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Storing Pipe Tobacco

cabaiguan juan

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When it comes to storing pipe tobacco, some stores that I've visited store the pipe tobacco in jars, outside of the humidor. Do you need to keep pipe tobacco humidified? If so, what is the humididty that you try keep it at, and do you have a seperate humidor to store your pipe tobacco in?
 
You don't want it to dry out. I store bulk in mason jars to keep the humidity at a constant humidity level. For open tins, I'll just leave them if I anticipate smoking the whole tin in a week or two, otherwise, I put them in zip top bags for up to a month or so. Any longer than that and I transfer to jars.

Having said that, pipe tobacco doesn't need the humidity level of cigar storage. As long as it's not dried out when you get, just try to maintain it as it comes. It's also more receptive to re-humidification than cigars are, so if it does dry out a bit it's not difficult to bring it back. It won't be as good as if it had never dried out, but it will usually still be close.
 
You don't want it to dry out. I store bulk in mason jars to keep the humidity at a constant humidity level. For open tins, I'll just leave them if I anticipate smoking the whole tin in a week or two, otherwise, I put them in zip top bags for up to a month or so. Any longer than that and I transfer to jars.

Having said that, pipe tobacco doesn't need the humidity level of cigar storage. As long as it's not dried out when you get, just try to maintain it as it comes. It's also more receptive to re-humidification than cigars are, so if it does dry out a bit it's not difficult to bring it back. It won't be as good as if it had never dried out, but it will usually still be close.

What is your take on humidification discs? I received one with the pipe I bought and wasn't sure if it was worth using since I don't plan on smoking the whole tin within a few weeks.. From what I've read the above method seems to work just fine. Should I just chuck it?
 
If you decide to use it make sure it's not sopping wet or you will get mold.

I don't use them.
 
I find round tins (particularly the ones with the screw down lids) do a really good job of persevering the tobacco even after the seal is broken. Also keep in mind that its really easy to re-hydrate dry tobacco, so if its not the end of the world if you let you tobacco get a little too dry.
 
Its an old post, and I'm a newer pipe smoker (1.5 years). How long should you keep open tobacco in mason jars? I don't smoke my pipe as much as cigars so I'll have open tin tobacco left in a mason jar for 6+ months.
 
Mason jars will last for years, decades even. Sealed tins will too. Open tins are another story. Newer tins do really well, but if the tin will be open more than a month or so, put it into a jar. Jarred tobacco goes through several stages. First, after a few weeks, you'll notice that a vacuum seal develops and the "freshness button" on the lid will suck down. Then after a little while longer you may notice that the rings around the lid start to loosen ever so slightly. Another 1/4 turn or so should be about all that is necessary and then they'll last you a good long while. At that point I move mine into a rubber-made container in the basement for long term storage.
 
Mason Jars. I throw them in a cooler in the dark, in the night, on a full moon.
 
Just wanted to double check. 
 
So to store pipe tobacco, you just put the tobacco in mason jars and put the lid on and that's it ? 
 
What about farenheit ?
 
Tobacco beetles ?
 
Turbolag said:
Just wanted to double check. 
 
So to store pipe tobacco, you just put the tobacco in mason jars and put the lid on and that's it ? 
 
What about farenheit ?
 
Tobacco beetles ?
That's pretty much what I do. I store it in the basement here in Northern MN, so I don't really worry about temp. I'd guess you might want to keep it in a cool, dark place.
 
I've never seen a tobacco beetle other than in pictures on the internet.
 
LilBastage said:
Just wanted to double check. 
 
So to store pipe tobacco, you just put the tobacco in mason jars and put the lid on and that's it ? 
 
What about farenheit ?
 
Tobacco beetles ?
That's pretty much what I do. I store it in the basement here in Northern MN, so I don't really worry about temp. I'd guess you might want to keep it in a cool, dark place.
 
I've never seen a tobacco beetle other than in pictures on the internet.
Thank you for your help. That really cleared up my question about storing pipe tobacco.
 
Just wanted to double check.

So to store pipe tobacco, you just put the tobacco in mason jars and put the lid on and that's it ?

What about farenheit ?

Tobacco beetles ?


That's pretty much what I do. I store it in the basement here in Northern MN, so I don't really worry about temp. I'd guess you might want to keep it in a cool, dark place.

I've never seen a tobacco beetle other than in pictures on the internet.

I do the same as LilBastage, stick the bulk in a jar and away to the basement it goes. I also stored sealed tins in the basement and check the deals maybe every few months. The only tins so far I've had seals go bad on were a couple of the two ounce Penzance tins. From what I understand, those small rectangular tins and the larger ones (like Gawith) are the ones to pay special attention to. I've thought about vacuum sealing those types of tins that I'm aging as a sort of backup, but not sure if its worth the effort since I'm checkin them every so often.
 
I was wondering about vaccum sealing. Like using the food saver.

I guess you couldn't store a bunch of different tins together though huh?
 
I seal rectangular tins with my Food Saver. I've never mixed blends together, so I don't know how that would go. Keep in mind that there is some evidence to suggest that once you vacuum seal tobacco you stop the aging process or at least slow it way down. I'm not sure I buy that given that some tins seem to come vacuum sealed. Most are not vacuum sealed, though, so maybe there's something to it.
 
Pipe tobacco is very forgiving. As long as you don't let it dry out, get too wet, or expose it to extreme temps (like leaving a tin on your dashboard on a 100F sunny day) you're not going to change the aging process all that much. Sure, you may not get the absolute most out of it as you could have, but you're certainly not going to ruin it.
 
I wonder how much vacuum sealing the already vacuum sealed rectangular tins would affect the aging process though. My guess is not much, it any at all. From my understanding, the vacuum sealed tins still age, just not as quickly as a tin that is sealed with a small amount of air in it does, like a C&D or McClelland tin. I think I'll toss the question about how much vacuum sealing the rectangular tins might affect aging to Mr. Pease and see what he has to say.
 
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