Posted on 06/22/2012 7:31:14 PM PDT by djf
One of the local smoke shops has recently started selling bulk pipe tobacco in large plastic bags. Bu "bulk" I mean 5 pound bags, which amounts to about a cubic foot.
Being a smoker for too long (I know! I know!) and being somewhat into the prepper/survivalist mentality, I bought one.
My question is about what I can do to keep it at the proper humidity. Thinking about transferring it to large airtight plastic containers and putting in like a moist paper towel inside a plastic sandwich bag, that sort of thing.
Also, does anyone know if tobacco is light-sensitive?
Ideas and suggestions would be appreciated, especially personal experience, like folks who store cigars, etc.
TIA!
The best solution is to grow tobacco.
Virginia got it’s big jump that way. Not hard.
Won’t be what you’re used to but with work it should do. It did before.
Get a Food Saver and vacuum pack the tobacco. You can leave it in the bag it is already in, and just seal over it.
Yup. Store airtight at a natural moisture level. Adding more is just gonna foster molds ==>> funky smoke.
Food savers work with canning jars...so you don’t crush the leaves.
I saw a pop chart once, wish I saved the URL.
600 people/square mile where I live.
But I’m only about 20 miles east of Tacoma.
Fair number of like-minded people around me, including some vets and current/ex law enforcement.
If/when SHTF, it’s gonna be rough no matter where you are.
Keeping tobacco for a long period of time isn’t going to be easy. It might still be smokeable after a few years, but it will eventually go stale and not taste very good. I’d guess a root cellar would be your best option in a prepper scenario, to keep the temperature and humidity variations to a minimum.
Just to be clear, putting cured tobacco in airtight containers will only work if the tobacco is sterile, which it isn’t. That’s why tobacco humidors use propylene glycol and distilled water.
Having smoked 55 years, I have stored Two 5 gal pails with mylar bags and O2 absorbers... Just at 5# of tobacco in each. (it is a tight fit, but works)
I also store 25 cartons of tubes and a couple of injection machines... as long as they stay dry, they are good... 2 1/2 cartons per pound works out just about right.
Since I was finally able to quit 3 months ago,(vapor ecigs did the trick and am now down to 0% on nicotine too)
I figure tobacco is better than gold as barter, and it will keep for many years under a no oxygen, partial vacuum, away light storage. (I had a bag that was 5 years old that I had sealed with the FoodSaver machine... couldn’t tell it from fresh, except it had a richer, smoother, more mellow flavor.)
Anybody who ever used a cloth bag of Bull Durham knows that even though it may be super dry, it is still a good smoke when you don’t have anything else... LOL
Thanks!
I also have a supply of the Claritin knock-offs that you can buy dirt cheap right now, even though I have no allergies. They take up almost no space and would be worth their weight if all a sudden like the shelves were empty...
Having made the switch to e-cigs after 40 years of smoking, my SHTF supply consist of 2 liters of 100mg nicotine juice for making smoke juice.
It don’t matter. If it comes to that, you’ll be happy to smoke whatever you have.
Before Michigan added a 25 dollar tax per pound on loose cigrettes, I picked up over 25/ 1 pound bags and kept them in the freezer. They stayed fresh, but once you open a bag to roll your own, make sure you close it tightly. If it tends to dry out, I finger flick some water on each side of the bag, close it and put it in the refrigerator...you don’t flick a lot of water, just wet your 5 fingers and flick on the side of the bag, not on the tobacco....been doing it for years. good luck. My kids would open my freezer and just laugh...
Don’t know about pipe tobacco, but several years ago, before cigs went up by 20 bucks a carton I bought about a year’s worth of cartons, and kept them in a deep freeze at 20 below zero. They were fine.
And it was so handy to just go get a carton out of the deep freeze.
Thanks. Good suggestions.
I still have four 1 lb bags of Cigarette tobacco (whichever class that is) that I bought before the Federal Excise tax went through the roof.
Still unopened.
Buy it by the plug or twist. It will store much longer.
raising your own tobacco from seed gives you a great looking plant but to prepare tobacco for cigatettes takes a lot more that just leaves, they need to dried and hung and I think humidity takes a part in dryingout the leaves...But the plant is great in a garden. Has flowers also. My girlfriend was able to raise 1 tobacco plant (an annual, and in Michigan) Lovely if you can get one to germinate...
I would suggest you put them in the freezer....
It should last a good while - depending on the bag and seal.
I like to keep a 6 month stock of tobacco in advance even now - I’ve smoked bagged tobacco that was bought a year before and it was fine. I have tinned pre-SCHIP cig tobacco from ‘09 that’s still good.
5lbs straight may be an issue if/when the SHTF as you’ll need to deal with it then when you crack open the bag. I’d stick to 1/2 and 1lb bags/portions for long storage and use when needed for trade or smoking.
When all else fails you can always rehydrate the tobacco - keep a write up of how to do that with the tobacco, but I would rotate stock anyways and use that up now - the trick is keeping it fresh - 5 lbs is over 12 cartons worth-that will take a long time.
Break it down into manageable quantities - say, half a pound - and then seal it in those heavy plastic food bags with the little plastic sliders.
Then fold the top over two or three times and tape over the whole top/slider area with heavy duty duct tape.
I’ve kept tobacco for one to two years that way, and it stays moist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.