Storage--for pros, retailers and personal use.

1

Since the search box has come up with various errors preventing me from going further, and title-skimming hasn’t shown me an obvious means of gleaning information, I’ll ask here, in three parts:

Storage for Pros:  What’s best?  I mean, with pipe tobacco, most of us that know what we’re doing use Mason/Ball/Kerr jars with a good rubber seal, toss our leaf in, and call it good.  For those with copious amounts of snuff in their cellar/stash, what’s best?

Storage for Retailers:  It seems that most tobacconists don’t even carry snuff, at least from what I gather.  If they do, and you see them just keeping it on a shelf behind the register, is that an instant turn-off because it’s wrong?  Pipe tobacco, unless bulk (or aromatics sauced with propylene glycol), is sealed in tins.  Cigars get 68% - 72% humidity.   I work at a tobacconist, and it being the desert, we get down into the single-digit humidity percentages.   I can’t imagine this is any good for snuff–especially those with nothing more than tape holding the lid on.   Suggestions?

Storage for Personal Use:  This part might have been answered 4,000 times already, but hell–might as well–what’s best?  I like the idea of some of the thinner, plastic vessels with the slide-top, looks nice for a shirt pocket or something.  For me, personally, I’m a no-frills dude.  Something to keep snuff from dumping out, except onto my hand or to pinch, that’s all good for me.  

Thanks for the detailed question(s) being answered in advance.

Yours,

Von Weissnick

2

I only have about 4-6 snuffs at the same time. I rotate between them and order more when I need to, which is every 30 days or so. This means that long-term storage is not a problem for me, I store my snuffs in a small wooden box or in an airtight plastic box. Never had a problem.

3

I am no pro but in my experience I found decanting snuff into the smallest glass containers keeps it fresh for storage. as long as the lid fits tight and creates an airtight seal you want to store your snuff somewhere out of direct sunlight and a place where the temperature won’t have drastic changes so condensation don’t occur.  . Some artisan snuff require storage in the fridge or freezer to prevent mold.

 And of course to carry your snuff is a personal trait, and small snuff box will work. you want to only fill it with a day or two of a moist snuff, Dry snuff that are not scented you can fill your snuff box up. Oiled snuffs will last a long time, but I suggest using them up when fresh. Oils have a way of turning bad. so these for long term storage should also be fridged. 

You can recycle tap boxes, the most interesting one is Packard club with its dose dispenser.I do like the variety of the Poschl boxes and the ones with the rubber hole stoppers seem a bit better than any with a slide door. Air is the reason snuff gets stale so the tighter the fit of any snuff box the fresher your snuff.

If you want to store tap boxes like Bernards I suggest putting them in small ziplock bags found in craft stores then stacked in a glass jar like a mason canning jar. the bags will help a small amount to deter cross contamination if any of them are slightly methylated ; It is always best to keep menthols and medicated separated from non menthols . I only use these seasonally and some I had for many years still great. some others of the same age just stored in a tight cigar box humidor  have clumped together and have lost some moisture content.Still usable just not as great as well stored.   

4

^^^good stuff right there^^^  Someone clued me in on the search bar problem.  If you google search your question, and follow it up with “snuffhouse”, you can usually find the topic that way.  

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Or, you can enter your search query like this in Google:

site:snuffhouse.com ???

(With the questions marks being whatever you want to search the site about.  It works like a dream).

Mark

6

It appears that from the 18th well into the 20th C, snuff shops (including the famous Fribourg & Treyer) used glazed earthenware jars to store snuff, and that is what was displayed on shelves behind the counter. This seems to have preserved freshness quite well, as some of the snuffs that had aged a few decades went for higher prices and were highly desired by snuff aficionados. Selling snuff in sealed tins was not widely adopted until the 20th C. and the more traditionalist users didn’t like to buy it that way, preferring the bulk from jars.

In a modern retail setting, bulk snuff should be in some sort of opaque, airtight container, as even the light from fluorescent and incandescent bulbs can affect the color and freshness. Probably in a low humidity environment, it may be advisable to use the small clay humidity disks such as are used in jars of pipe tobacco.

As a “hoarder” of snuffs, I like to use amber glass jars with tight fitting lids. Large jars for long-term storage of big quantities, and small (1-2oz) jars for daily use. Some users organize their collections in big coolers to reduce the chance of swings in temperature and humidity, as well as to add another layer of protection against light. It seems like only the artisan snuffs are at high risk of mold or spoilage, so one may conclude that the larger manufacturers must be adding some kind of preservatives and/or humectants to their products.

For personal use away from home, a good snuffbox, tapbox or snuff bullet supplied with just enough for the day is best, as these are seldom perfectly airtight. basement_shaman has some very good suggestions above about longer term storing of tapboxes in ziplocks and jars.

7

For carrying in my pocket, I like the little screw top pill boxes with the black o-rings. You can’t pinch from them, but you can spoon onto the back of your hand, spoon straight into your nose, our pour into your boxcar. They cost about $5 each at the drug store, and $1 at Dollartree. I can carry 2 or 3 in my pocket at once (along with a small snuff spoon). Mark

8

This is excellent advice, thank you all.  

My idea was to refill the Silver Dollar dispensers with… well, better stuff… because the convenient packaging seemed agreeable.   The problem lies in that the packaging tends to warp and loosen over time, and is far from perfect.   “Air-tight” is one thing, snuff-tight is quite another.  Having a small supply handy that doesn’t puff out into the pocket is probably more agreeable than whether or not I can do somersaults in mudpuddles and have pure snuff at hand afterward.

In short, for myself, something flat and pocket-friendly would be keen, especially with a sliding/hinged cover that could aid in dispensing.  I’ve seen similar devices, but I wonder how easy they are to fill and use, in the end.  

I may not get what I envision, and may have to adapt.  

As for storing a collection, large or small, I’ll happily use the same kind of jars I use for pipe tobacco.   I’m not a fan of minted or mentholated anything, so I’ll likely organize by general genre.  I have the things I need already at hand.

As for the shop, we only carry Wilsons of Sharrow (and all mentholated, sadly for me, as I believe our distributor can only get a limited selection) and the Silver Dollar.  I’m not sure these are in need of refrigeration or stable humidity.

On the topic of the store, we have a really old 4.65oz bottle of some pretty old snuff we dip into occasionally.  It’s degraded a bit (it’s both slightly painful and yet weak), but kind of a fun snort when we’re bored.  Especially when college kids come in wanting to try something new.   /evilgrin   I’ll take pictures and see if any of you know what the heck it is.

Again, thank you for the detailed and kind responses.

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Oh, and to be clear, any jars I’d use for cellar/collection would have a home near my pipe tobacco, in a cool, dark cabinet free of temperature swings or light exposure.   I do realize that is important with the storage of pretty much any tobacco.   :slight_smile: