I was looking at Wilsons of Sharrows site and came across this;                                                                                                                           

_ Q : How do I store snuff? _

_ A : Treat the snuff as if it were a vegetable is the general rule. Keep it airtight until opened and then store in the refrigerator, in the dark. The vegetable box at the bottom is ideal if you are allowed! _

Is that right, or is all that snuff in the mills having an effect on their minds?

I do have to say a few of my flavours have gone in strength and I keep them in an airtight jar so I’m going to try this. Cold snuff will be an interesting experience at the very least.

The only snuff I enjoy cold is Toque Coke.

I’d say that the container being air tight is still the biggest criteria. Otherwise a refrigerator does act as a desiccant on anything in it. But who am I to suggest that Wilson’s doesn’t know about keeping snuff?

I think it might be because bacteria can grow on tobacco, and there’s a lot of flavourings in snuff, and some only offer snuffs with natural ingredients so it does make sense. I’ve noticed some flavours fade and some not at all. I’ll try it from now on though I think it’s a minor issue just for preserving quality.

I prefer the freezer myself!

If your snuff would otherwise be exposed to extreme temperatures the refrigerator would be a good solution.

WoS tins are not airtight - even with the tape seal, that’s why they are usually dry if you buy them from stores that have them on the shelves for ages - so an extra layer of protection is a good idea, but you don’t need anything other than an airtight container.

I would have thought that the potential for cross contamination from any smellies in the fridge might change the character of the snuff .Also as Snuff is an aromatic  pleasure it might take longer for the fractions to cook off in your nose if the snuff was cold. How about the effect on the pinch itsself?

 ref the smellies thing, we were not allowed to store certain products in the same fridges at my old job , and other products were not allowed in the proximity of each other in ambient stores, ie Tea, Bananas, Strawberries, Apples, Crisps and Biscuits

I’m not sure how happy my mother would be if she opened the vegetable drawer to find my snuff collection among the potatoes.

Shouldn’t keep potatoes in the fridge anyway. Keep them in a dark place with good air cirulation. I have a root cabinet in my kitchen with basket style drawers. Works a charm.

My wife would kill me if I wanted to keep my snuff in the fridge, there wouldn’t be any room for food!

No, for you a grain silo would not be big enough.

I am in the market for old fridges to make a humidor. Sad really.  

@cstokes Go to Walmart and buy a large Coleman beverage cooler. They make the ideal cheap humidor.

This!:

http://igloodor.com/

I would use it for all of my moist snuffs and keep my dry snuffs in their cabinet.  Time to start saving money.    

I find this fridge advice rather strange.

Fridges in general are very dry places. Freezers even more so. The freezer is most probably the driest place in one’s home, If you don’t live in a desert, that is.  Also, there’s a lot of fluctuation. I understand that the realtive humidity in a fridge can vary vildly depending on how often one opens it. When opening a fridge on a hot day the relative humidity can shoot from rather low 30-40% relative humidity to 100%. I don’t think this would be advantageous for snuff storage.

If the snuff is airtight, the humidity in fridge, or freezer or even ambient room or outdoor humidity will have no effect. Temperature control is much less a critical issue, though it can add to the preservation. I would imagine that freshness will be 95% dependent on airtightness, 3% on temperature, and 2% on UV protection. Clearly the air by far is the greatest threat. I keep my bulk snuff in a dark cellar where the temperature stays relatively constant cool, but not cold, both summer and winter.

Incidentally the 2% and 3% may both be overestimations.  I just want to stress how important airtightness is.  The other two factors are inconsequential without the prime one contolled.

Some of you must have seen the recommendation of an old fridge for a large cigar humidor. The important part is if I remember correctly to get a non frost-free model, from a yard sale or something, which doesn’t remove humidity from the interior. Although this I suppose is more important for cigars, it could be good to know for snuff storage.

It won’t do anything at all if the container you keep the snuff in is airtight -  fridge, humidor or whatever. It’s simple physics, no air in, no moisture out. Or think of another way - do you need to keep tubed cigars in a humidor? You might but it won’t do anything if the cigar tube has never been opened. If I had enough left I would send everyone a sample of one of my 30+ year old snuffs that have just been kept airtight.

Still though not all containers are airtight, many seem near airtight. Hypothetically I would also like having one to keep cigars, pipe tobaccos, ryo’s (if I haven’t quit by then), and not quite perfectly sealed/resealed snuffs. Doesn’t having more humid air surrounding a container help prevent osmosis of moisture and aroma/flavor, which drier air would somwhat tend to “pull out” of one’s tobacco products? I’m trying to use better containers etc. But still I wonder. This is maybe more of an acedemic question than a practical one.

I keep several snuffs and snuffboxes in my humidor and can tell you there is still scent transfer in that environment. I’m careful to only put unscented snuff in there. I keep it between 60 and 70 percent.

There is no transfer of anything if the container is airtight, there is no osmosis or any other reaction possible between the contents of an airtight, non-permeable container and the atmosphere around it. I am only talking about airtight containers; if your snuff is in one it will not dry out or be cross contaminated, it can’t, there is no mechanism for that to happen within the laws of physics. Nothing out, nothing in - and it will keep for decades in perfect condition. Try it for yourself - take an airtight container and put a test sample of a moist snuff in there. Put it on a window ledge in full sunlight for a few weeks, submerge it in a bucket of water for a month or two, keep it next to some Gorgonzola for a spell. If the container is airtight your snuff will not have altered in any way. It’s not an academic question, just a fact. 

If the container holding the snuff is not airtight that is an entirely different matter and in that circumstance  a humidor would have an effect, depending on a whole lot of variables - but no more, and possibly less- depending on the humidor itself - than moving the snuff back to an airtight environment.

@Snuffster  exactly. If its not airtight the fridge will just help you get that nice onion zest you’ve been looking for. 

Man, someone should have done that with this jar of Grunt I just got in the mail.  Woah!  This stuff is rancid!  I suppose the oils went bad?  I tried mixing it with other things to see if it tempered it down a little, but it just spoiled whatever it touched. 

As in my last post I was making a referance to not-quite airtight containers, often ones that _appea_r to be airtight but are not, I know that it happens. Some that have been opened and have been attempted to be resealed airtight. Who hasn’t had a tin which although factory sealed, was incorrectly sealed in the factory? Or a container of, I suppose any tobacco product, which was made to be repeatedly opened and resealed. In the worst case it doesn’t hurt to wear a belt and suspenders.

Of course, better safe than sorry. Snuff is never quite the same when it has dried out, whatever you do to re-hydrate.

I maybe an odd ball but I like how snuff changes when it dries out a little. It’s as if I got to try several varieties in one tin.

Speaking of tins that have a decent seal, last night I checked out a “tin” of Taxi red that I was planning to rehydrate-it was about 5 years old. When I opened it up it was still soft and springy to the touch! Took a couple of pinches and it was still nice! Most of those S.A. snuffs dry out on me so much faster.