Question about moisture levels- Some snuffs seem bone dry (D.white, RR Mills plain). Any reason to keep these air tight?. Is it the flavor we are preserving or is it the nicotine as well? Will nic decompose over time? Now, for those snuffs that DO have a bit of moisture, when I put them in an airtight container, is there any logic in tossing in a damp q-tip (next to the tins, not IN them)? Any reason not to? so much for 1-post, 1-question. Would welcome your thoughts on any of this as I amass, and store, my mini-collection.
Even dry snuffs will deteriorate over time if not kept in airtight containers, though the process is a lot slower than with moister snuffs. It’s not so much that they dry out further (though toasts do have a little moisture to lose) but more that the snuff becomes stale and loses whatever flavouring it had. Whether nicotine breaks down over time I don’t know, but I suspect not. I’m not sure that a damp q-tip would have any effect though.
No reason not to in that it wont do any harm, but if your snuff container is airtight it wont need it and wont do anything - snuff simply will not lose moisture in an airtight container, its just physics.
@Xander i paid the same price for having way to much diffrent tins open at the same time. it is shame, that i didnt look deeper into the storage-topic before. :-/ …i got my leason and will try to aviod that from happening in the future.
I keep mine in the freezer. I never tried it with a Poschl President plastic container because I don’t know how the plastic would take it (don’t want the flip top to become brittle.) The Ntsu plastic holds up just fine. The F&T and Wilson Aluminum containers work Ideally. Just put what I need into my snuffbox and pop it back into the freezer.
Re dryness… If my snuff gets too dry I put a 0.1 - 0.2 cc of DISTILLED water into my snuffbox (with snuff in it) give it a shake and let nature take it’s course. If it’s still too dry, I repeat the process. WARNING don’t have your snuffbox more than 3/4 full. Rehydrating snuff may cause it to expand.
Expand? Could you explain that in a little more depth please?
I would assume that what howdydave means is that as the dry snuff absorbs moisture it increases in size, much the same way that wood swells in humid conditions.
Howdy! Tybalt is exactly right. Ever cook rice? You start off with 1 cup of dry rice (not quick rice,) after it has absorbed the water you have 3 cups of cooked rice. Nothing that drastic, of course, but as each piece of snuff absorbs water it expands a bit to accomodate it. BTW: I specified distilled water because it will not add any essences (such as chlorine) to your snuff.