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Wiktor’s PipingNotes 03: Working with New Leaf Supply

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alPol05

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Learning about pure tobacco, blending and pipe smoking.


Two weeks ago I received another shipment of tobacco from Whole Leaf Tobacco (https://wholeleaftobacco.com/main.sc). This time I ordered 1 pound of each: Flue Cured Virginia "Lemon," Flue Cured Virginia Red Tips, Perique from St. James Parish Louisiana, and Latakia from Cypress.

For all new visitors to this forum, I will briefly show and comment on each package and show a bit of shredding.

Here is an important statement from WLT website: “Whole Leaf Tobacco is all natural, unprocessed tobacco leaves. We sell only the highest quality American-grown tobacco, imported cigar tobacco, genuine Virginia Bright Leaf, genuine Kentucky Burley, and genuine imported Turkish Tobacco at the best prices anywhere. All of our tobaccos have been fully cured traditionally for each type.”

Lemon Virginia
Lemon Virginia comes in a vacuum-sealed bag. The bag is vapor-proof and made from a poly-nylon.

Lemon VA-01.jpg Lemon VA-02.jpg

Lemon Virginia fascinated me from the day I read about it. I was searching the Internet for pipe tobacco recipes and found interesting samples on this forum. Here is the link: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/3926-Pure-Tobacco-Pipe-Blends-You-Can-Make. Many recipes call for Lemon Virginia.

Shredding this leaf is an easy exercise. I learned it here on this forum. When I shredded this leaf for the first time about two months ago, I used a regular kitchen knife. It worked OK, but despite sharp knife, I was tearing the leaf somewhat. I was prepared better this time. Mezzaluna Knife ("half-moon" in Italian), made by Swiss firm Kuhn Rikon has a 6-inch blade, is convenient to hold and is very sharp. I can rock the blade instead of “sawing,” like with a kitchen knife. The cuts are clean and cutting requires much less pressure on the blade.

Lemon VA-03.jpg Lemon VA-04.jpg Lemon VA-05.jpg

The result is a wide and short ribbon. In the final blend, this kind of cut assures cooler and easier burn.

Virginia Red Tips
My first read about Red Tips didn’t tell me much, and I was hesitant to buy it, but only because my understanding of a leaf and its position on the stock was nonexistent. Here is a description from the WLT site: “Flue Cured Virginia RED TIPS are from the uppermost leaves of the plant. These leaves are ripe/ripe which means the leaves are over mature and have started to break down. In that the leaves are overripe, there is a very high sugar content to them. This tobacco can be used straight and has great tobacco flavor and is actually quite mellow.”

After I purchased a bag of this leaf and tried it, I wrote a review, and it is here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/7989-Piping-Notes-01-Virginia-RED-TIPS.
Virginia Red Tips package comes in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag. The bag is vapor-proof and made from a poly-nylon.

redTips-01.jpg redTips-03.jpg redTips-04.jpg redTips-05.jpg redTips-06.jpg

I roll a fat “cigar” and cut it into thin slices. Then I cut across and, just like with Lemon Virginia. The result is a wide and short ribbon. In the final blend, this kind of cut burns cooler and easier.

[Continuing in the next post...]
 

alPol05

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[Continuing]

Perique from St. James Parish, Louisiana

WLT sells Perique in ½ lb packages. Like every other leaf, Perique is in the poly-nylon, vapor-proof bag. Although I have used Perique before, I had never seen it before it is shredded. Cutting the package and pulling leaves is an experience in itself. The leaves come out in the form of wet, twisted strings about 1 – 1-1/2 inch in diameter and it stinks!

I decide to cut this leaf in two ways. First, I cut the strings just as they come out from the package. I stretched the strings and cut with a Mezzaluna Knife into thin slices. After cutting these slices across I have small chunks of Perique.

