I’m trying to figure what size mason jars I need to buy to store tobacco that comes in the typical 1.76oz tins. 4oz, 8oz, or 16oz?
How Many Ounces Of Tobacco Fit In An 8oz Mason Jar?
- Thread starter PiperCalvinist
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Depends on the cut and presentation
Flakes, ropes and cakes take up the least space.
Ribbon and shag, being the loosest cuts, take up most space.
It depends on how much you wish to compress the tobacco.
I have a variety of sized jars and use the most appropriate ones.
Flakes, ropes and cakes take up the least space.
Ribbon and shag, being the loosest cuts, take up most space.
It depends on how much you wish to compress the tobacco.
I have a variety of sized jars and use the most appropriate ones.
It varies depending on the cut and weight density of the tobacco. Generally speaking, I find that 1oz of ribbon tobacco needs 4 fl oz of volume. It may take some light compression to fit it all, depending on the blend, or you may have some space left over. Very moist blends will take up less room per weight, as will compressed formats like flakes and coins.
A wide mouth 8oz jar is perfect for transferring a standardish 50g/1.75oz to 2oz tin of ribbon into. So take your weight in oz, multiply by 4 to get the volume in fl oz.
A wide mouth 8oz jar is perfect for transferring a standardish 50g/1.75oz to 2oz tin of ribbon into. So take your weight in oz, multiply by 4 to get the volume in fl oz.
The 8oz. jars should easily hold 2 ounces of any cut.
Side note:
The shortest/widest 8oz. jars (I believe that they are called Squat Jars.) are not designed in a manner that allows the bottom of one jar to seat into the lid of another, which can make stacking them a little precarious.
Side note:
The shortest/widest 8oz. jars (I believe that they are called Squat Jars.) are not designed in a manner that allows the bottom of one jar to seat into the lid of another, which can make stacking them a little precarious.
I get 1 pound of ribbons in 16 ounce jars compressing with a caulk gun. The same jars hold 8 ounces of cube cut and 8 ounces of flakes.
Keeping the flats makes stacking easier.
I firmly press up to 10 oz ribbon in 16 oz jars. Two pounds of 507c whole flake without cutting fit perfectly in a 64 oz jar. Loose ribbon lightly packed about 4 oz fit in a 16 oz jar. I would estimate 2 to 5 oz ribbon in 8 oz. jar depending on pack and 3 to 4 oz flake. I only use 16 32 or 64 oz jars so I am estimating 8oz.
I put 3.4oz of ribbon in the half pint jars. I can probably get more flakes in them, but I don't like to have too much tobacco in a single jar, so I usually put 4oz of flakes in them.
The problem with putting too much into a single jar is that aged tobacco runs the risk of turning to shit dust on you if you can't smoke it all before it... turns to shit dust.
If you're not aging it, then just do whatever.
The problem with putting too much into a single jar is that aged tobacco runs the risk of turning to shit dust on you if you can't smoke it all before it... turns to shit dust.
If you're not aging it, then just do whatever.
With careful arrangement/cutting, I can get 3.5-4 oz of flake in a regular 8 oz jar without cramming. Plugs make that even easier.
For everyday smoking, I like to put up to 1 oz of ribbon or flake into 4 oz jelly jars. The remainder can stay in another jar and doesn't have to be exposed to air all the time.
For everyday smoking, I like to put up to 1 oz of ribbon or flake into 4 oz jelly jars. The remainder can stay in another jar and doesn't have to be exposed to air all the time.
Last edited:
Thank you, that’s very helpful info. That’s exactly what I was considering getting, just wanted some confirmation on that size being adequate. I’m also wondering - how long can I keep tobacco in an unopened tin before I should consider putting it in a mason jar? I first bought EMP from a local shop for twice the amount I could buy it online, so I purchased the tin online thinking I could take back the original unopened tin to the local shop, only to find out they would not let me return it. So , now I have 2 tins of it, and because I’m trying a bunch of different blends, I probably won’t get to the second tin for about 9-12 months.
It should be fine in the round tin for several years if you keep it in your climate controlled home.
Thank you! That’s the plan. I keep all my pipe smoking stuff in my office. I’ve got central air, but my office is upstairs in the house and it can get up to 78-79* when we get into triple digits. However, most of the time that room is 68-76*.
I think I usually fit around 4 oz of ribbon cut in one of those jars. I could certainly fit more flake in there but I don't smoke much bulk flake so I have limited experience.
Back when I used jars, I used to fool myself by saying 8 ounces is 8 ounces and jam it all in there. This true if your willing to compress the hell out of it. I finally settled on about a 4:1 ratio.
Ye
Yes, it was all due to a trauma I suffered as a sbool boy.
Unopened standard round tins can potentially stay sealed for decades, or they might lose their seal if dropped and/or dented. You can test the seal by attempting to twist the lid off by hand. If it comes off with a firm twist, it wasn't sealed. The vacuum seal has to be broken on a sealed tin by lightly prying the lid before the lid can twist off. I have purchased hundreds of tins and only ever gotten one that was not sealed because the paper lining was overhanging the rim of the tin, and the retailer (Smokingpipes) made it right for me. The tobacco inside was a little bit dry, but still smokable. Square and rectangular tins are known for having a less reliable seal than round tins, but I have never had an issue with them.
If you think you're going to smoke through the tin within a month or so, or if you find the contents too moist and want them to dry out a little, then I'd say there's probably no reason to jar it. If the contents are already at an optimal moisture level, or if you plan to work through the tin gradually, then I'd go ahead and jar it. If it's going to bother you keeping it in an opened tin, jar it. Really, it's up to your judgement and also depends on storage conditions - ambient humidity, temperature, etc. Round tins do have a rubber ring and reseal better than some people think, and the contents aren't going to become bone-dry overnight unless you live in the Atacama Desert. But yes, a mason jar will almost certainly seal better than an opened tin.
This is just my opinion, and every pipe smoker does things a little differently. Some people jar everything right away, and some people smoke their bulk tobacco from the ziplock bags it comes in. It's all preference.
Yeah, often brick and mortar (B&M) shops will charge more than online retailers, simply because they don't have the advantage of economy of scale that the big retailers have, and they have to keep the doors open somehow. Then again, they often have stuff that is unobtainable online. I would just see it as supporting a small local business, take the small loss, and move on.
As others have said, it depends on the cut. For ribbon cut the ratio I use is 1:2, one oz of tobacco for every 2 oz of jar size, leaving a little bit of space at the top to help with whatever aging is going to do. Most of my jars are 8oz or 4 oz, and I like to use the taller 12 oz for British flakes as they are too long to go into an 8 oz jar. I pack them tight enough that I can pull out a flake without tearing the shit out of the adjoining flakes.
On the question of tins, the round tins hold up better than the metal square and rectangular tins. The pressure of the seal is evenly distributed around the circumference of a round tin, but is not the case with square or rectangular tins. While round tins can hold up for decades, square and rectangular tins begin to get a bit dodgy at around a decade more or less, and become more so as the years go by. This can also depend on who did the tinning and what stock they used. New tins are like paper mache compared to the stuff that was used in the past.