I recently bought a 500g drum of Viking Dark… When opened it was all nice and moist and lovely to look at. However, a couple of 25g tin refills later and the air gap above the snuff is both obvious and destined to grow. As more and more air sits above thhe snuff, there is bound to be a loss of moisture from the snuff - it will dry out. I’ve thought of putting a scrunch of bubble wrap above the snuff to reduce the air volume but this won’t solve the basic problem, only alleviate it. How does one set about keeping the snuff moist or re-moistening it when it gets too dry, please? This problem must affect all large volume buyers of moist snuffs so I’m hoping someone has come up with a good solution.
best solution is to pack it in smaller glass jars
Mason jars. A quart jar holds about 250 grams +/-, depending on the mill. They are airtight and the air ‘head space’ won’t matter a bit. I’ve got several bulk snuffs purchased in the mid eighties that are still in good shape. My wife bought two kilos of WoS Raspberry in 2000, packed the whole thing in mason jars and it’s still great. She loves the stuff. Too much menthol for me.
Mason jars. A quart jar holds about 250 grams +/-, depending on the mill. They are airtight and the air ‘head space’ won’t matter a bit. I’ve got several bulk snuffs purchased in the mid eighties that are still in good shape. My wife bought two kilos of WoS Raspberry in 2000, packed the whole thing in mason jars and it’s still great. She loves the stuff. Too much menthol for me.
@chefdaniel, yep, excellent jars. I’ve got the same size jars, but if I buy more, I’ll probably get the smaller ones, about half the size. I don’t think the head space matters much, it probably matters more if you’re constantly opening it. Best to decant, say, 20 grams or so into a smaller plastic box, and fill up your daily box from there so you don’t have to open your larger storage jars more than once a week or so.
@JakartaBoy Exactly right. I decant from the quart jars into 1/2 pint jars once a month or so and fill my snuff boxes from those. I also have little 4 ounce jars I use as desktop “snuff boxes”. Right now there’s 16 on the desk that I spoon from as the mood strikes. I also use 12 ounce mason jars for the snuffs I go through quickly. I go through so much HDT I don’t bother decanting it. I only fill my actual snuff boxes with a days supply if I’m out and about-7 grams or so.
@chefdaniel i like your installation, crisply!
For re-hydrating dry snuff I use Water Pillows lightly dipped in distilled water; not too much or you’ll end up with furry snuff, and there’s nothing you can do with that. Make sure you put it into the little zipper bag and keep in your drum or jar until the snuff comes back to life, then remove it. http://www.famous-smoke.com/waterpillows+humidifier+12+pk/item+23188
Just had a good idea. Snuff jars in rotating spice racks!
A Lazy Susan Snuff Rack! Brilliant!! ***Speaking of bulk…does anyone have a line on getting GH Kendal Brown in 250 or 500 gram drums delivered to USA?
I would recommend only rehydrating a little at a time. Also don’t risk contamination at any interaction.
Brilliant! Thanks guys! I eventually found Mason jars here in UK but the vendor couldn’t make up his mind which units to use - so there is a hard to unravel mixture of pints and ounces and millilitres. They are much the same as our Kilner jars, which I use for coffee bean storage. Decanting from the 500g drum into a few smaller jars is the way to go for me - even just two 250ml jars would be good!
@Juxtaposer is absolutely correct on rehydrating in small amounts. If something goes awry it’s better to lose a wee bit of snuff than an entire quart jar or more. Also do not use fruit or other organic substances to rehydrate. They produce mold pretty quickly. I’ve used citrus zest with some success, but I make it brief and in less than 10 gram batches. It’s tricky and you’ll lose some snuff while you’re on the low end of the learning curve. Best of luck!
I’ve heard of carrot, apple, ginger and other fruits/veggies for rehydrating tobacco. If it’s in briefly I don’t see a problem. More than 2-3 days and nature takes over and organic material starts to break down; animal tissue putrefies and plants mold. Tobacco, being a plant, can mold all by itself without human intervention if it’s too moist or too warm. While tobacco is growing there are several molds that are inherent in the atmosphere that can destroy a crop; blue mold being the most common and destructive. There are also several fungi and mold spores that attack tobacco as it’s cured, especially if the humidity is high, slowing the drying/curing process. http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/extension/fact\_sheets/Tobacco\_-\_Blue\_Mold.htm http://www.uky.edu/Ag/kpn/kpn\_00/pn000925.htm I figure it’s your tobacco and you can do with it what you please, and your mileage may vary. There’s nothing worse than having to toss a 50 gram tin of Abraxas or SWS due to mold growth. Heartbreaking.
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