Before I trekked out to the Boundary Waters to feed skeeters, I rolled up a handful of sticks from habano leaves which DVick sent me. One leaf habano viso, two leaves habano seco, wrapped and bound by the same half leaf of habano 2000 wrapper; so, in that sense, a habano puro.
side note: Always surprised how much baccy you fellers put into each stick. Three leaves is usually all I can stuff in. If they are larger leaves, then two and a half has to do it. And the amount of binder and wrapper I see guys put on, in all the vids I watch, that's just impossible. I split a habano 2000 wrapper leaf, cut the outer edge of one half for my wrapper, use the inner cutout from that wrapper for my next binder. So three and a half leaves is max max, for the whole cigar. Total waste is negligible. Makes a perfecto which burns an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half.
but... back on topic: DVick's leaves were way damp for me -- made no crunching in my bunching. Smeled wet, too. So I set these sticks aside in a cigar box to dry. Popped one out two weeks later on my return. O. My. Gawd! Absolooly delicious. I am officially a habanofan.
Only thing, still not dry. Dang stick studged up midway. You can feel it in the weight of them, too. So my present project is to salt away a stash of these to dry out.
While I was gone, Indian sent me a box full of goodies to thank me for being a first run buyer. Couple patches, a pin, membership card for their owners' club, a plaque, and so forth. Mostly stuff which might appeal to an eight year old. But the plaque came in this nice plywood box which I like:
The advantage here is this box does not have the sealing flange which a cedar cigar box has. So I'm thinking that should assist the drying process. And the box has never been seasoned, of course, the way a humidor gets seasoned. My Uppowoc Perfectos fit just perfectly. I figure it will hold nine across and four high; so three dozen. If I jam in 50 and set a weight on the lid, I could have them box pressed. I figure on drying these sticks in this Indian box and leave it outside the cooler which holds the rest of my aging boxes. The disadvantage is, it's AA grade pine plywood, so it smells piney, instead of cedary.
Anyone have experience drying out sticks rolled from damp filler? Does this seem like a sensible way to stash them? How long might it take them to dry? Should I stir them from time to time? Is pine a bad choice? If I jam in 50, and set a brick on top, will they still dry out all jammed together?
Once I get these damp leaves all rolled up, then I can attack the new blend kit experiment I promised Don. Prolly make up some magic boxes to shoot around for evaluation. Rolling four more Uppowoc Habanofans as we speak.
side note: Always surprised how much baccy you fellers put into each stick. Three leaves is usually all I can stuff in. If they are larger leaves, then two and a half has to do it. And the amount of binder and wrapper I see guys put on, in all the vids I watch, that's just impossible. I split a habano 2000 wrapper leaf, cut the outer edge of one half for my wrapper, use the inner cutout from that wrapper for my next binder. So three and a half leaves is max max, for the whole cigar. Total waste is negligible. Makes a perfecto which burns an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half.
but... back on topic: DVick's leaves were way damp for me -- made no crunching in my bunching. Smeled wet, too. So I set these sticks aside in a cigar box to dry. Popped one out two weeks later on my return. O. My. Gawd! Absolooly delicious. I am officially a habanofan.
Only thing, still not dry. Dang stick studged up midway. You can feel it in the weight of them, too. So my present project is to salt away a stash of these to dry out.
While I was gone, Indian sent me a box full of goodies to thank me for being a first run buyer. Couple patches, a pin, membership card for their owners' club, a plaque, and so forth. Mostly stuff which might appeal to an eight year old. But the plaque came in this nice plywood box which I like:
The advantage here is this box does not have the sealing flange which a cedar cigar box has. So I'm thinking that should assist the drying process. And the box has never been seasoned, of course, the way a humidor gets seasoned. My Uppowoc Perfectos fit just perfectly. I figure it will hold nine across and four high; so three dozen. If I jam in 50 and set a weight on the lid, I could have them box pressed. I figure on drying these sticks in this Indian box and leave it outside the cooler which holds the rest of my aging boxes. The disadvantage is, it's AA grade pine plywood, so it smells piney, instead of cedary.
Anyone have experience drying out sticks rolled from damp filler? Does this seem like a sensible way to stash them? How long might it take them to dry? Should I stir them from time to time? Is pine a bad choice? If I jam in 50, and set a brick on top, will they still dry out all jammed together?
Once I get these damp leaves all rolled up, then I can attack the new blend kit experiment I promised Don. Prolly make up some magic boxes to shoot around for evaluation. Rolling four more Uppowoc Habanofans as we speak.