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First foray into WLT.......Light/Ultra Light smoker

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bold_as_love

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Hello all. Joe at PureLeaf in the UK referred me here and was a wealth of info., as was Don and Larry. I bought some Brightleaf from Larry and he was kind enough to throw in a bundle of Burley. Previously, I bought a Silver pipe tobacco blend and injected with a Powermatic 2 electric injector into blue (light) tubes. Gave a good smoke, like a Marlboro light but I still suspected some chemical modifiers or enhancers in the pipe tobacco. I had an extra Micro-cut paper shredder at home and (2) passes through was perfect. Ideal size for the injector.

First test run = 100% BL at Joe's suggestion and I found it to be too light. Good flavor but not much "harshness" on the tongue. Again, I like a light to ultra light smoke, but I do want to taste the flavor and have a little kick, but not like a Winston or Marlboro Red. I think with full flavor tubes the 100% BL would've been perfect. But, I have 6 boxes of light tubes on hand, so I wasn't buying more to test the theory.

Second and final blend = I shredded the Burley to make what amounts to a 92% BL and 8% Burley blend. Weird percentages perhaps, but that's how it weighed out on my little scale. I figured I could step it up or down as needed. Nope. It was perfect. I also had some citric acid from when the wife cans vegetables and mixed up the 2% solution as suggested on here as a casing. Sprayed down about 5 cigs worth of tobacco, let it dry overnight, brought back to hydration (I use a Water Pillow with my stored tobacco in a Zip Lock....works great), and rolled them up. I honestly didn't notice a difference and I'm guessing the blend was really not harsh to begin with, so the citric acid wasn't effective. In any event, I won't be using the citric acid going forward.

All in all, I'm blown away at the taste and although I get a little head rush, I don't feel that "weird" head rush I'd get with commercial cigs and to a certain extent with the pipe tobacco. It was almost like a jittery sensation and the other thing, I wake up now with no cough and no nasty chemical taste in my mouth.

No more commercial cigarettes or even pipe tobacco for me going forward.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but I thought I'd post the information for the folks on here and who discover this forum looking for a tasty, but light cigarette alternative.
 

Gdaddy

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Great write up. Very informative.

The citric acid is only useful to lower the PH for cigar tobacco that can be too alkaline (high ph). The citric acid lowers the PH and removes harshness. Cigarette tobacco would have no benefit from the addition of citric acid since it's already lower in PH.

I am glad to see you at least tried the citric acid and verified the results.
 

Chicken

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Before you know it...you'll be growing your own tobaccoo
 

Freeotatv

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Try bumping the burley percentage. Adding red va and some dark air..that shouldnround out your blend for more rounded flavor.

I wrote up a diy casing recipe in the casing forum...

Citric acid by itself may not offer much of a flavor kick.
 

DGBAMA

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Since you like a lighter smoke, adding a bit of Turkish, lemon Virginia, or Maryland 609 or a combination of them will be worth trying. Each adds a lot to flavor but little to harshness.
 

bold_as_love

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Try bumping the burley percentage. Adding red va and some dark air..that shouldnround out your blend for more rounded flavor.

I wrote up a diy casing recipe in the casing forum...

Citric acid by itself may not offer much of a flavor kick.

I'll try that. I did buy some more burley to experiment. Thanks.
 

bold_as_love

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Since you like a lighter smoke, adding a bit of Turkish, lemon Virginia, or Maryland 609 or a combination of them will be worth trying. Each adds a lot to flavor but little to harshness.

Cool.....so how much, percent-wise versus the bright leaf, would you recommend when trying those?
 

driftinmark

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the burley gets better when you toast and case it!....my blend is 60 % bl 30 percent cased and toasted burley and 5% prilep and 5% izmir.....one of the bestest most satisfying smokes there is....every time I hand one out, people ask me to make them some...
I tend to just refer them to the forum these days, lol
you will find when the burley is cased and toasted it adds a new dimension to the smoke
 

AmaxB

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Haven't been by for a while, stopped by the forum to do some lurking and came across this thread. I kind of like Bright Leaf & MD 609 in 75/25 mix, when shredding and mixing the possibles are endless.
Good thread...
 

Alhefner

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Just blended up 1 ounce consisting of 60% Brightleaf, 30% Virginia flue cured, 10% Prilep. Nice smooth, fairly light, smoke with good flavor. I use a pocket scale to measure out the baccy...
 

bold_as_love

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Well, just got another order of WL and he threw in samples of Turkish, Dark Fire, and Dark Air. I'd like to try all of them, but again, don't want something too harsh and don't want to commit too much of my BL to experimentation.

What do you guys think of this?

80% BL
10% Turkish
5% Burley
2.5% each of Dark Fire and Air

Thanks
 

MarcL

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I think you have the right idea. I keep the bright leaf separated and, have a similar mix for when I want something bolder to smoke. something else I'll do with a bolder smoke is, stick the filter with a pin to pull back a little on strength while saving flavor.
 

DGBAMA

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I really like a bit of the fire cured in my blends. One thing though, it takes a bit to "meld" itself into the flavor profile. Mix it, then give it a few days rest before smoking. What you taste immediately after mixing will change over the first few days.
 
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