Pics of your sticks!!

[GreenDragon]

How long do let yours dry? I’ve been rolling decent looking sticks and letting them sit on my desk for about a day and the wrapper always cracks as it dries.

Sounds like they are drying too fast. You must have very low ambient humidity or are stretching the wrappers too much. Try letting them sit in a “dry box” to equilibrate. Go to your local cigar shop and buy an empty wood cigar box - usually they will sell them for $1-2. Season it by putting a slightly damp paper towel in it for one day. Then place your fresh rolled cigars in it for a few days before moving them to your humidor / smoking them.

 

[tullius]

How long do let yours dry? I’ve been rolling decent looking sticks and letting them sit on my desk for about a day and the wrapper always cracks as it dries.

what greendragon said. Don tossed me a empty WLT spanish cedar churchill box the first time I was in there: the wood on one side of the lid was split but I glued it back together and that's one of my dry down boxes, works great. It's an intermediate step between fresh rolled wet and 70% rh in the humidor. It stays around 40-60% rh depending on how many sticks are acclimating in there. If it's winter they stay in there around 1-2 days before going in the humidor, summer 1-2 weeks.

 

[Jb00]

Sounds like they are drying too fast. You must have very low ambient humidity or are stretching the wrappers too much. Try letting them sit in a “dry box” to equilibrate. Go to your local cigar shop and buy an empty wood cigar box - usually they will sell them for $1-2. Season it by putting a slightly damp paper towel in it for one day. Then place your fresh rolled cigars in it for a few days before moving them to your humidor / smoking them.

I appreciate it. I live in Missouri and I can attest it’s very dry during the winter. I’ll give this a try and see how it comes out. Thanks!

 

[MarcL]

How long do let yours dry? I’ve been rolling decent looking sticks and letting them sit on my desk for about a day and the wrapper always cracks as it dries.

It will help to have the bunches dry to a degree before you put a wrapper on them.
Time will have to do with things like how wet they are to start, how you like them to smoke, how dry the air is.
You really shouldn't leave them in dry conditions for to long.
Try wicking moister out in a more controlled setting. In a container. Use some dry scrap that can be rotated out.
For example; say you take a container that is 1/3 full of cigars. Use 1/3 of dry leaf to wick out the moister and 1/3 of air. Have another 1/3 of dry leaf outside that container to rotate with the leaf that is in the container.

 

[Mathaious12]

My first attempt as some Lanceros. Wrapper is Ecuadorian criollo, binder olor ligero, filler 1.5 olor seco .5 olor ligero.

Any suggestions on what may work well with olor seco and ligero? I'm putting together my first wlt order.

 

[waikikigun]

My first attempt as some Lanceros. Wrapper is Ecuadorian criollo, binder olor ligero, filler 1.5 olor seco .5 olor ligero.View attachment 29474

Any suggestions on what may work well with olor seco and ligero? I'm putting together my first wlt order.

View attachment 29476

Habano seco probably. Corojo ligero or viso MIGHT. Might not, of course....

 

[tullius]

suggestions on what may work well with olor seco and ligero?

Any primings of WLT corojo or nic habano, and rene seco but they're out. Also, san v ligero.

 

[tullius]

^should read nic condega^. also, try binding with seco instead of ligero, should burn better. nice rolls

 

[GreenDragon]

Inspired by Bob's book, I decided to make a few "American" style cigars. Two blends, one free hand, one using a mold, 4 sticks each. Tobacco is a blend of Big Bonner's, my 2018 grow, and WLT.

Blend #1, free hand:
Filler: Comstock Spanish, Little Dutch, Silver River, Havana, Corojo 99
Binder: PA, Wrapper: Ct. Broadleaf



Blend #2, Mold:
Filler: Havana 263, Penn. Red, Corojo 99, Fl. Sumatra, Dark Fired (1" sliver)
Binder: PA, Wrapper: Ct. Broadleaf

 

[Nathan Esq]

GreenDragon.- I have a question on American varieties like Big Bonners tobacco. Since most common cigar tobaccos are air dried and then fermented. Do the american tobaccos need fermentation since they are air cured? Plus the american tobacco is not separated by priming, I've seen "midstalk" which I'm guessing is viso-ish? Disclamer:
I'm new and have no real idea what I'm talking about.

