I am a collector of sorts - meaning I buy more tobacco than I need. For those rainy days, just in case, in the event of … and so on. This means that I currently have 10 lbs of pipe tobacco stored, and more is on the way. What about snuff? Can it be stored for years and years, or is it one of those things that just need to be used while fresh? No doubt tobacco is getting more and more expensive, and if snuff really grabs me, I would like to stock up on the ones I like early on. Those drums don’t look too bad

Yes, if stored in good conditions - airtight containers in a cool dark environment - much the same as wine. I have some thats nearly 30 years old that is still good and I recently traded some 1980 snuff that was specifically sold by Tranters in the 80’s as ‘vintage’. Also (to an extent) if it has dried out somewhat you can put moisture back in as you would with old pipe or RYO tobacco, although, for my taste, I always think that some part of the flavour or ‘nose’ is affected when you do this. The best approach is to never open the container and just leave well alone. Small tins will often slowly lose their integrity or even weld themselves shut over time and plastic flip tops are not truly airtight in any case. If you want to do this seriously, I recommend that you buy in bulk in half/full pound drums (1kg approx) and leave to mature. Most manufacturers would supply like this - I get 1/2 pound cannisters of Wilsons snuffs for this reason. Something else to bear in mind - small chemical changes occur when anything is aged, so some snuffs tend not to work out as well as others. I find the best for laying down are the more flavour rich varieties. As with all things involving taste, this is a very subjective area and I’m sure other members will disagree or have their own views.

I had a feeling the same would apply for snuff as for pipe tobacco, so that’s great to know. I would prefer to keep the moisture level constant rather than add to it later. As you say, with drying, something more than just moisture disappears. I have only seen a couple of these drums you speak of. Do brands like Molens and F&T come in these sizes as well? With pipe tobacco, it’s actually the unflavored tobaccos that benefit the most from aging. The flavored ones become flat and boring. Interesting. Thank you for the feedback.

Wilsons of Sharrow make F&T so I imagine they would, they are pretty helpful via email on their website. Not sure about Molens but over the years Ive found that most companies are pretty customer focussed and happy to supply as required. Obviously, we all have different tastes. The 1980 vintage that I traded was a plain tobacco that I thought was very boring, but Roderick - who I traded with - really liked it.

Roderick, I live in southern Sweden - the home of IKEA I use bail top jars for all my pipe tobaccos and I’m sure it would work equally well with snuff. In fact I have written a small article about jarring tobacco ( http://slartie.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/put-that-in-your-jar-and-store-it/ ). I’d avoid opening the jars. If it’s an airtight seal, the moisture level should be constant. Fresh air will stop the aging process and only slowly restart. If snuff is anything like pipe tobacco, well aged snuff should be divine. The snuff tin with humidor crystals is actually a great idea. I come across some bone dry tobacco from time to time, and I usually rehydrate it with some moisture coins. The problem with those is that you either have to use a lot of them or change them fairly often before the tobacco has absorbed enough moisture to get its springy texture back. A tin full of crystals would just be what the doctor ordered. Thanks for that. Oh - Let me know if it would be possibly to get samples of each of the flavors you have (and of course what the price would be). They all sound delicious, but given the chance, I would start out with some small samples to figure out what I like best.

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Slartie, I find myself in almost the same situation. I have way more snuff than I could possibly go through within a year. Maybe even two. There are so many kinds I want to try. When I find one I like, I buy a lot of it. The way I store snuff that I’m not currently using is by using a vaccum food sealer. Just stick the snuff tins or boxes in the plastic bag, suck out the air, and seal it. Should keep it good for a looooong time. -Bill

That sounds like a very good system - I guess it would keep indefinately

Food quality bags. FoodSaver is the brand I use. You can also make the bags pretty much any size you want. The best part is that the scents don’t escape the bags. So none of the snuffs will ever ‘cross paths’. It’s a rather cheap method and it works. I’ll take some pics later to show as an example. If you buy a vaccum sealer, I should point out that it’s worth it to buy a better one. You really do get what you pay for with these. I spent about $95 on mine. But I mostly use it for food.

It has literally been years and years since I saw a vacuum sealer last. I like the idea a lot, though. If I happen to find some snuffs I like, that won’t come in drums I’ll have to keep an eye open for a vacuum sealer. Thanks for the tip.

I have heard of using a potato or a piece of carrot. I imagine you could use a small sliver off a turnip or beet or any light scented veggie for that matter such as an immature zucchini thats still pretty solid?. But you also can add a drop of something like grapeseed oil or extra virgin olive oil to the snuff, this I have tried and it does work. Also a bean with natural oils or moisture will help. Such as tonkin, vanilla or coffee bean. I have used things such as orange and apple peelings, flower petals, mint leaves etc. Even a small damp piece of sponge like the size of a peanut. You could moisten the sponge with just plain water or even oil mentioned earlier. Check out this old post “adding new life to snuff” Boy I sure would like to use that 1850 to do some of my mining. ;~) Are you pulling out iron ore down there?

slartie, here is another option. Here is a link I posted before on the Tightvac jars … watch the commercial.

I’m having the hardest time taking those TightVac jars seriously The price alone makes me think that a cheap vacuum sealer would be a better deal. That, and I have a ton of empty bail top jars.

I imagine one could create a strong partial vacuum by “canning” the snuff as one would do with jam. Put the covered snuff jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes then seal.

