Can't get the Chewing Baccy texture right! Dang it!

[G-Chew]

Ok, I have learned so much from you guys that I am throwing up my hands in disgust...and say.....help!

Fermented Leaves, good
Different Recipies for chew, good

End product, SUX!!!

1. I got the drying/fermenting/shredding down...
2. I got and have tried several recepies that are GREAT on flavor...
3. I can't get the next step figured out...

I have tried several recepies out...followed them exactly...and had GREAT success with flavoring...but after I take it off the stove what the heck do I do?

I'm doing it all wrong I recon...I've stuck it in the fridge sealed in a plastic container for a few days, I've stuck it in the oven at 100 degrees for 10 minutes...but dang it I keep coming up with a "carmelized texture" that reminds me of eating freakn cornflakes!

It tastes great but my buddies all say the texture SUX.


Do I need to press it into bricks and re-shred after a few days?
Am I just not patient enough...and need to leave it uncovered in the kitchen for a week?
I'm stumped...help me boys...the ship is going down...

ps-thanks

 

[BarG]

What the hell varietys are we talking that you are throwing your hands up?

 

[BarG]

I see over fermentation [ If needed at all]. My first philosophy is KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.

That being said Follow it. Boil some apple cider concentrate in some water and simm er till a thicker consistancy is achieved and add some raw leafs and let them soak. If to bitter add brown sugar on next batch. I don't like it to sweet, makes my mouth water. Let dry out and twist into a rope and try wrapping a leaf around it and letting it dry, It probably won't be the best you ever had but its a start. Heh Heh.

I just threw some away been sitting in my fridge 2 years.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

The traditional process was to soak the leaves in a sauce, compress them into a brick and either sell the brick or shred it. Sounds like you might have to partially dry your chew and then shred it.

 

[BigCasino]

carmelization occurs when sugars hit high temperatures so how about boiling your liquids to meld them and then add your leafs and let them soak in with out actually boiling them? and I think the oven might have been the true carmelization culprit

 

[G-Chew]

The traditional process was to soak the leaves in a sauce, compress them into a brick and either sell the brick or shred it. Sounds like you might have to partially dry your chew and then shred it.

ok, so if i press it into a block how do i store it? do i put it in the fridge? do i store it at a specific temp or humidity?

 

[G-Chew]

I see over fermentation [ If needed at all]. My first philosophy is KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.

That being said Follow it. Boil some apple cider concentrate in some water and simm er till a thicker consistancy is achieved and add some raw leafs and let them soak. If to bitter add brown sugar on next batch. I don't like it to sweet, makes my mouth water. Let dry out and twist into a rope and try wrapping a leaf around it and letting it dry, It probably won't be the best you ever had but its a start. Heh Heh.

I just threw some away been sitting in my fridge 2 years.

**So what do you do to dry it then twist in a rope? take it out of the juice and just twist it into a rope and hang in the closet or fridge?

 

[Juxtaposer]

Glycerin can help with texturizing your tobacco for oral use.

 

[G-Chew]

Where do you suggest me gettn some? An how do you recommend applying it?

 

[MaManus]

I think that you must be frying the baccy in the flavouring for too long and actually caramalizing the sugar... try next time with more flavouring and dont let it all evaporate... once the tobacco shreds look good and soaked in the flavouring turn the heat off and take it out of the pan. Also try and stir the baccy more vigourisly sot it doesnt stick to the pan and burn/caramalize. When I made chew It was good and moist... u just gotta yake it outa the pan earlier

 

[G-Chew]

Thank for your advice.
Let me ask you one more thing...once I take it out of the pan what do you suggest doing? Step by step?

 

[MaManus]

I suggest to get those little round tubberwhere containers... dump the chew in... If its a lil to wet dab with a paper towel. I like to mark the date and then I just put it in the back of the fridge. I think that the longer its in the fridge the better it gets.


Anyways once u get the frying right everythings a breeze...Try some shredded dryed prunes or something it makes the chew delicous

Good luck hope u get it right

 

[G-Chew]

Aight man
thanks

 

[squeezyjohn]

I think the kind of chew you get in pouches these days and the old school ones are quite different. Juxtaposer is correct that glycerin (sometimes called glycerol) will keep it from drying out - you can normally get it from a pharmacy and I would look at adding no more than a teaspoon of it to a batch. If you can get it you can also use propylene glycol but in smaller amounts.

I've come to the conclusion that the old school way is probably better as the natural moisture in your mouth will always rehydrate the chew in the end - and being bone dry it will keep much better until you need it. I love twist for the convenience of being able to just swipe one and go off with it - but if you press it in a block it will be the same tobacco with the same taste - just a different shape. An old school way of rehydrating it before you use it is to keep it in a pouch of some sort with a piece of cut apple.

Cheers

Squeezy

 

[G-Chew]

Thanks for your insite!
Cam you teach me how you make your twists? I like that idea

 

[Boboro]

to make a twist the tobacco leaf is treated with the sauces(rum,honey etc.,but 2 of liquid to one of honey,syrup or molasses)and then rolled in canvas or like material,it is then twisted and bound up with cord and hung for a few months to mature.To bind,run a length of cord along your wrapped tobacco and then double it back down again,then start binding tightly with each turn next to last.When you get near the end push the loose end of cord through the loop and pull tightly on the other end which is covered by the by the binding.Cut off any surplus cord.You can unbind and rebind again after a few weeks because the moisture will have evaporated and the package will be loose.This completes the process.After a few months you can undo the binding and cut off what you need.Be sure to cut from the end where the loop is.---excerpted from Growing and Processing Tobacco at Home by Jim Johnson.

 

[Knucklehead]

That sounds like a nail knot for fly fishing.

 

[Boboro]

Yall know I didnt type that.

 

[Knucklehead]

I think you typed that and your wife types everything else. It's a conspiracy.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Haha yeah Boboro is probably an English professor having fun