Dealing with moldy tobacco - microwave? :: General Pipe Smoking Discussion (2024)

Hello forum members,
I have a tin of tobacco (Early Morning pipes) that aged really well for almost 10 years, but perhaps due to the environment being not so clean during rehydrating, when I open the tin yesterday I found it moldy and sticky with greenish powdery dust all around. My first thought was to throw it away, but my French friends would never throw away moldy cheese which makes me think again.

I smell it and it smells still super good and sweet like when it was first rehydrated 2 months ago.
I wonder if I can make it kind of smokable again (aged for 9+ years..!) - for example by putting it inside microwave and then drying it and then rehydrating it again.
Thanks for any input and suggestions!

I think you should always do what your French friends do. The French are experts in all things.

You could always join the 'Secret Santa' program under an assumed identity and gift it to someone and get a nice smokable tin of tobacco back. You could also mail it to your local Senator/Congress person and watch them close down the DC Gas Works whilst they claim its a biological weapon of mass destruction. :nana:

I've had good luck with re-hydrating aromatic tobacco, but mold is another story. I'd pitch it in the trash. That's just gross. Given that cheese is already a mold... And tobacco isn't... I'd say that comparison isn't fitting.

Smoke it up, report any hallucinogenic effects.

I have also had good luck rehydrating tobacco, and there is an article on rehydrating on the home page here. :roll:

I've experienced the same problem in the past. I tried to pick out the moldy portions on top but the mold made the rest of it taste like crap. I would throw it out.

1. if you need to rehydrate ANY tobacco, it isn't worth smoking, just toss it. You can put water back into tobacco but the lost essence is gone for good. A tin of premium pipe tobacco costs too little to bother with compromised tobacco.

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Is it mean to say this is terrible advice?
Most of the time, people don't rehydrate things they could buy easily. It's usually something aged or out of production or both. If rehydrating it gets it 90% of the way to what it would've been otherwise, I'm fine with that.

I think you should always do what your French friends do. The French are experts in all things.

Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yjNbcKkNY

Maybe you should save it and smoke it the next time you are sick. Free penicillin? I have had good luck rehydrating old tobaccos, including 10 year old Old Dublin, but I think I would toss it too if it is moldy.

+1 Escioe
Also, it certainly is not a fantasy that rehydration can restore lost flavor. I agree that terrible advice is being given. ^^^

What's NOT terrible advice is: throw it away. Don't smoke moldy tobacco.

I rehydrated some Tilbury and Stonehaven from 2010. (I wasn't going to toss those away.) I used a Kerr jar and sealed it with a semi damp piece of paper towel. Jarred it for a couple days, removed the towel, tested the tobacco, shook it up, and placed a fresh piece of damp towel. 2 more days and it was perfect. Removed the towel and resealed.
I never try and re-hydrate something in a tin. Ive done that before, and all it does is rust the tin. The reclosed tin is not airtight, and that what you need. I would agree, however, that if the tobacco is moldy, it would be best to toss it. Or, you could place the tobacco in a cheesecloth and hang it from your rear-view mirror as a tobacco air freshener. Ahh, the wonderful aroma of tobacco.

I had some Izmir that had individual pieces that showed mold, and I plucked them out and dried out the rest

and smoked them right away. I didn't have any hallucinations and the Izmir, mixed with other leaf, seemed to

retain its flavor. On the other hand, when I first started back with pipes, I was innocent enough to try the old

rehydration with a slice of apple trick which resulted in really extensive revolting mold in a jar. That one I sent

to compost. I think microwaving tobacco would cook the mold, but that's not something I'd want to smoke.

On the other hand, when I needed some ground Parmesan cheese to make a bacon and leek pasta dish, and my block

of cheese was moldy, I just carved off the bad part and put the good part on the grater, and it turned out fine.

Although some might say it affected my avatar.

While I've had no experience with moldy pipe tobacco, I have had cigars go moldy. I splurged once and bought a box of very expensive cigars. I had about half a box left, I went to smoke one to find them spotted with green mold. This stuff did not brush off and when I opened on of the cigars up it was inside too. With a very heavy heart I pitched them, too many bad molds in the world to take the risk.

ae1pt, you might have a new blend in moldy codger tobacco, which could be the name of the blend,

or Codger Spore, or something.

"I think you should always do what your French friends do. The French are experts in all things. "
Particularly military technology, as is evidenced by the following:
Uh-oh!
As for the tobacco, throw it away!

You can kill the mold by spritzing it with 3% hydrogen peroxide. The peroxide will degrade in a day or two if left in the sun. The problem is, the flavor of the mold will probably still be present.

"The problem is, the flavor of the mold will probably still be present."
Jitterbugdude you may be onto something: Mold-flavored tobaccos - the next big thing! I can just imagine them now:
Mold Joe Krantz

Balkan Botrytis

Fungus Flake

Penicillian Mixture

Prince Aspergillus

Cladosporium Black

Alternaria Aromatic
The mind reels...

Too many bad moulds out to risk it, my advice is bin it.

Rehydration is another subject altogether.

welcome to the forum.