The Tobacco Jar

[DireWolf]

Literally.

My wife bought me one recently, and I had a question.

I get the impression that they were used when you bought a blend occasionally, and stored it in a stoneware jar, with a non sealing lid.

The one she got is a basic crock shape, made in Jolly Old, and she was told it was from the 50's. Maybe the 40's. The jar has a smaller, unglazed lid shape that fits inside. Based on the little bit of staining on the bottom, I assume it's a weight to help maintain moisture. Is this the case? As its unglazed, I'm also thinking it's designed to absorb excess moisture, or maybe release it in the case of dry tobacco.

I've done a bit of searching, and am having little luck (probably from not knowing what it's called), so thought I'd inquire here.

Sincerely,

Stumped in Oregon

 

[Richard Burley]

Is it similar to this one? In which case you may have a gasket missing, no big deal. Apparently the other stuff may indeed be moisteners, if this dude or dudette knows what's what.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tobacco-Humidor-Made-in-England-Stoneware-Jar-Aztec-Clay-Moistener-5-5-Vintage-/171657161737?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27f7906c09

 

[pepesdad1]

I have a similar type of jar, I believe,...ceramic with a ceramic lid. There is a rubber seal that you can find a repalcement for and a screw down tripod looking device that seals the jar with the seal in place of course. Mine finally broke after 50 years. I still have the parts.

 

[DireWolf]

Not quite.  It's like a basic, straight sided crock - not the screw top.  The inner "lid" is the same general shape, but small enough to fit inside and unglazed.

I see no evidence of gasket residue........ I'll take a few pics.

 

[Blackhorse]

There are a gazillion different designs for those jars. Given your description (photos would sure help) I doubt that an unglazed ceramic lid would have been intended to affect moisture one way or the other. If the unglazed lid doesn't match the color or design of the jar, maybe it's a replacement. Maybe it was thought that it would breathe if left unglazed. Who knows? Moist, it would have promoted mildew. It's just likely a lid to keep out mice and bugs, etc. Keep in mind that many Euro blends were dry cured and moisture retention wasn't a consideration.

In my big jars I sometimes toss in a small cigar humidifier. You could set it up so that one of those was attached to the under side of the lid if you wanted by using some kind of glue, epoxy or Velcro. 

If keeping your tobacco properly humidified is an issue, I'm sure you can find a way to do that effectively.

 

[DireWolf]

Finally got my camera and laptop in the same place.

Aonian is an old French pipe company, as I understand - it's listed on Pipedia, but has no info. A google image search for "Aonian Pipe" has lots of pipes and a few jars, but I can't find any that show this second lid thing. It may just be a weight to maintain moisture. I'd think it would make the tobacco in contact with it too wet.

 

[Richard Burley]

There was a time when tobacco was bought to be smoked, not stored for a decade or two. Assuming that inside piece actually belongs to the jar, I'd hazard a guess and call it a moisture loss retarder, used without any additional humidification. The tobacco would be gone before it dried out, the lack of a perfect seal being moot. I use plain old Middleton canisters in the same way, as I like the wide mouth for easy access to my high usage blends, like Kramer's English or PS's Bull's Eye. Just my thoughts, pulled out of the air.

 

[monbla256]

There was a time when tobacco was bought to be smoked, not stored for a decade or two. Assuming that inside piece actually belongs to the jar, I'd hazard a guess and call it a moisture loss retarder, used without any additional humidification. The tobacco would be gone before it dried out, the lack of a perfect seal being moot. I use plain old Middleton canisters in the same way, as I like the wide mouth for easy access to my high usage blends, like Kramer's English or PS's Bull's Eye. Just my thoughts, pulled out of the air.

As Richard has said about how it was. that Humidor looks similar to my ex father-in-law's that he used that he used to store his Scottish Moor in. He'd soak the unglazed inner "top" in water, wipe it off and set it on top of the 'baccy inside to keep his 'baccy "fresh" and load his pipes and pouch from the Humidor. It works great for the "old style" one blend smoker that used to be the way most pipe smokers were back in the day as everyone want's to say ! :twisted:  Wouldn't work very well with today's tobacco connoisseure pipe smoker :twisted: :twisted:  !

 

[DireWolf]

I wonder how the ketchup blends would do in there.

 

[Blackhorse]

OK, now I get what you were describing.


Yeah...what they said. The thing most likely was soaked, wiped and set on top of the tobacco. In a hundred years guys will look back on our favorite gimmicks and scratch their heads as to what the heck we wuz thinkin'.

 

[monbla256]

I wonder how the ketchup blends would do in there.

Probably just fine as they would be smoked rather quickly as good as they are :twisted: :twisted: But I would not put something blend wise that you are not going to consume in at least a month or less depending how much it holds. it's really a tool aimed at "how it was" before our enlightened tobacco era we are in now :twisted: :twisted: