Clone Pipe Tobacco Blends

[Krausen89]

Has anyone else smoked a commercial blend and loved it to the point of trying to clone? Its obviously not going to be perfect, but pretty damn close?

My smaller scale was malfunctioning so i used a larger one that wasn't as precise. So actual recipe needs tuned

GL Pease Key largo clone *in the works

34g red VA
6g izmir
6g cigar leaf
4g latakia
*all in lower case except cigar leaf was higher case as it was wrapper leaf
Just shredded, blended and tested. Is pretty close but thinking a little more izmir a little less latakia a little more cigar and some stoving could mellow it out. Key largo is pressed and then sliced so it could be a bit different stoved and blended as whole leaves and pressed.

 

[Radagast]

I've been down that road once or twice.
I'm happy enough to occasionally treat myself to the blends I know I'll never recreate and sustain myself happily on what I grow and can recreate all the time. Good luck with yours, if you get something close maybe you'll like it even better.

 

[deluxestogie]

What variety and priming of cigar leaf are you using? Without mixing it up myself, I imagine that should be tasty. In that blend, I see the cigar leaf playing a softer rendering of perique's typical role: raising the pH. And with infinite possibilities of cigar leaf choice, you could make a career out of just varying the type of cigar leaf.

No offense to G.L., but I would suggest you intentionally not copy the blend exactly. Explore the vicinity of Key Largo. [CAUTION: This sort of innocent, blend fiddling can become addictive, and lead to many, many a new blend.]

I recently resisted the strong temptation to eat a leaf of WLT's Habano Oscuro wrapper.

Bob

 

[Krausen89]

What variety and priming of cigar leaf are you using? Without mixing it up myself, I imagine that should be tasty. In that blend, I see the cigar leaf playing a softer rendering of perique's typical role: raising the pH. And with infinite possibilities of cigar leaf choice, you could make a career out of just varying the type of cigar leaf.

No offense to G.L., but I would suggest you intentionally not copy the blend exactly. Explore the vicinity of Key Largo. [CAUTION: This sort of innocent, blend fiddling can become addictive, and lead to many, many a new blend.]

I recently resisted the strong temptation to eat a leaf of WLT's Habano Oscuro wrapper.

Bob

For experimental purposes i used some from my scrap wrapper bag so it was a few different varieties so i am sure. But i have thought about that as well!

I think it is prob near impossible to copy the blend exactly even if i had the exact correct ratio of leaves, their equipment and processing techniques are unique to them i am sure.
With that said i am sure i will eventually alter the blend to make it more to my liking than key largo is. I have another recipe that i am going to try when i have more time that includes the same leaf ratios but different stoving times and temps for each leaf.

Also once i get a new scale i will be able to measure them up a bit more precise and tune them in more to my liking. I brew my own beer and clones are a common thing in that hobby and its fun to experiment to get close sometimes but as like tobacco one recipe brewed at one location, the same recipe brewed at another with different equipment are going to be different.

That Habano Oscuro wrapper sounds like it would be amazing in this! as of right now the Latakia is front and center but its creamy smoke like Key largo and smokes wonderfully! i want creamy and earthy like key largo with latakia in the background and thats really what im going for. weather its a true "clone" would be up to ones own interpretation.

 

[deluxestogie]

once i get a new scale

As you've noted, tobacco blend recipes are always an approximation. "Tablespoon," "cupful," "handful." Without fully desiccating the leaf, then weighing it, lab precision is not meaningful. And the next time, you will be trying to replicate that precision with leaf that is not the same.

If you are more comfortable and blissful using a precision approach, then do that. If precision causes you apprehension, then just approximate. I think you still end up with the same set of blends.

For me, the greatest fun is in discovering the panoply of flavors and aromas revealed in natural pipe blends, without resorting to the addition of beverage and food flavoring.

Bob the Approximator

 

[Krausen89]

As you've noted, tobacco blend recipes are always an approximation. "Tablespoon," "cupful," "handful." Without fully desiccating the leaf, then weighing it, lab precision is not meaningful. And the next time, you will be trying to replicate that precision with leaf that is not the same.

If you are more comfortable and blissful using a precision approach, then do that. If precision causes you apprehension, then just approximate. I think you still end up with the same set of blends.

For me, the greatest fun is in discovering the panoply of flavors and aromas revealed in natural pipe blends, without resorting to the addition of beverage and food flavoring.

Bob the Approximator

I do agree with what your saying and i do the same. what i am referring to as precise is when i am doing small batches like this one in grams and my lb scale (set to grams) goes from 0 to 3 grams with no in between, jumping all over the place. its a lot less than approximate, so measuring out that hint of latakia was just a complete guess on this scale. a great blend just too latakia forward for what i was shooting for.

 

[deluxestogie]

Two of my chemistry courses, way back in the 1960s, were Qualitative Analysis (loved it) and Quantitative Analysis (much less fun). The trauma of Quantitative Analysis has led me into a life of imprecision, like "parts per 16" and "heaping tablespoons". For pipe tobacco blending, if the various ingredients are in similar case and similar shred size, then I just measure by volume—or even "pile size". My smallest batches of anything are about 1 ounce (weight) or so, but usually 2 to 4 ounces, so I can taste it at different times of day and in different circumstances (i.e. just smoked a strong cigar, or just ate corned beef and cabbage).

By far the most important goal should be to enjoy the process, which seems to be what you are doing.

Bob

 

[burge]

What is missing is the age and melding of flavour. I would suggest putting some away pressed. Allow the tobacco different temperatures then try it after 3 years. Once a year let the tobacco dry remoisten and invert the tobacco position. When pressed that allows the juices to meld differently each time.

 

[Controlled Chaos]

Here's one that ended up being similar to Early Morning Pipe, made with blending components from P&C that are just listed as "blending" with no brand name. I made four variations: two with more red VA, two with more yellow VA, one of each with more Latakia, and one of each with more Izmir. Today I'll have some WLT Latakia arriving so I'll have better ingredients to try again but here it is.


8g yellow VA
4g red VA
6g Latakia
2g Izmir

The Latakia may need to be reduced a little if it's from a different brand, the C&D Latakia I tried last year was much more fragrant than the "blending" Latakia used in this mix which leads me to believe the Latakia used wasn't up to par so with better quality leaf it may need a few adjustments. I'll report back in a week or so when this next batch has had a chance to meld now that I'll be able to use whole leaf instead of pre-processed ingredients

 

[deluxestogie]

Every new batch of Latakia that I've sampled over my many decades of pipe smoking is different, even from the "same" source. My guess is that the aromatic firing woods used—first in Syria, then in Cyprus—are, to a large extent, randomly accumulated landscaping scraps [Pistacia lentiscus, Mediterranean live oak, etc.] from the previous season's pruning. So every perfect blend you celebrate will have to be reformulated with the next batch of Latakia.

I've posted these matrices several times over the years. They are the result of my imprecise experimentation with a Latakia "sliding scale". Numbers are in parts per 16 (as in ounces per pound, or tablespoons per batch, or pinches per Ziploc bag, etc.)

without perique:

with perique:

The greatest value of these matrices is not the specific blends, but the trends they demonstrate in pH balancing Latakia blends of increasing intensity.

Bob

 

[Controlled Chaos]

Oh boy. More variables? Seems like every interest I have is loaded with them and that's what gets me locked in. Makes sense the curing process would vary a bit the same way crops vary from year to year