Making Black Cavendish Pipe Tobacco

[SmokinSasquatch]

This certainly balanced out the nasal-burn but the toast remains well in front, interesting. Considerably reduced the nicotine gut-punch as well.

Also of note is that it burned very cleanly and dryly, the pipe cleaner came out surprisingly dry and clean.

 

[maw]

Monument at Parque Nacional Cueva del Guácharo. The German explorer Alexander von Humboldt visited the Guacharo’s cave in 1799, and identified the bird as a new species.

But Guácharo tobacco is a primitive variety (little sign of agronomic improvement), named after the Venezuelan cave-dwelling bird. I believe the tobacco variety is closely related to Bolivia Criollo Black (and maybe to Paraguay Flojo as well). It's physical resemblance and growth habit are similar. I would not be surprised if it is no longer grown in Venezuela (its only home).

Bob
First of all I have to say thanks for this great post you started quiet while now, i just finish the whole thread and I am in the hurry to experiment with some burley leaf I will get tomorrow from a local grower.
But I should reconized the effort you put in this community spreading such amount of information including in this case the originis of the Venezuelan Guacharo tobacco, as many of you may know Venezuela is passing throgh dificult times and is easy to forget the goods things we have to offer to the world as coffee, tobacco and cocoa among others.
Will be more than a pleassure a honor to me, if there is a way I can get some you some of your Guacharo/Cavendish to give it a try. I know there is a bunch of work and tme to acomplished what you have done but I need to ask, please PM if you feel in the mood of share your treasures, not harsh feelings if you not and one more time thanks.
I promise I will back with some results after attempt to do my first cavendish bach

 

[deluxestogie]

Thank you for the kind words. Currently the Venezuelan government prohibits importing tobacco or tobacco leaves.

Venezuela Prohibited and Restricted Items | FedEx Cross Border

Prohibited and restricted items for international shipping based on import and export locations.

crossborder.fedex.com

Bob

 

[Michibacy]

Hello again Bob, I finally got around (after quite a few years) to trying my hand at cavendish again. I finally got a batch I'm proud of. I steamed it for 8 hours, pressed in mid-case. I pressed mine in a steel pipe with a c clamp and wooden oak plugs. After drying I sliced coins off, rubbed them out and mixed it with a batch of Maryland 609 and Yellow twist budd, and cased with a mixture of 1 part simple syrup, 1 part RO water, about 10 drops of pure almond extract and 15 drops of pure Madagascar vanilla bean extract. Made a nice aromatic mix. More pictures to come if you're interested

 

[deluxestogie]

It sure looks like Cavendish. We always like more pictures.

What variety did you use to make the Cavendish?

Bob

 

[Michibacy]

It sure looks like Cavendish. We always like more pictures.

What variety did you use to make the Cavendish?

Bob

I'd say it smoothed out the smoke by about 60% even before the casing. I used Yellow Twist Bud which naturally doesn't have tons of sugar to bring out in the process. I did notice as a side note, allowing some of the tobacco to touch the boiling water for just a few minutes (I guess this would be called blanching) turned the brown leaves deep black as noted in the photo I posted. I wonder if that's the key in some of our homemade batches?

 

[deluxestogie]

Some of my most delicious Cavendish batches were made with moist, not wet, leaf inside a sealed jar in a pressure cooker. They don't come out black. The pressure cooker method is now my preferred one, since I can use a big canning pressure cooker, and do 6 or more jam packed quart jars at the same time, each a different variety.

If the leaf sits in liquid, then the liquid contains much of the nicotine, and has to then be poured back onto the tobacco--a messy process.

Bob

 

[Michibacy]

Some of my most delicious Cavendish batches were made with moist, not wet, leaf inside a sealed jar in a pressure cooker. They don't come out black. The pressure cooker method is now my preferred one, since I can use a big canning pressure cooker, and do 6 or more jam packed quart jars at the same time, each a different variety.

If the leaf sits in liquid, then the liquid contains much of the nicotine, and has to then be poured back onto the tobacco--a messy process.

Bob

Good note!

also here’s some more photos

 

[SeanKelly]

Thanks for this DeluxeStogie, I'm going to make some cavendish this weekend. However my tobacco is already cut, so it won't be the kind of cut of Cavendish, but I'm hoping the flavor of cavendish is still there. Any recommendations on what to blend with the Cavendish? I have a selection of of a few Turkish, Burley, Virginia, Latakia and some Perique.

 

[deluxestogie]

There are a number of pipe blends using Cavendish in this thread: https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/pure-tobacco-pipe-blends-you-can-make.3926/

Bob

 

[Michibacy]

I only did this batch by about 7 hours, never did quite get the true black color through and through, but she sure smokes nice. A nice pipe blend coming in at 1 pound minus the midribs. Ribbon cut.

 

[deluxestogie]

Be sure to dry it down, so it won't mold. No adequately dry Cavendish is actually black.

Bob

 

[Michibacy]

Be sure to dry it down, so it won't mold. No adequately dry Cavendish is actually black.

Bob

Yes sir I will. I've been using a moisture meter made for straw bales (figure that's accurate enough) and been taking it down to 14% humidity which seems humid enough to stop mold but moist enough to smoke decently.

 

[Beren]

I am very interested in making Dark Stoved Cavindish (along the lines of RDF, Blackwoods, Stonehaven etc.,), keeping the casings low to non-existent.

I am wondering about the process. Specifically, I am wondering whether it needs Steam or just heat? Usually it is steamed but I wonder if one would get the same effect if the tobacco was maintained at the right temperature but shielded from the actual steam; such as in a heat sealed bag, for example, or just baked in a sealed container so that there is no loss of moisture.

Does anyone have any info about this?

 

[deluxestogie]

The total moisture exposure during the cooking process has a significant impact on the result. I would suspect that prolonged dry heat would give you something entirely different.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

The total moisture exposure during the cooking process has a significant impact on the result. I would suspect that prolonged dry heat would give you something entirely different.

Bob

I am overwhelmed with concurrence.

 

[deluxestogie]

effect if the tobacco was maintained at the right temperature but shielded from the actual steam; such as in a heat sealed bag

I believe that this is the very process that our members from New Zealand have been complaining about...used to "heat treat" their imported tobacco "to prevent disease".

Bob

 

[Beren]

The total moisture exposure during the cooking process has a significant impact on the result. I would suspect that prolonged dry heat would give you something entirely different.

Bob

Yes, I can see the sense in that point. I was more thinking of moist/damp tobacco in a heat sealed pouch like in a 'sous vide' process.

I have a sous vide machine at home and it can maintain specific temps of a water bath at +/- 1C.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

You will have to run it at a boil. It will have to be water-saturated within the bag. It will take 8+hrs. If you lower the temperature to, say 200°F it would take longer. How much longer? I don't know and I'd be interested to see. My guess is several days.

 

[Beren]

I will give that a try during my Xmas break. The good thing is that there is plenty of room for 4-5 pouches to experiment with, and my bags are transparent.

I'll let you know how it goes.