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FoodSaver Bags for Cellaring Tobacco

K Williams

K Williams

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@cgraunke mentioned that he stores his Esoterica 8oz bags in FoodSaver bags. It has had me thinking that this is a better method of cellaring/aging bulk tobacco. I already use the FoodSaver system for what it was designed for... The bags are air and water tight, and pretty thick. There is no fear of losing a seal in a Ball mason jar, or breaking a jar. Storage will also be easier. Also, you can throw the ziplock bag of bulk tobacco straight into the FoodSaver bags.

My only question is should I vacuum seal the bags(removing the little bit of oxygen that helps age the tobacco), or just heat seal the bags?
 
mikeman84

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Im curious as well how this would work. I thought I read some where that you should leave a air gap in jars, I would think you need some air in the bags.
 
cgraunke

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Greg Pease did this test long term and regarded it as not optimal. I'll see if I can find a link to his findings. But first, to answer your question, @K Williams, I do leave some air in the bag, basically using just the sealing function not the vacuum function, then moving down 1/4" and sealing again. (I'll run the vacuum just a bit the first time but then cut it off with the seal button)
Pease's findings showed that it did still dry out a bit. And if you look at the Foodsaver bags they only claim to extend the freezer life, not last forever. (You'll notice you still get freezer burn after a while if you forget something in there too long)
As somewhat a middle ground (as I'm not planning on buying stock in Kerr any time soon) is to still use vacuum bags for bulk but back them up in a sort of humidor. The unopened 8oz Esoterica stay in their gold bags and get sealed in a vacuum bag around them. Once opened they get portioned in to 2oz vacuum baggies (more for plug/flake/etc) so they're perfect to move to my "smoking" jars once the current contents is emptied. This goes for all other 8oz tins and bulk purchases as well.
Then, these vacuum bags all go in to tobacco type segregated weather tight storage boxes w/ 65% Boveda to prevent the drying experienced by Pease.
(Containers like the Ziploc from Wal-Mart or the similar from the Container Store. These are the same product, from a company called Iris, just re-branded by Ziploc)
 
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Whtwtrman79

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I do double bag my esoterica bags just never in s foodsaver, I guess it may be easy this way but mason jars are cheap, and reusable though they do take up some space
 
StogieNinja

StogieNinja

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JustTroItIn said:
I do this with my samples, parring the individually bagged like tobaccos together.
Click to expand...
hHw many different jars do you have for this, and what are the breakdowns in category for separation?

I have literally like 20 baggies kicking around and they're all a little different, so I'm never sure which ones to put with which other ones. I'd also like to consolidate another 15 or so 1-2oz samples I currently have in little jars into baggies I can combine in a bigger jar, for space reasons.
 
JustTroItIn

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StogieNinja said:
hHw many different jars do you have for this, and what are the breakdowns in category for separation?

I have literally like 20 baggies kicking around and they're all a little different, so I'm never sure which ones to put with which other ones. I'd also like to consolidate another 15 or so 1-2oz samples I currently have in little jars into baggies I can combine in a bigger jar, for space reasons.
Click to expand...
I have one for Aro's, one for English/Latakia blends, one for Virginia/VaPer, and one for Burley.
 
Whtwtrman79

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cgraunke said:
I thought about (and fully intended on) going strictly with mason jars in the beginning, but ended up using all my jars for current smoking. I think I'm sitting on 8-10 dozen "open" jars for smoking, and every time one of you jokers talks up another blend I end up with another jar!
Click to expand...

Clint you're one of the few that makes me feel better about myself
 
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