Questions You Thought Were Too Dumb to Ask (Pipes Edition)

[cpmcdill]

I am in AZ and the whole humidification thing is a PIA. I had a pound or so of the Indonesian Tambolaka get all moldy on me and I cant remember if I had a humi pack in the large cigar jar. The rest of my opened tins and bags are in a large cooler with a humi jar in it. So far I have not had anything else get moldy in 3 yrs. If I was not in the SW I probably would not worry about keeping the humidity up. But AZ can dry stuff out fast.......thoughts??

Tambolaka is an uncased tobacco that should be kept relatively dry. It has no preservatives added and if kept humid like a cigar will generally spoil. Like Nachman said, just keep it in a tight jar. That way it will maintain the tobacco at the humidity it arrived at, which is most suitable. Tambo can even be allowed to dry out more, and need only be softened up when you intend to smoke it. The way Tambolaka is cured is to be pressed into sticks and bound in rope, then left in the rafters of a grass hut on an island in Indonesia for 5 years. Besides the naturally occurring enzymes in the tobacco, some yeasts probably play a role in creating the unique flavor of the tobacco. But where there's yeast, there's bound to be mold spores too, so any unbalance in the delicate curing process can lead to an outbreak of the fuzzy stuff. Another reason to store Tambolaka in a jar is to isolate it, as the mold/yeast might potentially spread to your other tobaccos.

[rx2man]

Tambolaka is an uncased tobacco that should be kept relatively dry. It has no preservatives added and if kept humid like a cigar will generally spoil. Like Nachman said, just keep it in a tight jar. That way it will maintain the tobacco at the humidity it arrived at, which is most suitable. Tambo can even be allowed to dry out more, and need only be softened up when you intend to smoke it. The way Tambolaka is cured is to be pressed into sticks and bound in rope, then left in the rafters of a grass hut on an island in Indonesia for 5 years. Besides the naturally occurring enzymes in the tobacco, some yeasts probably play a role in creating the unique flavor of the tobacco. But where there's yeast, there's bound to be mold spores too, so any unbalance in the delicate curing process can lead to an outbreak of the fuzzy stuff. Another reason to store Tambolaka in a jar is to isolate it, as the mold/yeast might potentially spread to your other tobaccos.

I had appx a pound of the stuff and was not happy to see the white fuzzy stuff everywhere. The whole thing went into the trash it was too far gone when I noticed it. It was probably too moist when I got it and went downhill from there. From the smell I probably would not have liked it but I still wan not happy to toss it. I am thinking I need to get some more jars. When I get large amount of bulk tobacco I jar it. Its the little 2 oz bags that I have in a cooler along with opened tins. I did notice all the "opened" tins have now sealed shut and I could not just twist them open. Also no mold problems with anything else just the Indonesian stuff.

[cpmcdill]

Even 1 or 2oz quantities should be jarred. I recommend 1/2 pint wide-mouth jars for those. Anything not in a sealed tin ought to go in jars unless you intend to smoke it within the month. Plastic bags are not airtight. Over time they will breathe out moisture, and the plastic itself may affect the flavor.

[rx2man]

Even 1 or 2oz quantities should be jarred. I recommend 1/2 pint wide-mouth jars for those. Anything not in a sealed tin ought to go in jars unless you intend to smoke it within the month. Plastic bags are not airtight. Over time they will breathe out moisture, and the plastic itself may affect the flavor.

That is why the bagged stuff is in a cooler with a humi jar in there. That being said there are not that many of them in bags so looks like I need to get myself over to walmart and get some jars.

[Branzig]

Even 1 or 2oz quantities should be jarred. I recommend 1/2 pint wide-mouth jars for those. Anything not in a sealed tin ought to go in jars unless you intend to smoke it within the month. Plastic bags are not airtight. Over time they will breathe out moisture, and the plastic itself may affect the flavor.

Big time agree with this!

I make sure everything, even little samples that I have, is jarred up or in some kind of air tight container. Too much air is pipe tobacco's enemy!

[bluenoser]

How do you sanitize/clean a used pipe before using?

[LandonColby]

How do you sanitize/clean a used pipe before using?

Usually salt/alcohol treatment to sanitize and draw out any old ghosts. And use an alcohol soaked bristle pipe cleaner in the shank and stem. Other than that I don't do anything else to the "inside" of the pipe. It's all buffing and cleaning the outside to make it pretty from there on out.

P.S.
ream out any EXCESSIVE cake IF necessary...a little is okay. At least to my standards.

[Branzig]

How do you sanitize/clean a used pipe before using?

Usually salt/alcohol treatment to sanitize and draw out any old ghosts. And use an alcohol soaked bristle pipe cleaner in the shank and stem. Other than that I don't do anything else to the "inside" of the pipe. It's all buffing and cleaning the outside to make it pretty from there on out.

P.S.
ream out any EXCESSIVE cake IF necessary...a little is okay. At least to my standards.

I only use the SA treatment on exceptionally ghosted and nasty estate pipes. Sanitizing the bowl isn't really important at all, drawing out the ghosts is what you are after there.

If there are no ghosts I would skip the salt and alcohol treatment and go straight into using bristle pipe cleaners/shank brushes full of 91 Iso alcohol to clean the stem as LandonColby suggested. Then run regular pipe cleaners through the stem until they come out clear and white. I also let the stem sit for about 2-4 hours after that to dry all the alcohol out.

If there are a lot of ghosts, don't skimp on cleaning out the mortise and shank well. Extremely well. In my experience, I have discovered that most of those nasty tastes actually live in the mortise and shank, not the bowl.

[cbr310]

i have about 4-5 samples in ziplocks. Can I just toss them (ziplock included) into 1 big jar? currently working my way through them.

[cpmcdill]

i have about 4-5 samples in ziplocks. Can I just toss them (ziplock included) into 1 big jar? currently working my way through them.

Sure, I don't see why not. I keep multiple pouch tobaccos in jars together. As long as you intend to use them fairly soon, and they are in the same general family of pipe blends (ie. English/Balkan, Lakeland, VA/VaPer, Aromatic are examples of families), they probably will not mingle too much.