Do you have to keep pipe tobacco in a humidor
Hiker007
Enthusiast
What is the best way to store pipe tobacco?
Hiker007
Enthusiast
Comments
Once tins are opened, they don't typically keep the tobacco in the right condition to smoke for long. They'll dry out over time. Mason jars seem to be the way to go for short-term and long-term tobacco storage. These 16oz beauties can be found most anywhere and they'll hold 8oz of tobacco quite well.
For long term storage I like mason jars, or the American style tins with a pop top. Once I crack open a tin and start smoking it on a regular basis, I usually move the contents to a Tupperware style container. If the original tin is of European design, I will usually more it to mason jars for long term storage, particularly if the tins are square. I have found that the square style tins can lose their seal easily, in some cases much easier than round style. In that case, I will move the tobacco straight to mason jars as soon as I obtain it.
Plastic Tupperware style containers will ghost, so if you plan to use them for short term storage, they should be thoroughly cleaned with baking soda between blends, or at a minimum dedicated to a particular blend or genre of tobacco.
You will find that the higher the quality of Tupperware container, the more effectively it usually holds the moisture in your tobacco. The reason I mention this, is because the disposable cheaper styles will work, but you need to keep an eye on your moisture content a little closer than you might with a higher quality container.
Another advantage to Tupperware style containers, is their weight, if you are going to need to go mobile, and are concerned with weight or breakage issues. If you are going on vacation for 2 weeks, and want a 17 blend selection, the plastic containers won't rattle, break, or break your back wagging them around.
But now...
I have 2 dozen big mouth mason jars, a dozen decorative big mouth candy jars and 29 large apothecary/candy jars and the 20 or so tins.
All of the jars work fine, some of em being used for long term storage, others more often. Probably only have 6 or 8 of the tins opened, and they seem to be doing fine. But, then again, I kind of like my tobacco more on the drier side.
The humidor has become victim to my transition from 'pipe smoker' to 'pipe smoking hobbyist'. For nearly fifty years I've been smoking a pipe and considered myself a basic 'pipe smoker'. Which entailed buying a package of OTC pipe tobacco from a drug store or supermarket ... or once The Tinder Box opened near me ... a couple ounces of aromatic house blends ... usually "North Sea". And a humidor proved to be quite useful when purchasing eight ounces or more of a specific blend. I'd fill it with tobacco and smoke until the humidor was near empty and purchase more. I knew nothing of cellaring and barely branched out to other blends unless my particular brand was currently out of stock. When that occurred I'd grab something else to get me through the week.
Fast forward to my discovery of the YouTube Pipe Community about a year and a half ago, leading to my transition from 'pipe smoker' to 'pipe smoking hobbyist' or 'enthusiast'. And I went from smoking one or two brands to what at last count is somewhere in the vicinity of 60 different blends in various quantities in my cellar. Couple that with the fervor over the impending FDA Deeming Regulations and I'm slowly transitioning to 'tobacco hoarder'.
So as my tobacco supply multiplied and with it the variety of blends, my smoking habits changed drastically. I no longer smoke only one blend but constantly switch up throughout the day, seldom smoking the same blend twice during the course of a week. Any tobacco blend I'd put in a decanter or humidor would dry out before I barely made a dent in it. So all bulk tobacco is now stored in Mason Jars and the humidors have become more of a decoration. I'll occasionally use them for flints and pipe cleaners, or when I get a big order from Pipes & Cigars and don't have any Mason Jars around the house - so I'll jam the bagged tobacco into a decanter until I get to the store and pick-up more Mason Jars. Which is quite sad really because the humidor/decanter was once a mainstay accessory for the pipe smoker. Making Christmas shopping much easier for my wife, as a new humidor was always a welcome Christmas present..
Since the topic is humidors I'd suggest taking pictures of the humidors in your collection and posting them on the site to share with the members. I might start a new discussion dedicated to photos of members humidors. Need to get the camera out and take a few snapshots of my own.
I've had two canisters of Velvet tobacco in my closet for somewhere between 15 and 20 years. One was opened and I may have only smoked a bowl or two before discovering I wasn't that impressed with it, the other is still sealed. They were given to me by one of my foreman while working at US Steel. His wife worked at Walgreens and they were doing some sort of inventory and removing items from the shelf that hadn't moved, creating a bargain bin for such items. Well these two tins had been marked down so many times there was about five layers of price tags ... one on top the other. With the final tag reading 50 cents. Now 50 cents for a 14 oz. can of smoking tobacco is something she couldn't pass up and brought them home to her husband. Assuming someone he knew at worked smoked a pipe and might be interested. Well that someone was me.
Now considering that can was sealed with nothing more than the plastic lid you know it was dry enough to be brittle after so long. And it was about this time I discovered the YouTube Pipe Community and several instructional videos on rehydrating tobacco. This was the perfect candidate. By all standards it was D.O.A. and just waiting for last right and a decent burial. So of all the methods I'd watched the one that most appealed to me was this one.
Pour the tobacco into a sealable Tupperware container with a lid. Spread it out pretty evenly. I use a flat bottomed rectangular container. I then get a cap from one of my prescription medicine bottles (you know ... the white lid on your plastic bottle of pills that's about the size of a half-dollar and just about 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep) . Then pour distilled water (must be distilled water) into the cap. Now take a paper towel and crumple it up into a ball. Take the wadded up ball of paper towel and place it in the cap of distilled water. Then let the towel be completely absorbed with the water. You may need a little more ... but the lid doesn't have to contain any additional water, it's just there to keep the wet paper towel from making contact with the tobacco. Once the paper towel is completely absorbed then gently place the lid with the wet paper towel in the center of the Tupperware container with the tobacco ... seal up the lid on the container. And set it aside for a day or two. Once you open the lid the tobacco should have retained enough moisture to once again be smokable. If it's extremely dry - repeat the procedure and let it set another day or two. My Velvet required a double treatment. But once I was done it smokes perfectly and I use the Velvet for mixing purposes, which suits me fine, and kept me from tossing out a perfectly good blending tobacco.
Step 1: Here are The Supplies You Will Need:
Step 2: In This Next Picture You Will See I've Removed The Cap From The Top Of The Pill Bottle. Then Fill The Cap With Distilled Water:
Step 3: This Next Picture Is A Bit Fuzzy But You'll See I've Rolled The Wet Paper Towel Into A Ball And Placed It Into The Cap. If More Water Is Needed To Saturate The Towel Do So. But You Don't Need Additional Water In The Cap:
Step 4: Now Gently Place The Cap And Wet Balled Up Paper Town Into The Container With The Tobacco:
Step 5: Put On The Lid Of The Tupperware Container Making Sure It's Tightly Sealed. Then Carefully Lift The Container and Tobacco And Take It To A Spot Where It Won't Be Disturbed Or Knocked Over And Wait A day Or Two To Check The Results. If The Tobacco Is Still Too Dry Repeat The Procedure With Fresh Water And Towel An Wait A Day Or Two.
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