Actually, many vaccum sealers these days come with a feature that will vaccum jars too. No need to use the old “canning” method. Besides, that doesn’t work too well for dry goods. Remeber not to buy the cheapest sealer you can find. Trust me, you’ll regret it. Middle of the road works just fine.

does anyone use a pressure cooker and “can” there bulk snuff like a jar of jam? I figured long term this might be the best. I’m canning mine right now.

I don’t think canning snuff would be a very good idea. You’re not supposed to expose it to high temperatures if you can avoid it.

Maybe if you were to tap out the lid of a mason type jar and pull a vaccuum through a threaded nipple fitting on the top? I keep bulk in mason jars but have never thought about going to that extreme.

I think if you’re going to heat it and can it, you should also pickle it in boiling brine as well. It works well for my Jalapeno peppers. As a further precaution, I’d also put the can in a lead chest buried at least 6 feet under. No seriously, don’t heat the snuff! You could store it in a vacuum in the deep freeze if you were really concerned.

ok. so what’s the problem with heat and snuff? im obviously missing something here. is heat the concern, or is drying out due to heat the concern. the way i see it, the snuff gets sealed in a jar and pressure cooked for storage. being it is in a jar, no moisture, flavor, or oxygen is permeable through the glass. I fail to see the problem here. i should note that my bulk is intended for the next few years of storage. i dont see a better way for long term, especially since i have a hatred of plastic storage devices like bottles, jars or bags. i have yet to find a plastic that is suitable for anything. but then again im new and strange, so what do i know.

I have some tins that are about two years old and they’re are just fine. I have “damaged” more snuff airing it out when fresh than just leaving it sit in a tin in a drawer.

Um…Heating generally equals cooking. Not necessarily a problem with snuff, but you may be missing something. Cooking will change that which is cooked. So unless you are designing a change in your snuff you should try to maintain a stable temperature for storage of a finished product. That being said, you may still be somewhat successful in your “canning” of snuff. If you could take notes on any color changes and let us know of other results you have with this method it would be greatly appreciated. Already, I am curious as to what types of snuff you are intending to store with this method so that I may form a hypotheses of your success.

The thing you’ve missed is that snuff should generally be stored in a cool, dry place, in an airtight container and away from heat as much as possible in order to preserve it. Canning bulk is a particularly bad idea, though. Say you bought 100g of a WoS snuff, and you decant it from a bulk container to a 21g tin to a snuffbox. That means that you’d need to recan it and reheat it about five times over the course of its life. That’s just no good for it. If you absolutely must play with kitchen gadgets in storing your snuff, I’d suggest a vacuum sealer instead.

So the 10 day trip in the back of a mail van in the mid summer wont affect the snuff, but my heating it will? I’m going to have to respectfully disagree. With the additives in snuff and bacteria in the world, i was wondering about anaerobic reactions specifically, so i figured i would “TRY” a new method, that no one seems to have tried before. If it is used for canning vegetables, why not snuff, which in a round about way is also a vegetable matter. I should share that i canned 1 jar with the pressure cooker and 1 without the cooker, to compare differences. Also as I said earlier, this is intended for super duper ultra mega uber long term storage. I don’t intend to test these for the next few years. i have plenty of bulk that i currently dig into to recant(decant?). BTW, Toque Quit is the lab rat here.

I just vacuum seal it in the tin or now by the drum. I would never heat up snuff that has any flavor or scent added, myself. I could not bare to say heat up a Rose snuff or even Manjul. I keep all of mine in a large heavy plastic dog food drum at 65 degrees. My open snuffs in a humidor at 65% RH. Good luck with the experiment!

Well, you can try it, I’m just telling you why I think it’s a bad idea. And I don’t know where you live, but the mail vans here don’t get that hot. Bath canning would heat it to 212°F/100°C, and canning with a pressure cooker seems to bring it up to 240°F/115°C. Either one is substantially hotter than the back of the mail vans around here, and I live in a fairly hot place.

Toque Quit is the perfect candidate (double pun, can, date). Be sure to store in darkness. Also remember upon opening that there will be a breathing phase the snuff will go though.

what is this “breathing phase” you speak of?

When you first open it, it will have a certain character, after breathing it’s character should improve. I mention this so that you you won’t judge your experiment prematurely upon opening.

thanks for the heads up. another point to this experiment is to see if the ammonia character remains longer than normal. im hoping it does. in the mean time…i’ll be enjoying my vanilla, coke, dholakia white cocktail.

Not being a scientist (well I used to be), I am sure that heating organic material (such as snuff) increases cancer causing nitrosamines. That is why I wouldn’t cook tobacco. It has already been heat cured once. My advice is choose your favourite snuffs, buy in bulk, store in an airtight container in a dark cool place, and don’t stockpile excessive amounts. Over the last year and a half, I’ve bought 300 odd different snuffs, yet my daily rotation is six or so now (O&G, Wilsons Prime Minister, Queens Extra Strong, Lavender, Rose of Sharrow and Hedges). As I now have just these snuffs in bulk, the snuff is always fresh.

I don’t know how many of you are loaded up and figuring out a way to store bulk for long time, but I found this, tried it, and it works. Low cost and vacuum seals the crap out of the jar! http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Alvin-Vacuum-Sealer/ *never pulled the 20" they talk about… really minus 8 or so, but it sure is vacuum sealed.