Stick it to the man (Storing my tobacco)

[Old Gasman]

Dear group, I've long been envious of you chaps that can buy whole leaf tobacco. Here in the UK the purchase of whole leaf tobacco is frowned upon by the Excise Man and the import duty is prohibitive. However, I found a web site in Germany that sells whole leaf tobacco and I thought I'd have a little punt, if it got confiscated I thought I'd just write it off, but, surprise surprise my order was delivered unmolested by UK Customs.
I now have 1 kilo of Bright Virginia , half a kilo of Burley and half a kilo of Oriental all of unknown varieties.
I have split it all in half and put it into zip lock bags. My intention is to put half of my stash away and store it long term and use the other half to dip into now and again.
I've read about the perils of mold and with that in mind I put a couple of little Ebay hygrometers in a couple of the bags. They say it's 74% which I'm thinking is too high.
So, what is the best way to store my leaf? I was thinking of leaving the bags open until it drops to about 65% then sealing the bags up again. Does that sound like a good idea chaps. I would hate for it to be lost to mold, I can't rely on the Excise man being so lax the next time.
What would my best course of action be?
Thank you

 

[GIL]

I would leave the bags open (possibly "rotate" the leaves a few times) until I was sure that they have a moisture that does not allow the development of mold. Although I have "a few" leaves, I sometimes buy from Germany. I have always been satisfied.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Dear group, I've long been envious of you chaps that can buy whole leaf tobacco. Here in the UK the purchase of whole leaf tobacco is frowned upon by the Excise Man and the import duty is prohibitive. However, I found a web site in Germany that sells whole leaf tobacco and I thought I'd have a little punt, if it got confiscated I thought I'd just write it off, but, surprise surprise my order was delivered unmolested by UK Customs.
I now have 1 kilo of Bright Virginia , half a kilo of Burley and half a kilo of Oriental all of unknown varieties.
I have split it all in half and put it into zip lock bags. My intention is to put half of my stash away and store it long term and use the other half to dip into now and again.
I've read about the perils of mold and with that in mind I put a couple of little Ebay hygrometers in a couple of the bags. They say it's 74% which I'm thinking is too high.
So, what is the best way to store my leaf? I was thinking of leaving the bags open until it drops to about 65% then sealing the bags up again. Does that sound like a good idea chaps. I would hate for it to be lost to mold, I can't rely on the Excise man being so lax the next time.
What would my best course of action be?
Thank you

That's awesome.
Yeah, 74% is too high. 65% is much safer. I am guessing it's probably already adequately aged?? If so, I would confidently let it go down to 60%.

 

[Old Gasman]

Thank you both, I've taken it out of the bags, tied it in bunches and I'll leave it hanging overnight in the garage, bag it again tomorrow then take another reading.

 

[Old Gasman]

That's awesome.
Yeah, 74% is too high. 65% is much safer. I am guessing it's probably already adequately aged?? If so, I would confidently let it go down to 60%.

As far as I can tell it's had no fermentation treatment but the website says that's it's been in storage for at least one year. It smells ok and I made a little rolly and it tastes ok. Plus as the title suggested, it's always nice to think that's you've got one over the Man.

 

[Old Gasman]

Now I know that to you seasoned tobacco guys this may sound a foolish question but which tobacco is which. My bags weren't labelled and I'm not sure which is the Oriental and which is the Burley.
The ones on the left are smaller and more golden in colour, the ones on the right are much darker and bigger. I'm guessing the darker ones are the Burley, am I right?

 

[Old Gasman]

Now why didn't I just try smoking them first, how foolish of me. The ones on the left I could smoke on it's own, the ones on the right grab my throat and taste slightly like a cigar so I guess that's the Burley.

 

[Alpine]

You got it! Orientals are smokable waaay before than burleys. And can be smoked on their own, while a 100% burley cigarette is too manly for most (if not all, but certainly for me) smokers. Give your burley a month and a half in the kiln before trying it again.

pier

 

[Old Gasman]

Alas I have no kiln nor any space to put one. However I made a roll up of half Virginia and half Oriental and I was delighted to find that it was a fine smoke, it wasn't too strong, burnt well and tasted good so all things considered I'm very pleased with my purchase.