While Photoshop might be the industry standard for photo editors, not everyone has access to it. That’s where Photopea steps in. Photopea is nearly an identical copy of Photoshop. If you find any guides here that reference Photoshop, they will most likely work with Photopia as well. If not, leave us a comment and we’ll update the guides to include both.

To get started, download this template, visit. photopea.com, and watch the tutorial below.

Watch this tutorial directly on archive.org

Note: Throughout this article we will link to items that are mentioned. Cellar Labels is not affiliated with any of the brands mentioned and does not receive any commission on linked products. They are added purely for your benefit and reference.

Choosing the Right Jar to Cellar Tobacco

There are several different sizes of jars to choose from when cellaring your tobacco. When building up your cellar you should consider how you plan to store your jars and eventually how you will smoke through it. In this guide, we cover the best jars for long term storage, short term storage, and day-to-day use.

This is just a general rule of thumb though. Not all cuts of tobacco are created equaly or take up equal space. Two ounces of flake takes up less space than 2 ounces of ribbon cut. A 2 ounce plug takes up less space than 2 ounces of crumble cake. For starters, let’s look at the smallest jar size that all of those cuts will fit into. Usually, the smallest tin sizes are 2 oz and 50g (1.75oz), so that’s why we will be using those numbers for reference.

Image 1

The Regular Mouth Half-Pint 8oz Jar

This version of the Half-Pint jar (Image 2) holds the same amount as the above option. Despite this, there is a huge downside to using this style of jar. As you can imagine, the regular mouth size has a much smaller opening. So, even though you can store the same amount of tobacco, accessing it is a little more difficult.

The benefit of a wide mouth jar is that you can fit most pipes right into the opening and load your pipe without spilling any tobacco. You can try but will find it difficult to do this with a regular mouth. This style is also 1 1/4 in taller than the wide mouth style we first looked at. This means the more you smoke through the jar, the harder it will be to get to the tobacco at the bottom.

If you are going to use this style we recommend using a tobacco mat to place your tobacco on and load your bowl above. Then you can easily transfer the spilled tobacco back into the jar.

Wide Mouth Pint 16 oz Jars

These jars (Image 3) are our second favorite jars for cellaring. As you can see, we have put a rope in this jar (specifically Samuel Gawith Brown No. 4). We like to keep bulk tobaccos like rope broken down as little as possible. What you see in this jar could probably fit into a half-pint jar. This order came as 2 long ropes and a few cut down pieces. Instead of packing them into miss-matched sizes we opted for all pint jars.

This size is also perfect for when you’ve opened a 3.5 ounces tin. All of that tobacco isn’t going to fit into a half-pint jar. Here you have two options. One, you could split them up into two half-pint jars. One with 2 ounces and one with 1.5 ounces. Then you could cellar one and smoke through the other. Two, you could put the whole 3.5 ounce tin in this jar. 

This is a good example of planning out how you want to use your cellar. Are you looking for long term storage or are you looking to smoke through your jars soon? Keep in mind that the larger your jar the more you will open it while smoking through it. Every time you open the jar you stop the aging process. If your long term goal is cellaring for years, breaking your tobacco down into smaller jars is a good idea. If you are going to smoke half of a pint jar and then let it sit some more, you will be leaving a lot of air in the jar. Again, this is where we would recommend using the first jar mentioned.

Jars Larger Than a Pint

So far we’ve covered 4 different jars. Three of which were just different shapes, but fit the same amount of tobacco. Searching the database of two of the biggest brands, Ball and Kerr, returns 57 different jars. That’s a bunch of jars to consider. Generally speaking though, anything over a pint is too big for cellaring tobacco. If you have had a good experience with cellaring in large jars we would love to hear about it in the comments.

It’s tempting to order tobacco in bulk and try and stuff it into the largest jar available. In the next article, we are going to recap the benefits of using smaller jars as well as look deeper into the art of this cellaring method.

What is cellaring?

Cellaring is the term used for storing tobacco long-term. This can be for 6 months or even over 10 years. The art of cellaring tobacco is simple and the results, when done right, can be very rewarding.

How to Start Cellaring Tobacco

Some people are fine with cellaring their tobacco in the tins they come in. Others will transfer their tobacco to mason jars. This site was created for the mason jar crowd.

When choosing the size of mason jar you want to use, there are a few things to consider.

1. Widemouth jars are easier to load your pipe out of. When you decide to open up a jar from your cellar to smoke, this will come in handy.
2. Take the oz of jar and divide it by 4. That’s roughly how many oz of tobacco you can store in it. Example: an 8oz jar will hold 2oz of tobacco. This will be different depending on the type of cut. More flake can be put in a jar than ribbon cut for example (because of it being condensed).
3. If you have several oz of a blend consider storing it in multiple 8oz jars. Once you’ve had some age on your tobacco, opening one small jar at a time will allow the others to continue aging. Every time you open the lid the aging stops and process starts over.

Buying new jars ensures that the jars are as clean as possible. There is no need to wash them when bought new. If you have a canning section at your local store, consider getting a canning funnel as well. This isn’t required, but it will cut down on the mess when transferring tobacco to jars. If you have a kitchen scale handy use it to measure your oz’s and record the information on the jar.

Here are the steps to cellaring your first jar of tobacco:

1. Place your empty jar on a kitchen scale and zero it out.
2. Use your funnel to fill the jar with tobacco. Use the rule mentioned above to determine how much to put in each jar. (2oz in an 8oz jar). You will need to pack the tobacco down a little bit to fit 2oz. If you find yourself really jamming it in there, consider cellaring less per jar.
3. Make sure the rim of the jar is clear of tobacco before placing the lid on top. Tighten the band until the it’s as tight as you can get it. The rubber band in the lid will create an airtight seal.
4. Download and print the labels needed for your lids. Either on the labels or on tape on the side of the jar, write the date you jarred the tobacco. If the tin you are transferring from already has some age on it, include that information as well.
5. Scoop up any of the tobacco that didn’t make it into the jar and enjoy a bowl!

Using Cellar Labels

First visit our Printing Template page and download the template that works for you. Then use the custom label template to make labels for your jars. All the setup details are explained in the template download.

Want to use labels that others have made for blends? Join the International Cellar Club and get access to hundreds of labels made custom for mason jar lids. Best of all, it’s free to join and use!