Buy Tobacco Leaf Online | Whole Leaf Tobacco

It'S Gold

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
My batch from thanksgiving day is all done breathing. I took it out of the jar, stirred it up and took a dip. They say crude oil is black gold- No No No!
This dip is black gold:p. Worthy of lapping up any spills on the counter top. Some kick ass dip. A big THANK YOU to all who helped me make this happen. Squeezy, JBD,deluxestogie, RyanM22, SmokesAhoy and everybody with a kind word. You guy's are awesome. I gotta say, I'm so pleased, I'm bubbling right over. BigBonners Burley and dark air is what really turned the corner. I went from making excellent to pure black gold!:cool:
DSC04983.JPGThanks guy's
 

Charly

Moderator
Joined
May 1, 2016
Messages
2,209
Points
113
Location
France
Really happy for you Cope !
I hope I will enjoy my tobacco (when it will have a bit more age) as much as you do !!
For now, my baccy seems better and better, but not good enough yet :) but I'm confident it will be gooooood !
 

SmokesAhoy

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
2,686
Points
0
Location
VT
Can you link the batch that turned out so good? We'll probably want to sticky it too.
 

BigBonner

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
1,671
Points
63
Location
Kentucky
Glad things turned out great for you
I have been keeping a close eye on your project . Now go back and make more .
 

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
My procedure is a little of everything I've read here on this board. As far as preparing the tobacco, I'm not sure where I saw that. The thing is most makers explain their recipe in grams. I have no gram scale so I had to convert to tsp. tbsp. oz's.
I'll put something together with pictures. I'm about to cook again and I'll take pics as I go along. If it will help somebody else here, I'll be happy.
 

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
I'll back up a little because I've already prepared my tobacco but I'll add a sample of BigBonners Maryland he gave me so here come the pics.
DSC05635.jpg Bring it into case with a little spray water so it's workable.

DSC05639.jpg Pull out the center stem and as many veins as you can.

DSC05641.jpg The better the case, the easier they pull out. You get less pieces of leaf.

DSC05640.jpg I got a pasta cutter for the leaf, it works great but the case has to be high or it won't feed. The shreds dry out faster.

DSC05644.jpg ..or cut the leaf with scissors. It doesn't dry out as fast. I guess the top layer insulates the heat from getting down in.

DSC05645.jpg Cut up the stems, veins and leaf and keep separate.

DSC05646.jpg In the little oven at 275* f. Dry'm out good.

DSC05647.jpg My coffee grinders getting dull but I am adapting. I'll need another soon.

DSC05648.jpg Stems grinding. Three 10 second burst will do. Dump it out on a paper plate and tap from the bottom. All the big stuff will come to the top. Pick out the big ones to regrind. Dump the flour in a plastic bag.

DSC05649.jpg Veins get three 2 second burst and that usually does it.
 

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
Cooking;

DSC05655.jpg This cook is going to be with 10 oz. of dry tobacco.

DSC05659.jpg An empty jar weighs 10 oz.

DSC05660.jpg A full jar of dry tobacco weighs 15 oz. without cramming it. It comes in handy to know.

DSC05656.jpg A good size container to work with. This 10 oz is going to fit in 2 jars.

DSC05657.jpg ;) The formula;
8 oz. tobacco
1 cup water
1 Tbsp sea salt
I'm gonna make extra solution and go by feel as to how wet the tobacco is. The above ingredients end up a bit dry. I'll have extra solution and get it a little wetter.

DSC05658.jpg 3 cups of water and 3 Tbsp of sea salt will be plenty. The last Tbsp is a bit shy of full because I want it a little less salty.

DSC05661.jpg Bring it to a boil and dissolve the salt.

DSC05662.jpg I can add at least 2/3's of the solution and then adjust it from there. It's probably 40% water by weight to start the cooking with. I'll be adding just plain water every time I take it out to stir it, every day.

DSC05663.jpg Pack the jars with your fingers and clean off the rim so it will seal. Screw on the lid and snug it. They tighten up something fierce and it will take a gorilla to unscrew it again.

Bringing up to temperature next.
 

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
I bought a cheap crockpot and before I knew it I bought the wrong one. This one only has low and high. A dimmer switch works to keep the temp where I want it.
I have the jars in and they float. I was going to weigh them down forgot on my last batch. When I stirred them I found that they were cooking evenly so I didn't bother with it.

DSC05666.jpg Now that I'm in the dip hobby, I see there's about 20 different kinds of crocks. Buy what you can. The ones with a warm setting will sit at 170. you can cover them to raise the temp. from what I understand. Tin foil or a blanket.