Perique-01.jpg Perique-03.jpg Perique-04.jpg

In the second approach, I stretch and unwide the leaves as delicately as possible and form a cigar-like shape.

Perique-05.jpg Perique-07.jpg Perique-08.jpg

Then I cut thin slices of rolled Perique. It looks nice just like that, but it will not work well in a blend. I cut these slices across and then some more, to create small chunks. Perique is a condiment and is usually used in small quantities in a blend, hence, smaller chunks will spread more evenly throughout.

Latakia

Latakia is another leaf that I never saw uncut. I was a little surprise here – the leaves are small and dryish. Then I remembered that Latakia is made from small leaf Oriental leaf and after time in a fire barn for days, it is dry. The scent right from the bag is that of burning hay and herbs, and smoky!

Latakia-03.jpg Latakia-04.jpg Latakia-06.jpg

Since the leaf is small and on the dry side, I create a pile and chop it into small chunks. The photo shows my granulated Latakia.

Storing Tobacco

I store shredded tobacco in various jars. Since this tobacco is not treated with any chemicals to protect it from molding, I store it dry. I use various jar sizes, depending on quantity.

jars-01.jpg

The covers are not air-tight since the climate in New Mexico is very dry, and I am not concerned with the possibility of tobacco absorbing humidity from the air.
 

deluxestogie

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Excellent tutorial.

I really like my Perique in shred form (hopefully a shred that matches my other ingredients). For that, I slice the "cigar", slice those coins in half, then rub them out between my palms. It nearly always requires further drying before storage or use. Or, it other blend ingredients are fairly dry, the moister Perique shred can just be added, and the blend bag left open until the case is just right.

Bob

EDIT: I have used a Kuhn-Rikon 6" Kulu as both a chaveta and a pipe tobacco shredder for years. The company has apparently ceased making them, and they've become difficult to find for sale. The Mezzaluna blade looks like a reasonable alternative.
 

alPol05

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Excellent tutorial.

I really like my Perique in shred form (hopefully a shred that matches my other ingredients). For that, I slice the "cigar", slice those coins in half, then rub them out between my palms. It nearly always requires further drying before storage or use. Or, it other blend ingredients are fairly dry, the moister Perique shred can just be added, and the blend bag left open until the case is just right.

Bob

EDIT: I have used a Kuhn-Rikon 6" Kulu as both a chaveta and a pipe tobacco shredder for years. The company has apparently ceased making them, and they've become difficult to find for sale. The Mezzaluna blade looks like a reasonable alternative.

Bob, thanks for the comment. I have a long practice in designing presentations and tutorials like that.

Do you unwide the strings of Perique before cutting? I had to be very careful with unwinding. The leaf is very fragile and not easy to unwind. I still have quite a bit of Perique to work with and I might try some other methods of cutting.

On 6" Kulu - they are still available from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-6-Inch-Nonstick-Vegetable/dp/B003B671JI. I chose Mezzaluna blade because it seemed handier to me and I am really happy with it. The only hesitation I have is the blade protector. It is not easy to put it on and I afraid that if not very careful, I will cut myself badly one of these days.
 

deluxestogie

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The only hesitation I have is the blade protector. It is not easy to put it on and I afraid that if not very careful, I will cut myself badly one of these days.
The blade protector is handy if you store the blade in a drawer with other kitchen implements. With my Kulu, I have discarded the protector, and hang the Kulu on a nail in the wall near my work counter.

Bob
 

alPol05

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Whoops... I missed that post, Bob. There are so many things to read everywhere on this site, it is difficult to embrace every important topic or post.

Last night I raised up about 2:30 am and didn't feel a need to go back to bed. I started reading some of the older posts here and didn't even noticed how quickly the time went by until my dog start calling me to go outside. It was 6:30... I was reading your post on making cavendish, I think it was at least the third time. This time I could understand much more than the first time I read it, which was in January. It appears that cavendish might be helpful to mellow some of the blends I am trying to put together.
 
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