Samuel Gawith Seal Issues

I recently purchased some Best Brown Flake and noticed that the tins were shrink wrapped in plastic. Upon opening, I was pleased to see that the vacuum seal was intact. But a few months ago I had several tins of Squadron Leader that all popped open with the slightest encouragement. I suppose caution is in order....

I do the same. Jarring hasn't worked for me too well. Keeping it in the tins seems a much better option.

Jarring has not worked well for me, either, Andre. And, being old-fashioned, I find there's nothing better than opening a tin rather than a jar. 

I err on the side of caution.  So although most of the tobacco in my modest "cellar" is still in the tins, about 1/4 of it is jarred.  Any "favorite" of mine (which is really only about 10 different tobaccos) gets represented in the Ball jar section.  We will see....

Good idea. I've read the square tins are iffy on the seal. A couple I opened had mold on the tobacco. I believe that's why they switched to all round tins these days, that as well as they only need to carry one type of tin in inventory instead of two. 

I never had the discipline to do it, but have been lucky, so far.
I have University Flake, Irish Flake, Erinmore Flake, Wessex Brown Flake, Burley Slice, etc., in the old rectangular tins, some dating back to 2010, and I've had no issues when opening them. 

SG/GH had to work with a new tin producer 3 years back, or so, as their previous partner went out of business, or shut down, I can't remember clearly. There have been issues since.

I should try that too.

Thank you,

I have a few tins down in the cellar that I just checked. They seem to be okay at this time, but I might need to look into a longer term solution.

RSD

I have a good bit more I'm keeping and eye on, sort of, over the near term because I did not want to open and jar all the tins. I loosely pulled on them all, found the already opened or loose and jarred those but I should give them a check again in a few months. Just checked most a couple weeks back reorganizing the cellar. The tins prior to 2018 or so seem to have more staying power.

Any recent production SG tins I've purchased have opened with the lightest touch. I vacuum seal all Gawith tins for good measure.

Every single tin leaving the factory is vacuumed sealed and then has a heat sealed anti-tamper strip put round it. Around 2 to 3 years ago the tin manufacturer we used suddenly stopped supplying through the usual channels so we had to find an alternative. We did find a tin and tested it and all seemed fine. We ordered a container full as this is the minimum order and so there were thousands and thousands of tins received. Due to the design (3 little notches on the side) it meant that a good tight seal could not always be maintained over time. Therefore we went back to the drawing board and designed a whole new tin which has strips to catch the lid on all 4 sides. It is very difficult to produce a square or rectangular tin that is perfect all the way around and so seals perfectly. It is much easier with round tins due to the way they are produced but round tins are more expensive to make and do not stack well for transport or on shelves in retailers. And SG and GH have historically been in rectangular tins and so we want to stick with this. The new tin design seals well. It should not need a massive tug to get the lid off (then we get complaints the tins are too hard to open) and just because the lid comes off relatively easily does not mean it is not vacuumed sealed. BUT we do not design tins and make tobacco for long term storage. This is a relatively new trend, mostly in the States. We always advice anyone wanting to do this to store in a different container or vacuum pack the tins into bags. And in a humidity and temperature controlled environment.