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Tobacco storage and recovery
It is better to store tobacco in original tobacco pouch or jar, providing that they were not opened. The major part of pouches and all jars are sealed in vacuum way that is why they practically don‘t get dry.
If the package was opened, in this case everything depends on how quickly you smoke this tobacco. If quickly and it doesn‘t manage to get dry, than, naturally, it is better to leave as it is. If you have (what happens more often) several packs opened at a time with different blends some of them you use not very often, it is better to move tobacco in hermetic glass jars. You can, of course, acquire special containers in tobacco shops. But, generally, good enough fit glass coffee jars.
Anyway, wherever you store tobacco, you have to keep it as far as possible from direct sun light and generally from warm. Sudden temperature drops also don‘t make good, as they provoke condensate formation and as result tobacco over-wetting.
But it is better to strive avoiding tobacco from drying up as even normalized then to normal humidity it losses in flavor and aroma.
But if so happened and tobacco has dried out or just became not humid enough, however, it is possible to correct this situation.
st two the most widespread methods - moistening with help of a small piece of wet sponge and with the help of slice of apple. It is better to try both methods and choose that you will consider most appropriate.
You have to notice that many people refuse "apple" method mentioning that apple flavor, quasi, distorts blend‘s flavor. Probably, if using fruits with strong, intense flavor and moreover oranges and other citrus plants, such can take place, but to avoid such things, you have to take apples with weak flavor and preferable not sour.
Cut them in thin slices with 1-3 mm thickness and put per 2-3, depending on how dry tobacco is. Time, on which you have to leave these slices, depends not only on how dry tobacco is but also on tobacco sort, type of cutting and other. This time may take also few hours for Virginia blends and couple of days for Latakia tobaccos. Slices, of course, must be changed with their dry out.
Moistening with the help of a sponge seems less suitable thanks to the fact that it is quite difficult to take necessary quantity of water that would be enough for moistening and at that excesses will not moisten tobacco while touching. Also there are difficulties with fastening the sponge to the jar‘s deck or wall...
In case with apple don‘t appear such problems. Many pipe smokers use namely "apple" method and no problems appear. But, again, try and choose yourself. Or buy humidor.
Level of humidity can be determined quite simple. Take a pinch of tobacco, squeeze in such a way in order to get cone and place it on a smooth surface. If the cone scatters at once, it means that tobacco is dry, if it scatters "unwillingly" - it is too humid, but if almost at once - this is just what you need.
Next articles: Is there any way of replacing a broken pipe-stem?