DSC05664.jpg The dimmer wires up easily with the little wiring diagram they give you. This one is rated at 600 amps.
The crock was $13 buck at wallyworld and the dimmer was $5. The extension cord was shorting in the middle. I saved it for just this purpose:rolleyes:.
I fill the crock 3/4 full of hot tap water put in the jars which sit about a 1/2" below the lid. Plug it straight into a socket with a GFI then turn it on high. The dimmer gets warm using it to heat up the lot so I plug it straight in. It warms at 5 deg. every 10 minutes.

DSC05667.jpg I want 190 deg. steady on this cook. Between 180 and 200 deg. is perfect. Now I shut off the crock, plug in the dimmer and then turn the crock back on high. Then use the dimmer.

DSC05668.jpg I've already used it to cook and marked where my temp.'s are at.

I'll be cooking this batch for 72 hours. It reached temperature at 4:30 pm here, so tomorrow at 4:30 will be the first time I stir.
Were all caught up. Tomorrow we'll look at some color change.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
Oh! I should have said- I shut off the crock, plug in the dimmer and then turn the crock back on high. Then use the dimmer.

See you tomorrow!

EDIT: This correction has been incorporated into the previous post.
Bob
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
Thanks Bob for editing.

Time to stir the batch.

DSC05671.jpg The temperature stayed at 190* f for 24 hour. I get some evaporation, as the water level drops the temp. rises. It didn't drop anymore than a 1/4" but the temp. went up 2 degrees.

DSC05672.jpg Leather gloves and a big spoon to get the jars out. There is some pressure when I open the jars. Sounds like a soda can opening.

DSC05675.jpg Getting some nice color now. I add a 1/2 cup of water and it's still pretty dry. I guess it's suppose to stay dry thru the cooking. I read it somewhere and haven't tried cooking it any wetter than about 40%. If it's not broken......

Tomorrow at 4:30 I'll post a picture of the color.
 

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
I guess I need some tongs but I have to burn my fingers at least twice to do something about it. Ha!

Time to stir for the second time.

DSC05680.jpg An interesting thing is that the jars start to sink after they cook for a couple of days. I did add water last night and they floated when I put them in but they were almost sinking by 4:00 pm.

DSC05681.jpg It's turning darker still tonight. I added about a 1/4 cup of water. Still on the dry side, it will suck up all the liquid I put in it tomorrow.

DSC05683.jpg They definitely sunk when I put them in again. I added a little more water to the crock.

I'll finish cooking tomorrow.
 

ArizonaDave

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2014
Messages
2,228
Points
83
Location
Phoenix, AZ (east valley)
Excellent documentation, I like it. I have a bunch of tobacco flour, various leaves mentioned, I'll give it a shot. Up to this point, I've just used a rum/vanilla combo (around 7 to 1), a drop of cinnamon oil, mix it all into a spray bottle, and let the alcohol evaporate, which is easy to do in AZ. I do have an extra crock here, and a dozen mason jars. Once again, great job sharing the process!
 

Copenhagen Forever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
161
Points
0
Location
Deer Isle, Maine
Thanks Dave. You must add something in the casing solution to change the PH like sodium carbonate?



DSC05685.jpg I'll finish up the cooking and add the alkaline plus something to make it sticky like the store bought dip.

DSC05684.jpg It's a dark coco brown before the alkaline goes in.

DSC05686.jpg All the rest of my ingredients make a slurry stirred up.

DSC05687.jpg I keep it suspended in the bowl and splash it over the top.

DSC05688.jpg The camera's flash reflects back but you can see the white slurry.

DSC05690.JPG I'm trying to show that it's clumping up from the Glycerin. I could add more but the moisture is maxed out. I'll stir it in a week and add some more water with more glycerin.

DSC05691.jpg This dip is turning black right in front of my eyes.

DSC05692.jpg I'm gett'n 23 oz each. It's a cheap scale but they do weigh out.

This batch has no fire cured in it. I ran out and wanted to try something different anyway. I took a dip and tried it. It's already wonderful. Instead of fire cured It got BigBonners Maryland. So all the tobacco in this batch is Larrys.

The recipe for the black gold in question. I'll base it on a small 8 oz. batch.
6 oz. BigBonners Burly (older)
1 oz. BigBonners Dark Air cured (older)
1 oz. Dark Fire cured (old left over, probably 6 years old)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp Sea salt
Cook at 180- 200 degree f for 72 hours
...........................................


Add;
Mix in a little bowl;
2-3 tbsp water or as needed
1 tsp Bakers Ammonia
2 Tbsp Sodium Carbonate (baking soda converted)
2 tsp Glycerin (or more till tobacco is clumping)
Stir it up really good
Let it breath for 2 weeks- Stir at 1 week and add water.
 

Attachments

  • DSC05690.jpg
    DSC05690.jpg
    48.1 KB · Views: 108
Top