Watchmaker
Member
I’ve been experimenting with some whole leaf tobacco I bought from WLT. Inspired by the thread on making cavendish I decided to try my hand with an Instant Pot which hasn’t been covered. (An Instant Pot is a new type of electronic pressure cooker. Think of a crock pot/pressure cooker hybrid.) They come in 6 and 8 quart varieties and are easily under $100 online or at Walmart. Mine is 6 quart.
I tried Turkish Prelip first as it was suggested in the other thread.
[Images in a subsequent post.]
Spoiler alert: I’m smoking a bowl right now and it’s delicious... even on its own.
The entire process took about 4-5 hours including final drying in the oven.
The idea is to steam the tobacco above the water and minimize moisture dripping on the tobacco and leaching the goodness out. The water should remain clear and colorless.
I started with 4 cups of water under a one inch tall round stainless rack that came with the pot. I rigged a stainless steel wire rack to sit above the water. I later switched to a wire strainer basket that I cut the handle off. There are steamer baskets available as accessories to the pot. Again the idea is to allow the steam to cook the tobacco without it sitting in the water.
I pushed the “steam” button and set the timer to 60 minutes. The timer counts down after the pressure is achieved. After 60 minutes it switches to a warming function. You can manually let steam out at this point or wait 10 to 15 minutes and the pressure will dissipate.
Warning: This process produces smells associated with steaming vegetables. Not unpleasant. Kind of like steamed sweet spinach. Some people you live with may not appreciate them. However this is where this electronic appliance can really shine as you can plug it in OUTSIDE! You can limit the smell by letting the pot dissipate the pressure for 10 minutes.
The program was three 60 minute sessions. After each session turn and fluff the tobacco leaves so more and different surface area is exposed to the steam so you get a uniform color throughout all the leaves.
When uniformly dark to black let it cool an dry to a low case (moisture). You can do this in the oven on a baking sheet on low watching it carefully so it doesn’t get too dry. Chop it into a uniform shred to your liking. Remember this is pure unmolested tobacco without any additives or anti mold agents. It will need to be stored dry enough so it won’t mold.
I tried Turkish Prelip first as it was suggested in the other thread.
[Images in a subsequent post.]
Spoiler alert: I’m smoking a bowl right now and it’s delicious... even on its own.
The entire process took about 4-5 hours including final drying in the oven.
The idea is to steam the tobacco above the water and minimize moisture dripping on the tobacco and leaching the goodness out. The water should remain clear and colorless.
I started with 4 cups of water under a one inch tall round stainless rack that came with the pot. I rigged a stainless steel wire rack to sit above the water. I later switched to a wire strainer basket that I cut the handle off. There are steamer baskets available as accessories to the pot. Again the idea is to allow the steam to cook the tobacco without it sitting in the water.
I pushed the “steam” button and set the timer to 60 minutes. The timer counts down after the pressure is achieved. After 60 minutes it switches to a warming function. You can manually let steam out at this point or wait 10 to 15 minutes and the pressure will dissipate.
Warning: This process produces smells associated with steaming vegetables. Not unpleasant. Kind of like steamed sweet spinach. Some people you live with may not appreciate them. However this is where this electronic appliance can really shine as you can plug it in OUTSIDE! You can limit the smell by letting the pot dissipate the pressure for 10 minutes.
The program was three 60 minute sessions. After each session turn and fluff the tobacco leaves so more and different surface area is exposed to the steam so you get a uniform color throughout all the leaves.
When uniformly dark to black let it cool an dry to a low case (moisture). You can do this in the oven on a baking sheet on low watching it carefully so it doesn’t get too dry. Chop it into a uniform shred to your liking. Remember this is pure unmolested tobacco without any additives or anti mold agents. It will need to be stored dry enough so it won’t mold.
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