Pop Top Tobacco Tins Make For A Good Press Mold

[Controlled Chaos]

Normally after jarring commercial blends the empty tins would be added to a stack in the bottom of my tobacco cabinet and occasionally turned into an ashtray with a cork knocker or used to hold matches kept outside, other things. This type isn't one I've ever kept around but there was this one among the stacks and it looked like a good size for a plug.

I started with:
60g flue cured red Virginia
40g flue cured lemon Virginia
20g perique

All from WLT. Perique was unbunched and spread flat until leathery but dry enough to make rustling noise, both Virginias were dried to lower medium case and lightly misted with a 1:1 solution of apple cider vinegar. Everything layered into the tin, the bag the perique arrived in used as a barrier between wood and leaf. Clamped as tight as I could and placed into a 180°F oven for 2 hours right after pressing. The third day I put it back into a 180°F oven again for 4 hours and let it sit. Opened it up that night and sliced it up. Here's that raisin goodness. The pile is from the end cuts and will have to be chopped a little more but so far it looks and smells pretty good.

The worst part? Trying to leave the flakes in a jar for at least a year. I tried a little from the pile in a clay pipe and it's got a sweet plummy flavor to it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Most of you are aware that tobacco "tins" are made of an assortment of unidentified metals with a variety of unidentified plating. This only becomes an issue when the "tin" is packed with high moisture materials. The greatest risk of metal contamination occurs with moist materials that have acidic or alkaline pH. Their reactivity increases with temperature. Since you will likely never know what your particular "tin" is made from, I would suggest enclosing your pressed contents within a non-reactive and non-permeable layer of material (e.g. poly-nylon).

Don't assume that, because tobacco was originally packed into the "tin", it is food-safe. I have many famous brand tobacco tins with interior corrosion.

Bob

 

[Controlled Chaos]

Solid advice, Bob. I do intend to make a press out of wood eventually and maybe another with aluminum tubing that can go into an oven at low heat but for the sake of time and things on hand this was the obvious choice. There is a bit of each Virginia left that will be used for a VaBur blend eventually so now that this disposable mold is gone I'll have to put something together.