Let the Powermatic reviews begin....

[Jitterbugdude]

I just got my Powermatic from Don last night. The weight is very impressive. I know that weight does not always equate to quality but it sure is nice to buy something these days that's made out of metal instead of plastic.

Anyway, I shredded some dry (fairly crispy) air cured Perique, some medium case Yellow Twist Bud and some medium case BSS- Canick. I was very impressed. That machine sucked those leaves down as fast as I could feed them and it and gave me the nicest shred I've seen. I was a little concerned at the fineness of the shred though. I smoke mostly a pipe but I roll cigarettes for my wife. I knew the fineness of the shred was perfect for cigarettes but thought maybe it was going to be too fine for a pipe or chew.I smoked 2 bowls and I had no issues at all. I also made some chocolate chew with the YTB and it too was fine. Another thing I like about it is that the dry tobacco fed perfectly. With all of my other shredders the tobacco needs to be in a medium case before shredding and then I have to let the moist tobacco dry out a bit before using it. Not so with this shredder. Use dry leaf, shred and smoke!

Comparing the shred of my hand cranked pasta maker and Kitchen Aid pasta maker I feel like such a barbarian.The shred on those two machines is very coarse, long and stringy. This machine is the way to go!

Shred-man-Ran

 

[DonH]

Nice! I'm getting really tempted especially after shredding yesterday with a pasta maker some leaves that we're half medium case and half low case. Since this is my first year I've been trying to keep my expenses down but...

 

[SmokesAhoy]

This is definitely the way to go for cigs it seems.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

As to keeping expenses down, if you truly are going to switch off store bought this WILL keep expenses down. If time is money it'll pay for itself in the first few weeks!

 

[Rayshields]

I received my Powermatic today and am going to test it out when it cools off a bit...going to run some junk leaves through to clear out any loose glue...

 

[Boboro]

Its here sitt'in in thecar port when I got home.Did'nt even fix a drank before I shred abuncha leves. I got to help the grand kid with a oilpan gasket and hang leif so I ca'nt mess with it to much.

 

[Rayshields]

Anyone who didn't order one of the things missed the first boat. Them Chinese ain't German, but they did a nice job on this machine.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Nice machine , Not as Fast as the newer model pasta machine I am useing.
Shred width is a little small for My liking , I will get used to it, I just have to have it in higher case otherwise it makes dust.
Overall pretty impressed so far. 3 pounds done thru Her so far.
Oh Yea , Run the leaves to start off with, Come on You never smoked Worse?

 

[FmGrowit]

Anyone who didn't order one of the things missed the first boat. Them Chinese ain't German, but they did a nice job on this machine.

It helped to have the machine engineered in the US.

Brown Thumb, it almost sounds like you got a different cutter head on yours. Can you post a picture?

 

[BarG]

Comparing the shred of my hand cranked pasta maker and Kitchen Aid pasta maker I feel like such a barbarian.The shred on those two machines is very coarse, long and stringy. This machine is the way to go!

Shred-man-Ran

Ive seen your pasta maker shred and was impressed with that, Shred man Ran!, That new power shredder machine must be impressive for you to give such a good review. Thats Fantastic!

 

[johnlee1933]

Ive seen your pasta maker shred and was impressed with that, Shred man Ran!, That new power shredder machine must be impressive for you to give such a good review. Thats Fantastic!

Tim, I haven't run a lot thru mine yet but I am truly impressed. I'm waiting for my cig smoking friend to show up. Then well run a bunch. The shred and the Top-O-Matic manual makes a good cig. One caution, these cigs burn all the way down by themselves sitting in the ash tray. Some might consider this a fire hazard.

John

 

[Daniel]

The shred on ours is just a bit finer than the tobacco we buy in bags. So far everyone here likes it though. we were able to shred leaf that was just a tad to moist to roll immediately with no problems. The only reason it was a tad to moist was that is how the leaf was. I am sure it woudl shred leaf at the correct moisture for rolling as well. My only concern is that if the tobacco is allowed to get to dry it will tend to turn to dust easier. we already have that problem with the pasta machine anyway.
Fast one pass shredding. We did not have nearly enough leaf ready to give it much of a test. I also have not receive the leaf from donating to eh test group. I was hoping to use that leaf to test the machine with and get an idea if Flue Curing is worth the effort.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Ive seen your pasta maker shred and was impressed with that, Shred man Ran!, That new power shredder machine must be impressive for you to give such a good review. Thats Fantastic!

So far, I like it!

 

[BigBonner]

If Im not mistaken store bought cigs shred is finner than store bought pipe tobacco in the bag .Seems like I read somewhere that for tobacco sales the shred had to big a bit wider.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Brown Thumb, it almost sounds like you got a different cutter head on yours. Can you post a picture?[/QUOTE]
I doubt it is different. but it is .034 of a in. between cutters.
powermatic & pasta shredder. size diff.
powermatic pic 1 & 3
you can get a idea of the shred size from the pool table cloth nap.

 

[Boboro]

Run a few lbs. yesterday. I'll never mess with a pasta shredder again. Grabs and pulls in evey thing you put in it.

 

[johnlee1933]

I ran three pounds yesterday. The machine does a fine job. No problems at all. The stuff I was shredding had a lot of stems broken. Stripping was slow. At one point a piece of stem got past me. I heard a funny noise ant the cutter wheels were just bumping the end of this piece. They didn't try to feed it as it's diameter was too big. I shut it off, removed the piece and continued as usual. I'll have more to report when this operation gets cranking.

John

 

[johnlee1933]

I ran three pounds yesterday. The machine does a fine job. No problems at all. The stuff I was shredding had a lot of stems broken. Stripping was slow. At one point a piece of stem got past me. I heard a funny noise and the cutter wheels were just bumping the end of this piece. They didn't try to feed it as it's diameter was too big. I shut it off, removed the piece and continued as usual. I'll have more to report when this operation gets cranking.

John

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Another update. Yesterday I was out in the barn and grabbed a few leaves of Yellow Pryor. These were harvested 3 weeks ago but were brown and bone dry. I took them up to the house and fed the crumbly leaf into the shredder. It came out a little finer than usual, probably because the leaf was bone dry. I packed my pipe and was quite surprised that 3 week old tobacco could taste so good. This is one of the selling points of this machine for me, to be able to take dry leaf, shred it and smoke it right away. With all my other shredders I would have to moisten the leaves, wait several hours, shred and then wait several more hours for them to dry.

 

[Brown Thumb]

The shred on ours is just a bit finer than the tobacco we buy in bags. So far everyone here likes it though. we were able to shred leaf that was just a tad to moist to roll immediately with no problems. The only reason it was a tad to moist was that is how the leaf was. I am sure it woudl shred leaf at the correct moisture for rolling as well. My only concern is that if the tobacco is allowed to get to dry it will tend to turn to dust easier. we already have that problem with the pasta machine anyway.
Fast one pass shredding. We did not have nearly enough leaf ready to give it much of a test. I also have not receive the leaf from donating to eh test group. I was hoping to use that leaf to test the machine with and get an idea if Flue Curing is worth the effort.

I did not get any either/ no big deal.