Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
I've gone to the pipe more now in the winter. Not sure if any others in here do. Something about winter just makes smoking a pipe that much more relaxing .
I've been growing now for 2 seasons . Last year I kilned all of the leaf and then dried it down to low case and stored it all away in vapor proof bags to continue to age. If a month in the kiln is equivalent to a year naturally aging then I have an entire crop that is now almost 2 years old in "age" even though chronologically it is only 1 year old...the ones I've used so far for pipe are Virginia Gold, Little Dutch and Madole...There is a definite noticeable change from air curing ,through kilning and then naturally aging. these same 3 I went a step further and steamed to cavendish either : in a steam pot ,pressure cooker, or jar and kiln once again. Also pressed as bricks,blocks or plug and then dried forcibly.
I have also acquired a few other members leaf and turned those into pipe tobacco as well. One being Larry's (BigBonner) Perique and Jitterbugdudes one leaf sample he sent me last year that I had forgotten about even asking for. I can't even find the paper saying what variety it is but it came to me a dried bright leaf and once ribbon cut and aged it has the aroma of a lightly sweet vanilla cocoa so I'm guessing it is a "burley "type, unless JBD can remember what it was.
I'll get to the point here-
I have been experimenting with small batch blends .
One in particular -
20% Virginia Gold pressed flake
20% Madole Cavendish with rum and vanilla extracts to flavor it lightly. these were applied before steaming and most of the flavoring had steamed away giving minimal flavor to the resulting cut tobacco.
20% Little Dutch cavendish which again added pre-steaming was (raw) honey and rum(real beverage, not extract flavoring) .
15% BigBonner's Perique ,as sent, dried ,hand cut to thin ribbon.
15%JBD's "bright yellow leaf",unflavored
everything was hand cut ,so it has an obvious uneven texture to the blend. Amount is a soft(fluffy)1 cup measurement.
The smell after a few days blended and in a semi air tight container smells sweet and pleasant. Might press it a few days to force the marrying of flavors quicker and hopefully result in a "crumble cake" unless I'm missing a step or cut procedure.
I've been growing now for 2 seasons . Last year I kilned all of the leaf and then dried it down to low case and stored it all away in vapor proof bags to continue to age. If a month in the kiln is equivalent to a year naturally aging then I have an entire crop that is now almost 2 years old in "age" even though chronologically it is only 1 year old...the ones I've used so far for pipe are Virginia Gold, Little Dutch and Madole...There is a definite noticeable change from air curing ,through kilning and then naturally aging. these same 3 I went a step further and steamed to cavendish either : in a steam pot ,pressure cooker, or jar and kiln once again. Also pressed as bricks,blocks or plug and then dried forcibly.
I have also acquired a few other members leaf and turned those into pipe tobacco as well. One being Larry's (BigBonner) Perique and Jitterbugdudes one leaf sample he sent me last year that I had forgotten about even asking for. I can't even find the paper saying what variety it is but it came to me a dried bright leaf and once ribbon cut and aged it has the aroma of a lightly sweet vanilla cocoa so I'm guessing it is a "burley "type, unless JBD can remember what it was.
I'll get to the point here-
I have been experimenting with small batch blends .
One in particular -
20% Virginia Gold pressed flake
20% Madole Cavendish with rum and vanilla extracts to flavor it lightly. these were applied before steaming and most of the flavoring had steamed away giving minimal flavor to the resulting cut tobacco.
20% Little Dutch cavendish which again added pre-steaming was (raw) honey and rum(real beverage, not extract flavoring) .
15% BigBonner's Perique ,as sent, dried ,hand cut to thin ribbon.
15%JBD's "bright yellow leaf",unflavored
everything was hand cut ,so it has an obvious uneven texture to the blend. Amount is a soft(fluffy)1 cup measurement.
The smell after a few days blended and in a semi air tight container smells sweet and pleasant. Might press it a few days to force the marrying of flavors quicker and hopefully result in a "crumble cake" unless I'm missing a step or cut procedure.