wax isthen screw it on tight. I've heard of guys dropping the full jars in boiling water( don't do this) to heat seal them. good way to ruin tobacco. I have a buddy who used to duct tape the whole jar for an extra seal, but he always opened them after 5 years which isn't enough time for straight virginnys. most importantly!!! Don't touch your cellared tobaccos. let them get old! I have tins of McClellands no. 27 at 13 years and they are still too young. ill wait for the 20 year mark then start sampling!
 
:( so my aros are pretty much vain. Here is my tally 80oz of aros, 53oz of Virginias and 53oz of English. Boswell said the aros will be good for years if jared. And the capt black tin may have already been there for years. So how long before they go bad?
After disussing my smoking with the wife(who can't stand it but tolerates it) I can only smoke 1 bowl a day.
 
bentbulldog":e01apauo said:
................ So how long before they go bad?
After disussing my smoking with the wife(who can't stand it but tolerates it) I can only smoke 1 bowl a day.
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IMHO they really don't go bad per se. They just don't improve with age like a Virginia will and get sweeter. I think that Virginia's only improve with age and would probably be fantastic at the twenty year mark. I haven't anything in my cellar that old, although I have had the privilege of smoking some blends that old. My experience with English blends is that they tend to mellow out the blend (or for a better term the different tobacco's in the blend tend to meld together better and the taste of the English blend gets richer). Even this (from my experience) tends slow down or stop around the eight to ten year mark. The same can be said for burley blends that I have stored.

I keep my tins in a cabinet in my home office away from direct sunlight. The square tins I monitor more closely than the round screw on lid tins (they come open pretty easy and break the seal). I monitor all my tins for rust. All of my bulk I keep in canning jars or bail jars.
 
Mikem":xdgipezd said:
IMHO they really don't go bad per se. They just don't improve with age like a Virginia will and get sweeter.
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I don't mind that they don't improve, only if they lose their flavor. So if they can hold that much I'm a happy camper. :cheers:

Mikem":xdgipezd said:
The square tins I monitor more closely than the round screw on lid tins (they come open pretty easy and break the seal). I monitor all my tins for rust. All of my bulk I keep in canning jars or bail jars.
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Isn't rust caused by oxidation after exposure to h2o? How would it form around or inside the tins? Would having them in ziplocks prevent this?
 
Hey Bent, your tastes may change as you grow as a pipe smoker too. Many of us that smoked primarily arros don't anymore. And, no they do not age well.

So keep only enough arros for smoking. Other stuff, buy in bulk when you can; you can always trade it later.
 
I very much agree with all of the above advice - these guys know what they are talking about, so pay heed.

There is nothing like a well stocked cellar full of tins and jars of well aged and well cared for baccys - a lovelier sight ye will never see.

Enjoy!
 
bentbulldog":u3dc0hpx said:
..............Isn't rust caused by oxidation after exposure to h2o? How would it form around or inside the tins? Would having them in ziplocks prevent this?
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I suppose so. A lot would have to do with what part of the country you are living in. In Arizona you really don't have a humidity issue so I personally don't bother with putting the tins in plastic bags. If I lived in Hawaii or Houston I might look into something like that. The only tins I have found rust on were tins that were gifted to me from other parts of the country.
 
Ziplocs are worthless.

Moisture in tins comes from the tobacco in them.

G L Pease has more than a little to say about ageing tobaccos (in what, and for how long) on his website.

:face:
 
Thanks for the replies fellas. I have more than enought aros to fill me for many years So how long until the aros start losing the flavor?

As for the tins, how often and how do I check for rust?
Would it better to open them and then jar them?
 
Rust from my experience shows up as tiny pin holes or brown spots on the bottom or top of the tin. I probably go through my stash every six months or so, but remember I live in a dry climate. I would think aromatics really don't start losing their "flavor" for at least a couple of years. I have some Lane 1Q that has been jarred for several years now and it tastes the same to me. Personally I wouldn't un-tin your blends and jar them but others may differ. The ones that do are probably a very, very small percentage point.
 
Rust is a problem here not only with tins, but with guns, knives, cars, etc. One of the reasons I don't buy as many true tins per se as I do the C & D type containers which I've never had rust on me.

For my gun safe, I have one of those anti humidity things that suck out humidity then you cook them in the oven to get the moisture out. I really should put one of those in my tobacco closet.
 
I live in South Florida. Even though as I'm as far inland and equidistant from salty sea water as you can get in this peninsula-shaped state, the heat and humidity are very high, particularly in the summer. Since I'm retired, however, I spend more time inside my condo apartment. Even with an energy-saving setting (hah! that's what Florida Power and Light would have us believe) of 78F degrees, the central a/c compressor filters out a lot of the outside humi. I've had no issues with my knives, guns, cameras or my baccie tins, thus far. (Knock on wood.) But I still use a lot of silica tins and other anti-humi devices. I keep my baccie inside a walk-in closet, where it's away from the light and the temp remains a few degrees lower than the rest of the apartment.
 
Hermit":opgsjbmm said:
Mason jars are the way to go.
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Absolutely and without a doubt. Mason jars are a tremendous value per jar, can be reused again and again (although sometimes you need to buy new lids or bands, which are still cheap as hell), and if you prepare them properly will keep your prized tobaccos in excellent shape for years and years. They are really a no-brainer for both short and long-term storage.
 
I agree that a sealed Mason jar is as good a storage/aging vehicle as you can get; ziplocks, here, are superfluous.

I'd list VA/Periques as great tobaccos to age. Vito, who has thoroughly explored the world of burley, claims that it ages.

Put a date stamp on any tobacco you jar. Those tobaccos that do age, I think, need a date stamp so you will know how old the tobacco is. Also, weigh the tobacco you jar. I have a scale that cost no more than $30.00 that gets the job done.

I would second the opinion not to use heat in any manner in sealing jars. Just tighten the ring as hard as you possibly can. You will find that jars so sealed form their own seal on their own.

Although a pain, it is important to inspect your tins for rust and lack of seal.

In sum, jars are a very effective, inexpensive way to store/age tobacco.
 
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