Storing Tobacco Flour Long-Term

[ainarfm]

Big noob from Canada here. Planning on making my own snus in the next few months. I have to import the tobacco from the USA. The shipping is very expensive, so I'm looking at buying 4-5 pounds. I suspect that's a LOT, and would take me more than a year to get through.
So, I'm thinking about making flour with all of it right away, and then vacuum sealing in 100g? portions. So, I guess my questions are:

Is this a bad idea?
If not, should I keep them in the freezer after sealing, or just in a closet?
Would freezing have a negative effect on the flour?

[Monkey]

Welcome to snuson!

If you are preparing your leaf for snus and you dry it out before you grind it so that it is extremely dry like many recipes call for, it will keep for a long time. No need to freeze it, that will actually change the structure of the leaf and could add moisture to it while it’s in there. I personally store it in airtight containers such as mason jars in a cool, dry place. I do know that some people store it in Ziploc bags and have no problems with that either… but I live in Florida where humidity is not a joke.

Never having lived in Canada, I do hear that smaller orders of tobacco have a better chance of being missed by customs, but if there is someone here from Canada, who can directly speak to that and ordering whole leaf I’ll leave it for them. Good luck!

[Chewbacca]

And make sure the tobacco is air-cured!

[Chewbacca]

Can you import from the UK? As Toque sell plain nasal snuff which is tobacco flour.

[Monkey]

Can you import from the UK? As Toque sell plain nasal snuff which is tobacco flour.

Toque has quality tobacco! Also, ordering from them may have a different import duty because it comes from the Isle of Mann.

If you are feeling froggy, you can add some snuff on that order as well. (I have no relation to Toque snuff, except that I like and use their products, and have no issues importing to the US.)

[ainarfm]

Welcome to snuson!

Never having lived in Canada, I do hear that smaller orders of tobacco have a better chance of being missed by customs, but if there is someone here from Canada, who can directly speak to that and ordering whole leaf I’ll leave it for them. Good luck!

Yeah, but that's not really a concern with whole leaf tobacco, defined as leaves with intact ribs. The tax on that is like $1.50/kg or something. Processed tobacco is like 20 cents per GRAM. That's what gives us Canadians nightmares.

[Monkey]

Yeah, but that's not really a concern with whole leaf tobacco, defined as leaves with intact ribs. The tax on that is like $1.50/kg or something. Processed tobacco is like 20 cents per GRAM. That's what gives us Canadians nightmares.

Oof. I didn’t realize there was so much of a better price on whole leaf.

Once you process it, make sure it’s as dry as possible before you store it I don’t know which recipe you’re using, I’ve actually never tried to make my own snus, but I’ve seen a lot of videos where they all say to dry it out until it is super crispy before you grind it

[squeezyjohn]

If the flour is dry when you store it in airtight jars that are maintained then it should keep for a very long time indeed ... many many years. Cured dried leaf improves and mellows with age and I think that flour does the same from experience.