Well, this is a first!

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
May 4, 2011
Messages
13,861
Reaction score
452
Location
Arid-zona
Decided to open a ~10 yr old tin of GLP Mephisto tonight. The 'baccy was absolutely dry - as in snap-crackle-pop dry! Yet the pull tab lid seemed like it was in fine shape. Apparently it didn't have an air tight seal after all!

Filled a pipe and did the forced moisture thing by breathing into the bowl about a dozen times until the top layer seemed about right. After lighting it burned and tasted pretty good actually!

Put the remainder of the tin into a bowl and sprayed distilled water on it with a sprtizer while mixing thoroughly and checking for feel. Settled on it feeling just about moist enough to get it to clump slightly while squeezing.

Didn't want to over humidify it, so have left it in the bowl with a piece of saran wrap over it secured with a rubber band. Will leave it there overnight and check it again tomorrow and go from there.

Can't really say that the tin was in an area exposed to a heat source or direct sunlight. I've other tins that were stored in this area that were OK, but there again not one quite this old. Tomorrow I'll check a couple other older tins from that area before I go into panic mode!

:affraid:

YIKES!!!



Cheers,

RR
 
Progress report:

After a bit less than 24 hrs in the covered bowl, the 'baccy had uniformly re-hydrated. Doing the pinch test it just about clumped, which in retrospect might be a bit more moist than I intended. But it's clearly what I have now, and of course I can dry out whatever I need for smoking a few hrs prior if this proves to be problematic.

I jarred it up in a pint mason, and will let this rest for a couple days before checking it out again.

Have several other older GLP tins that are now suspect - Barbary Coast, Abingdon, Ravens Wing, and Cairo. Shaking them doesn't reveal anything that would lead me to believe they are also compromised, at least from the way they sound. Guess I'll be opening them up soon, and will be prepared to re-hydrate them accordingly.

I guess I'm left wondering about the seal of this style tin. It's used on a great number of brands, GLP notwithstanding, and to date I've never had a problem like this. But again, I've not opened a tin this old either.

Anyone else have a problem like this with old tins of that design?


Cheers,

RR
 
Brewdude":wnakm9uz said:
Progress report:

I guess I'm left wondering about the seal of this style tin. It's used on a great number of brands, GLP notwithstanding, and to date I've never had a problem like this. But again, I've not opened a tin this old either.
I think you've already stated the solution, above.

My tins are no older than 9 years, but I have discovered pin-holes and have transferred the contents to jars. But other tins seem fine, and you read about much older tins in others' collections.

Perhaps tins no older than 2 or 3 years can be counted on to remain intact, but with those that are older, you have to remain vigilant. In any case, from what I've read, while VAs do most of their aging within the first two years, and while significant aging occurs until 5 years, older VAs will age more or less indefinitely, but increasingly more slowly. Thus, if you've reached either the 2 or 5 years mark, a good argument could made that if you don't intend to smoke the tobacco, get it out of the tin and jar it. Then you won't have to worry about it.

But this is not what I do as I favor uninterrupted aging. While some are comfortable with opening jars/tins designated as aging vehicles, I am not: a purist approach.

 
I agree that you did well fixing the issue. The best thing to do, imo, is to check your aging tins regularly and to transfer at the first sign of rust or any hint of a pinhole in the tin.

I was gifted a tin of Mystic Blend from 2004 that had a few spots of rust on the bottom, but I didn't see anything that indicated the rust had penetrated the tin. When I popped the tin, the tobacco was as dry as good kindling. When I transferred the contents to be re-hydrated, I noticed a few hairpin holes on the bottom of the tin where those pesky rust spots were. Now, I open and transfer as soon as I see any hints of rust.

I'm not sure if there were any rust spots on your tin, but diligence is the best deterrent. Also, it's rare but it does happen that some tins just don't get that perfect seal. Sad but true.
 
Top