Bulk Tobacco Storage

[Robini]

I understand that pipe tobacco improves with age. How should one store bulk tobacco for long periods of time? I had 10 oz of pipe tobacco that was stored in an airtight container for a few years. When I opened it it was very dry. The container could not be completely air tight. It is a stainless container with an acrylic flip top and a rubber seal.

I have considered adding a Boveda pack. If this is a good idea, what should the humidity be?

 

[Kentos]

Unlike cigars pipe tobacco has no “ideal” smoking moisture content. It’s either too wet, too dry, or just right. So I would advise against a Boveda pack as it is an unneeded expense.

For storage of opened or bulk I use either glass canning jars, or more recently heat sealed Mylar bags.

IMO the jars not only help preserve moisture, but it also guards against over fermentation/oxidation. If you left the Boveda in a non-airtight jar the moisture may be ok, but it will have oxidized into a sour tobacco. I have 2 batches of flake tobacco kept in a humidor in non airtight storage and the tobacco is unsmokable for me.

 

[Alacrity59]

Economics may come into play. Bovida is not exactly giving their stuff away. Check out the prices of bulk tobacco at the various merchants we mention here frequently. 10 oz comes fairly inexpensively.

I am a waste not want not kinda person. I'd find a mason jar to put the results in . . . and then a bit of steam . . . in a seive over a pot of boiling water for a very short time.

 

[Alacrity59]

Economics may come into play. Bovida is not exactly giving their stuff away. Check out the prices of bulk tobacco at the various merchants we mention here frequently. 10 oz comes fairly inexpensively.

I am a waste not want not kinda person. I'd find a mason jar to put the results in . . . and then a bit of steam . . . in a seive over a pot of boiling water for a very short time.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I understand that pipe tobacco improves with age. How should one store bulk tobacco for long periods of time? I had 10 oz of pipe tobacco that was stored in an airtight container for a few years. When I opened it it was very dry. The container could not be completely air tight. It is a stainless container with an acrylic flip top and a rubber seal.

I have considered adding a Boveda pack. If this is a good idea, what should the humidity be?

The rubber seals on those go bad quick. I do Ball (Mason) jars with new lids. They will last forever- until you open it up. Then you will have a finite number of openings before the wax ring wears out. New lids are about $2 a dozen.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

Yeap, Mason style jars and find a spot to hide it so the wife doesn't notice your hoard, I mean cellar. The wife calls mine a hoard. Smaug like. I don't know the number of tins or number of pipes I own. Therefore when asked I can truthfully say I don't know.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Yeap, Mason style jars and find a spot to hide it so the wife doesn't notice your hoard, I mean cellar. The wife calls mine a hoard. Smaug like. I don't know the number of tins or number of pipes I own. Therefore when asked I can truthfully say I don't know.

Cache sounds much nicer than hoard.

 

[Kentos]

Yeap, Mason style jars and find a spot to hide it so the wife doesn't notice your hoard, I mean cellar. The wife calls mine a hoard. Smaug like. I don't know the number of tins or number of pipes I own. Therefore when asked I can truthfully say I don't know.

if could spread it all out and lay in it I would!

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

if could spread it all out and lay in it I would!

Stack the boxes of jars and make a throne. Smoke while sitting on it.

 

[Robini]

The 10 oz is long gone and I now have everything in glass jars. I am considering buying a few blends in lb quantities. These will take a while to use up, this is the reason for the question. I will most likely use smaller jars, only having one open at a time from a given blend.

Thanks for the input!

 

[oc_in_fw]

The 10 oz is long gone and I now have everything in glass jars. I am considering buying a few blends in lb quantities. These will take a while to use up, this is the reason for the question. I will most likely use smaller jars, only having one open at a time from a given blend.

Thanks for the input!

I buy by the pound, and I use 1/2 pint jars for storage- don’t want too much open at the same time. I use the normal 1/2 pint, some use the wide mouth. Same results, but some find wide mouth easier.

 

[Kentos]

The 10 oz is long gone and I now have everything in glass jars. I am considering buying a few blends in lb quantities. These will take a while to use up, this is the reason for the question. I will most likely use smaller jars, only having one open at a time from a given blend.

Thanks for the input!

I have the same feelings and have all more recent purchases in 4oz or smaller increments.

 

[Columbo]

If you’re cellaring fancier blends in bulk, I find the bigger Ball/mason jars the best. Thirty-two fluid ounces or bigger, and with the wide mouths. One of those can hold 8-12 ounces of pipe tobacco, depending on the blend. They can stay tightly sealed for decades, even if you open them 6-8 times along the way. You can pull from that into smaller jars or your chairside jar as you go. Be sure to slap a label on the lids, or you might forget which is which after 5-10 years, like I do.

Always cellar it in glass if you can. Anything else, other than the factory container it came in, can interact with it over time. Mason jars have a proven track record.

As far as adding moisture to pipe tobacco, I don’t normally recommend it. Most pipe blends are too moist to start with, IMO. If they are really drying out in storage, then you need to store them better.

The one or two times I’ve let a small pouch go dry, you can try throwing it in a jar with a 69% Bovida pack to try to revive the flavor. But once they go really dry, a good bit of the flavor is gone for good. I find it an exercise in futility at that point.

Some blends are naturally drier and/or smoke better when drier, so getting obsessive about maintaining exact humidity levels with stored pipe tobacco can sometimes be detrimental.

Just keep it as delivered well-sealed until right before you smoke it, and nature will do the rest.

If it’s a tub of everyday barley, I find I go through it before dryness is an issue. My idea of ’cellaring’ PA or SWR is tossing the factory sealed tub on the shelf until I get around to opening it.

Many blends do improve a bit with cellaring, but not all of them do. Casings and the base tobaccos all interact differently over time, depending on how they were processed. I’ve found the better custom blends respond better to cellaring than the cheaper more average ones.

If you keep a chairside jar, it’s ok if it does not perfectly seal. As long as it is not gigantic, a regular piper will normally go through it before moisture becomes any issue. And as I mentioned, most pipe blends are a little too moist, IMO, and will smoke a little better if allowed to dry slightly as you work that jar.

Caring for pipe tobacco is very different than with cigars. It’s actually pretty easy. I wouldn’t overthink it.

 

[Columbo]

Apologies to edit. I meant to type burley above, but autocorrected the misspelling into barley for some strange reason.

 

[Robini]

I appreciate all of the guidance. Everything in now in canning jars. I have been buying amall quantities, 2-4 oz to find the blends which strike a chord with me. I am getting there and have many that warrant making larger purchases.