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Sir Walter Scott back in stock

Off gassing snuff

SnuffalufagisSnuffalufagis Member
in General
So i just had a bit of surprise. I went to open a mason jar of toque natural toast for a pinch after about 6 months of storage, and as soon as the band was unscrewed the lid blew off and flew across the room, covering me in about 5gs worth of the stuff. I can only imagine it was from residual ammonia buildup pressurizing the container. This happened before with a jar of whiskey an honey, but nowhere near as powerful as this time.

LOOK OUT FOR FLYING SNUFF!

Comments

  • volungevolunge Member
    PM
    Wow! :) How much TNT and W&H were in the jar before the blast? Was it a regular W&H or the USA one? And were the jars filled to the rim or was there some empty space?
  • SnuffalufagisSnuffalufagis Member
    edited November 2020 PM
    It was ~50g in the jar, about 3/4 full. Same with the w&h original, although i have a jar of USA I might crack open and find out lol

    The worst part is i was sitting down in my recliner, with nothing to try and salvage it nearby, like a piece of paper or something.
  • JohanoJohano Member
    edited November 2020 PM
    OMG haha, flying snuff. That made my day. Im sorry for your loss sir. Consider opening that jar of Toque Champagne on new years eve snuffers :D
  • ALLexALLex Member
    edited November 2020 PM
    It happend to me too! The same thing!

    Opened an almost a year old jar of like 80 grams of Toque Natural Toast. 

    Jar was filled almost to the top.

    When i opened it it blew of the lid and a lot of snuff everywhere as well.

    lol it was funny

    Now I am curious to learn what really happened. I wouldnt expect something like that from a dry toast due to the little moisture of the snuff.

    The snuff inside the jar has a slighty weird smell now, so i left the jar open to air it off a little.

    @Roderick  Is it safe to use this snuff?


     
  • SnuffalufagisSnuffalufagis Member
    PM
    I had some and it was fine. I truly believe it was from the anaerobic fermentation process that was occuring in the sealed jar. The dry snuff was decaying and creating gasses from the breakdown of VOCs in the tobacco that usually occurs within a few days or weeks with a moist snuff. It did change the overall profile a bit. I had a tin that hadnt been sealed I found to compare.
  • RoderickRoderick Member
    PM
    Sorry to be so late to the party.  Yes, that happens when you have really fresh snuff. If, before storing, you air it for a couple of hours, longer if it is a large quantity you won't have this problem. 

    The worst incidence, I had a bit of a laugh at, was back in our early days when we first started doing economy bags.  Not giving it a second thought we sent a bag of grapefruit to a customer in Florida. 

    A couple of weeks later that customer emailed to say they hadn't received their order and a couple of weeks after that we got part of an exploded envelope in a sealed US customs bag.  I can't remember exactly what the message was, but it was along the lines of the officer who was trying to open what looked like a package with a balloon inside, exploded covering him and the room in snuff.  If I was to ever send this again it might end in a prosecution.  

    We experimented and discovered that Grapefruit and ammonia go into secondary fermentation if stored in economy bags for a couple of weeks.  This is why, to this day, we don't sell Grapefruit in economy bags.
  • ALLexALLex Member
    edited November 2020 PM
    Hey @Roderick thanks for the reply!

    Thats interesting and funny as well!

    I was planning to order 400g Natural Toast economy bag and now i know i have to air it out first (maybe for a day) before i put it in a mason jar.

    Thanks for the tip.

    So is it still safe to sniff  my "explosive" natural toast?
    Will the slightly weird smell go away by airing it out ? 

    Thanks in advance
  • RoderickRoderick Member
    PM
    Yes, It should be fine.  However, if it has a funny fermented smell let me know and I will send a replacement.
  • SnuffalufagisSnuffalufagis Member
    PM
    I'll have to decant some and see if the smell returns to normal as well. It definitely had a different scent straight from the jar.
  • volungevolunge Member
    PM
    Was it a pleasant scent, or more on the funky side? I realize weird is unusual, non-typical. The reason why I ask, I suspect that anaerobic storage might spoil snuff in long term. Some really old SG vac tins I got (4+ years) with vac seal intact smelled too funky, very unpleasant, literally stale. I couldn't use them, airing out didn't help.

