Last year, I purchased a fresh packet of Feher Ozon Paprika (a pepper). They germinated well, but the rabbits ate them to the ground. No paprika. I stored the seed in a cool, dry place (like all my veggie seeds).
Glue on the thermometer makes it look like 100ºF. It's actually 75º.
A month ago, I started the same seed again indoors. Nothing germinated. Nada. I took more of the seed, and placed them on a wet paper towel, inside a closed Ziplock bag that was then placed on a seedling heat mat--steady 75ºF. I marked the bag with the start date, as well as the germination date predicted by the text on the seed packet. Fewer than 1/6 of them germinated. At the same time, I started a similarly 1 year old pepper variety (Dulce de Espagñe) in a second Ziplock. This different variety germinated well. The latter germinated seeds were then individually transplanted into small pots of seedling mix. Since their tiny roots had penetrated into the paper towel material, I just snipped out a piece of paper towel surrounding each germinated seed, and placed the germinated seeds, accompanied by their little world of paper into the soil mix.
One sickly Feher Ozon Paprika.
If you have old seed, you can test its germination this way, and still used those same seeds to produce plants--if they germinate.
Tobacco seed can be done the same way, but I consider it to be a lot of fuss if they have been stored properly, and are less than, say 8 years old.
Bob