Cooking Perique into Cavendish, for a New Pipe-Blending Ingredient

[deluxestogie]

Perique Cavendish

I had never thought of cooking St. James Parish Perique into Cavendish. In this experiment, the leaf freshly from a newly opened bag of WLT Perique, with no added water or other ingredients was placed into a Mason jar and sealed. This was cooked for ~15 hours in a hot water bath at a temp that ranged from about 185 to 195°F. After cooling, the Perique Cavendish was spread and dried to low case. For this comparison, the remainder (uncooked) of the same bag of Perique was used in the blending test. Both were blended with Flue-cured Virginia Bright to make two VaPer blends.

The questions that required answers were:

1. what is the impact of cooking the Perique on its aroma, when used in a blend?
2. what is the impact of cooking the Perique on the pH of the resulting smoke?
3. does Cavendish cooking of Perique render it a unique enough blending ingredient to justify the time and labor of cooking it?

Answers:

1. The barnyard aroma of Perique persists after Cavendish cooking, but is notably subdued. I would consider the Cavendish version a kinder and gentler Perique. This blend with the Perique Cavendish seems to have a broader aroma profile, which I attribute to my being able to increase the proportion of Perique, while still maintaining a bite-free blend. And the flavor seems darker than with standard Perique.
2. The ratio of 5 parts Virginia Bright to 3 parts Perique is usually on target for eliminating tongue bite. Lemon Virginia may require a greater proportion of Perique, and Virginia Red a lower proportion of Perique. My test batch of VA Bright with standard Perique (5:3) seemed perfectly pH balanced. Using 5 parts Virginia Bright to 4 parts of Perique CAVENDISH balanced the pH. So cooking of the Perique moderated the pH of its smoke closer toward neutral. [The smoke of flue-cured and Oriental tobaccos that are Cavendish cooked tends to be less acidic than that of the uncooked, while the smoke of dark air-cured, burley, Maryland, cigar varieties and now Perique tends to be less alkaline after Cavendish cooking.]
3. I think Perique Cavendish makes a lovely new and unique pipe blending ingredient.

So far, every variety that I've cooked into Cavendish (dozens) produced something new and different and enjoyable for pipe blending.

Bob

 

[Plinsc]

I’m still reading and re- reading a lot of threads! Great stuff on here, do you use a sous vide to water bath that?

 

[deluxestogie]

I use a big pot ~½-full of water, sitting on my electric kitchen stove. I cover it with its lid, but the 1 quart Mason jars are slightly too tall, and prevent the lid from fully sealing. I insert a thermometer from time to time, merely to get some idea of the temp. I fiddle with the setting on the stove burner to maintain a simmer. When the water runs low, I replenish it with boiling water. Nothing about the process is precise, or needs to be precise.

Bob