How long are unopened bags of chew good for?

[Irish Dipper]

Hello folks,

I was just wondering.. how long would you say unopened bags of chew are good for?

I was thinking of stocking up.. but I don't want to buy a bunch of it if it maybe all go bad? I don't really use a huge amount of it.. maybe a pound weight every two weeks?

I mostly chew Stokers.. open to correction but I don't really recall seeing dates on it.. or other brands for that matter. You know like on dip, you see sell by/use by dates?

So how long is unopened chew good for on average?

Thanks in advance guys.

[Snusdog]

OK let me make sure we have our terminology straight.....since the EU directives a lot of companies have started calling snus and dip "chew".....however, reading your other posts it seems that you are really talking about chew (long leaf tobacco sold like Red Man, Beach Nut or Levi Garret


If I am correct, Then I would say that if it is sealed and refrigerated, It will probably last 6 months with no noticeable deterioration and up to a year with just a little loss of flavor/moisture.

Back in the day (1800s) chew was sold as a rope or a plug. It was used as as both chew and pipe tobacco. It was dry as hell but would last quite a while. They still sell it today (Kentucky Rope). I tried it once. I do not recommend it. Anyway chew has always had a pretty long shelf life. I would feel pretty good about holding a sealed pack for 6 moths. I would cellar one for a year as an experiment and see how it turned out.

See ain't ya'll all glad there is a genuine southerner on board.....ain't no swede can tell you about chew, shine, or bourbon

(disclaimer: I am a second generation swede on my father's side.....add to this my southern Appalachian roots.......and it makes me completely fluent in snus, chew, and second cousins)

Hope this helps brother

[mattzq8sonoma]

Hello folks,

I was just wondering.. how long would you say unopened bags of chew are good for?

I was thinking of stocking up.. but I don't want to buy a bunch of it if it maybe all go bad? I don't really use a huge amount of it.. maybe a pound weight every two weeks?

I mostly chew Stokers.. open to correction but I don't really recall seeing dates on it.. or other brands for that matter. You know like on dip, you see sell by/use by dates?

So how long is unopened chew good for on average?

Thanks in advance guys.

For Stoker's, look at the edge of the bag. You'll see an embossed code on the side. The first 4 digits are what you're looking for, which signify when it expires. The first one is the month. A= January, B= February, etc etc. The next 2 digits are the day of the month & the last digit in the code means the last digit of the year. So for example, A129 means it expires on January 12th, 2019 (or 2009 if it's been in the freezer for 10 years).

I will add that you can extend that significantly by putting it in the freezer. For best results, you should vacuum pack them first, but you could definitely freeze them in a big ziplock bag (if you can get those 1lb bags in a gallon freezer bag) and that would be better then just straight in the freezer.