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Made some coins last week end!

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Jitterbugdude

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Last week I had so many chores to do that I decided to goof off for awhile and try to make some coins. My intent was to not press them like the commercial version.


This is Virginia Brightleaf that I flue cured along with some Samsun Maden and some Whole Leaf Tobacco Latakia leaf
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I made a sandwich by adding the Brightleaf and Maden, keeping the Latakia in the center. I then rolled this mix into a "cigar" and placed in a cigar mold
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I then placed the cigar mold in to my screw press and placed the press into my kiln. I only kept it in the kiln for about an hour at 180F. I was in a hurry and just playing around otherwise I would have left it in much longer.
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After un- molding I cut the "cigar" in to various thicknesses.

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As you can see the coins are not compressed very tight. If I had to do it over I would have added more tobacco in order for a tighter compression by the screw press. The end result was fantastic. I ended up with some nice coins that I just placed in my pipe and smoked!
 

deluxestogie

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Very nice. I use a similar method, but without a mold and press. I just roll it all into a rock-hard cigar, then slice it as thinly as I can with my Kulu. In fact, that's the way I do all my pipe blends, by rolling a hard cigar (blended or separate ingredients), slicing it with the Kulu, then doing a single cut down the length of the row of coins, to limit shred length. That gets rubbed-out on the cutting board (sometimes also in my palms), and dumped into a gallon freezer Ziplock for further mixing.

I believe it was in a video of the MacBaren factory that they rolled a 2' long, 1" thick roll cake in a Lieberman device, sliced it into coins, then spread the coins onto baking sheets for a quick oven bake (I assume mostly for drying-down).

Bob
 

Planter

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Like deluxestogie, I found I need no mold or press for that - rolling into a "sausage" and slicing directly after kilning gives a very similar result, without additional moisture, actually the coins hold together surprisingly well. Still, your method may be better for blending different varieties, esp. if given some time in the press.
 

Jitterbugdude

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Well, I've made coins before by just rolling them up like you guys do but this time I thought I would do it more commercially by keeping them compressed in a mold and heat steaming them. I didn't notice any difference but then again I only pressed/ heated them for an hour.
 

smokinghole

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I've been brainstorming how to make my own thing similar to what macbaren uses. I think I could use a flexible cutting board or pasty mat but I'd have to fix a metal rod to one end so I can hook it to something that will provide significant tension like a hand winch or a small ratcheting wheel. Heck I bet even a tie down strap ratchet would provide ample tension. Once I finish building my kitchen table I will work on that, the misses thinks I have too many projects going on at the same time....
 

Desertpipe

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Wrapping the roll in twine under tension and letting it cure for a time gives one a good finished coin.
 
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