Quote Originally Posted by rx2man View Post
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.