squeezyjohn
Well-Known Member
Because I grow and cure my tobacco off grid (no heating in the shed and only rudimentary ventilation arrangements) I often get to the end of the curing season with colour cured leaf that still hasn't dried in the midrib and could easily mould if left out. My situation also doesn't give me enough space in the house to hang the leaf up indoors to finish off (well not without causing un-necessary domestic strife shall we say?)
So based on a few documents, a little advice here, and the infamous YouTube video of some old British sailors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sqhu11WjC4) - I have been perfecting the art of making what they called a perique (or a prick) of tobacco using canvas and rope. This is the same thing as described by the french term 'carotte' of tobacco. And as you can see it does look a bit like a carrot when it's finished!
Bear in mind that this is so compressed that it contains at least 2 of my strings of hanging tobacco leaf that would take up a load of space. The general advice is to keep it bound up to really develop the taste for about 6 months ... this one is just 3 months old, but I don't like an overly fermented taste in mine and so I have taken it out of it's rope and canvas binding to test.
It is tough to cut, but not too hard with a good sharp blade. The centre of the carotte is slightly moist and much darker than the original leaf it's made from. The smell is fruity and malty and definitely fermented.
Because of it's slightly moist texture (it looks and feels a bit like slicing jerky or billtong) it is possible to shave incredibly fine slices off, much finer than you could hand cut leaf tobacco. When rubbed out and left to dry slightly this gives a very fine shag cut of tobacco and I imagine it would be great in a pipe.
I'm planning on using all mine in recipes for smokeless and snus. My initial tasting was done by simply chewing on the slice you see in the pictures above - it is full of flavour and character and also has a quite a nicotine punch (presumably caused by being mainly upper leaves and also alkalinity due to the fermenting process)
The main things I take away from this are that it is a wonderful solution to curing late in the season with minimal space. Although I know the name 'perique' should only apply to real perique pressing, there is an awful lot of similarity in the aromatic compounds made by this method and by real barrel fermented perique. And if you think about it - there's a load of pressure generated by the rope binding and tightening in this method, the leaf was in high case when it was made in to the 'carotte' - so the high pressure was on moist material (at least in the centre). It certainly isn't as pungent as full-on perique but it tastes much more like that than regular air-dried leaf does.
I would definitely recommend people try this!
So based on a few documents, a little advice here, and the infamous YouTube video of some old British sailors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sqhu11WjC4) - I have been perfecting the art of making what they called a perique (or a prick) of tobacco using canvas and rope. This is the same thing as described by the french term 'carotte' of tobacco. And as you can see it does look a bit like a carrot when it's finished!
Bear in mind that this is so compressed that it contains at least 2 of my strings of hanging tobacco leaf that would take up a load of space. The general advice is to keep it bound up to really develop the taste for about 6 months ... this one is just 3 months old, but I don't like an overly fermented taste in mine and so I have taken it out of it's rope and canvas binding to test.
It is tough to cut, but not too hard with a good sharp blade. The centre of the carotte is slightly moist and much darker than the original leaf it's made from. The smell is fruity and malty and definitely fermented.
Because of it's slightly moist texture (it looks and feels a bit like slicing jerky or billtong) it is possible to shave incredibly fine slices off, much finer than you could hand cut leaf tobacco. When rubbed out and left to dry slightly this gives a very fine shag cut of tobacco and I imagine it would be great in a pipe.
I'm planning on using all mine in recipes for smokeless and snus. My initial tasting was done by simply chewing on the slice you see in the pictures above - it is full of flavour and character and also has a quite a nicotine punch (presumably caused by being mainly upper leaves and also alkalinity due to the fermenting process)
The main things I take away from this are that it is a wonderful solution to curing late in the season with minimal space. Although I know the name 'perique' should only apply to real perique pressing, there is an awful lot of similarity in the aromatic compounds made by this method and by real barrel fermented perique. And if you think about it - there's a load of pressure generated by the rope binding and tightening in this method, the leaf was in high case when it was made in to the 'carotte' - so the high pressure was on moist material (at least in the centre). It certainly isn't as pungent as full-on perique but it tastes much more like that than regular air-dried leaf does.
I would definitely recommend people try this!