 

[waikikigun]

The sticks I rolled last night on my weekly live roll on YT.

 

[GreenDragon]

The sticks I rolled last night on my weekly live roll on YT.

Beautiful!!!

 

[GreenDragon]

GreenDragon.- I have a question on American varieties like Big Bonners tobacco. Since most common cigar tobaccos are air dried and then fermented. Do the american tobaccos need fermentation since they are air cured? Plus the american tobacco is not separated by priming, I've seen "midstalk" which I'm guessing is viso-ish? Disclamer:
I'm new and have no real idea what I'm talking about.

I will defer to @deluxestogie and @BigBonner for details. Lots of info on this in general in the FAQ and Key Forum Threads above; I’m a beginner myself. In a nutshell “curing “ or “color curing” refers to the process of transitioning the leaf from green to brown in a controlled manner. The leaf is then aged or fermented. While generally interchangeable terms, both refer to the process of mellowing the leaf by reducing sugar and protein (ammonia) content through the application and manipulation of time, humidity, and temperature. All tobacco varieties benefit from this process. This can be accomplished by hanging in a barn for several years, the meticulous process of maintaining pilones, or storing as bales on pallets. I “ferment” my tobacco in Rubbermaid tubs in my attic, which is pretty effective and free in the Texas heat. I have observed that people tend to refer to “fermenting” when they are trying to speed the process in some way, and aging as leaving time and nature to take care of it.

Again, this is my limited understanding and will not be offended if the more senior members can provide additional or contradictory information.

 

[deluxestogie]

All tobacco varieties benefit from this process.

I agree. I kiln all my home-grown cigar leaf. I kiln my home-grown sun-cured Orientals. I kiln my home-grown dark air and burley, etc. I even kilned the "Latakia" that I made this past year.

WLT cigar leaf is already well fermented and aged, and further kilning is unlikely to make a significant difference. Whenever I receive leaf of any kind, that has not been well fermented, I always kiln it for 4 to 8 weeks, prior to using it. This never fails to noticeably, significantly improve its smoking quality. Do you need to kiln it. Well...no. If you like it as is, then that's fine.

For cigars, some leaf that has not been fermented is simply not smokable for four to six years. PA Red, Long Red, Little Dutch and Dutch Ohio aren't bad, when only air-cured, then aged for a year or so. But they are worlds better after I kiln them.

Bob

 

[waikikigun]

Beautiful!!!

Thanks, GD!

 

[MarcL]

4 X 60
from the center, 1 Criollo 98 Viso, 1 T-13 , 1/2 Corojo 99 Seco fillers. PA and 1/2 Corojo 99 Seco binders with, Jalapa Rosado Wrappers.
new box with tubos

 

[GreenDragon]

Smoking my American blend #1. I’m really digging this. Does not have the deep earthy, chocolate, or barnyard flavors of a SA cigar. It’s lighter, more floral, with a slightly sweet caramel note to it. Aftertaste is pleasant. And it’s not lacking in the Nic content either. Not saying it’s better or worse than a “Cuban” type cigar, just a pleasant change.
(If anyone is curious, that’s a glass of Guinness it’s perched upon.)

 

[Mathaious12]

No. 14 first stick with an almost perfect burn, never had to do a touch-up light. Ecuadorian Criollo wrap, seco binder, and filler was 2 seco, 2 ligero olor. The draw was a little tight.

 

[waikikigun]

No. 14 first stick with an almost perfect burn, never had to do a touch-up light. Ecuadorian Criollo wrap, seco binder, and filler was 2 seco, 2 ligero olor. The draw was a little tight.

View attachment 29501View attachment 29502View attachment 29503

All right all right all right, looks like you're a cigar roller now. Congratulations.

 

[Mathaious12]

@waikikigun, thanks. Now just a few more years of practice and I'll be ready to quitting my day job to work in a factory.