    Also, spontaneous off-gasing might be an explation why odd SG tin arrives without a vacuum seal.
  • ALLexALLex Member
    PM
    @volunge it was a very unpleasant, funky smell. To me it smells like it has some mold in it. I know it doesnt but the character of the snuff did really change compared to a half empty tin of natural toast i have.

    So should we store snuff in not so tight closed mason jars  or even i slightly unscrewed lid mason jars?
    Or we should periodically open the jars to let the snuff breathe for some hours and then close them back to storage?
  • volungevolunge Member
    PM
    I have no experience – I don't store snuff. One thing for sure, though - sub-zero temperature should halt secondary or anaerobic fermentation. The freezer.
  • SnuffalufagisSnuffalufagis Member
    PM
    So after 3 days airing out my TNT is fine. It is very much like it was when it arrived, just a little more rounded out. Id even say buttery? I also checked on my other stored snuffs and they all seem to be fine as well.
  • ALLexALLex Member
    PM
    @Roderick is the best !

    Today i just received a 100g Natural Toast as a replacement for my jar of natural toast that exploded by fermentation gases!

    Taking a pinch of Toque Natural Toast fresh off the bag and its truly a superb snuff.

    Months ago i thought Natural Toast is bland but now that my nose is more educated i can appreciate this great toast!

    Toque has great products and awesome customer service!

    Thank you Toque!

  • volungevolunge Member
    PM
    @ALLex, I second that, TNT is a very nice snuff, one of my Toque favourites. Despite being named "Toast", it's very different from other manufacturers, though, probably due to larger amount of lamina used and absence of fire-cured component.
  • SHbickelSHbickel Member
    PM
    Mmmm, I love TNT. My last economy 400g has been the best yet. It smells of a warmed, buttered bread roll. (If there were a drooling emoji, I'd put it here.)
  • pantsBootspantsBoots Member
    PM
    Interesting and very good thread for a newbie like me. I'm used to jarring pipe tobacco in Mason jars - you definitely get pressure buildup over time, but it doesn't spray pipe tobacco everywhere (so far, in my experience).

    I would assume that fermentation/aging in the jar is undesirable for snuff?
  • ALLexALLex Member
    PM
    @pantsBoots i wouldnt assume that.

    I think it depends on the type of snuff.  Some snuffs go better with fermentation and i am not sure if aging is the same thing.

    Maybe @volunge can enlighten us.
  • HloridisonHloridison Member
    PM
    I have some aged Kendal brown original. Maybe 3 years old and Vakuum is still there. The tabacco is so damn good. Much smoother and balanced and it is almost black now. So good. But i made the experience that dry snuff lost its aroma over time. I think when it is a bit moist and really tight closed without air in it, it becomes better. Or smoother
  • SnuffalufagisSnuffalufagis Member
    PM
    Some tobaccos age better than others, its the same principle as pipe tobacco. Virginia can be aged upwards of 30 years to its benefit, while burley doesnt really polish up with age. Aging pipe tobacco in sealed containers is anaerobic fermentation, same that occurs in any other oxygen deprived environment, but it requires moisture for the bacteria to work and chemical changes to occur. Ive found that my jar of TNT has really rounded out and become quite buttery since i opened it. It doesnt have the smoke forward aroma it did fresh. Im of mind to think maybe ALLexs may have been slightly moist and maybe some unwanted hitchhiker took over in storage. Mine was in my basement where temps rarely go above 60°f, except for a month in summertime, and completely hidden from the light in a drawer.

    @ALLex what was the storage conditions of your jar of TNT?
  • n9inchnailsn9inchnails Moderator
    PM
    @SHbickel there is =P~
  • ALLexALLex Member
    edited December 2020 PM
    @Snuffalufagis A 100g mason jar packed and filled almost to the full store in a closet with other jars. Maybe there was some moisture in the jar before i decended the TNT. But the snuff smelled weird moldy nothing like that rounded buttery scent you describe that i also have found in an old almost empty 10g TNT tin .
    Also the moldy TNT was more brown in colour than the almost blond fresh TNT.
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