Making Black Cavendish Pipe Tobacco

[ChinaVoodoo]

Sous vise works great for kilning if you don't mind running it at 120 for a month. I can't see it working for cavendish unless if you had it at boiling point for 24hrs or more. Straight up steaming seems to be faster than packed into a jar and left in a crockpot.

 

[deluxestogie]

This is from a filled 1 quart jar of rolled leaf. It spreads onto a cookie sheet and two inverted 1020 lattice trays. The aroma is delicious. Unfortunately, I've been smoking cigars with ~30-40% WLT Peru ligero filler, so the Cavendish may reek like cigar tobacco, and I wouldn't notice it at the moment. We'll see. I'm optimistic.

Once the jar of WLT Virginia Bright Cavendish has also been dried, then there will be some pipes full of Peruvian Frog blend in my future--appearing in a forum near you in Winter 2020-2021.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

With the One Sucker (ligero) Cavendish fully dried to low case, I shredded some, and stuffed it into a pipe--just to see what I had. The aroma is lovey, burns well, and is smoother than Burley Red Tip Cavendish. It's color, as Cavendish, is a very dark brown. The nicotine is super hefty--several notches above "full". A quarter bowl had me sweating.

I'll work some blends with it over the next few weeks, since it is clearly not comfortably smokable straight.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Accidental Olor Cavendish

At some time during the past two years (I'm not sure when), I kilned this 2019 Olor inside a huge, open-top bag. Apparently, hidden at the bottom of the bag, and positioned on a wire shelf directly over the Crockpot, a bunch of folded over leaf tips remained mostly damp (maybe wet), and stewed there for two months. After drying the batch, the tips of these leaves remained much darker and silkier than the rest of each leaf.

The "normal" parts of the leaves are truly wonderful Olor condiment for my cigars--too strong for a primary ingredient, but too tasty to leave out entirely. It took several months of puzzlement for me to realize that the leaf tips had been cooked into Cavendish.

Its aroma is deep, rich and leathery, and carries a bit of a punch from the nicotine. Time to conjure some pipe blends from it. From the ~5 pounds of leaf in the bag, there is probably about a pound of Olor Cavendish just waiting for attention.

Bob

EDIT: This was made from my home-grown Olor. From WLT, the Dominican Olor binder is a good starting point.

Dominican Olor Cigar Binder, 1lb.

Our Dominican Republic Cigar Binder has a traditional Dominican tobacco flavor. The leaves are large and easy to work with. The color will range from a medium Chestnut Brown to a Chocolate Brown.

wholeleaftobacco.com

 

[Krausen89]

@deluxestogie just curious about how long did you press? I dried mine a little and squeezed out by hand any liquid then when i put in press i have the open bag draped over a cardboard box with newspaper in it to collect any liquid and been hand cranking as liquid drains. I steamed an assortment of low grade virginia that was almost shake.

 

[deluxestogie]

@deluxestogie just curious about how long did you press?

How long did I press what?

Bob

 

[Krausen89]

How long did I press what?

Bob

Sorry was trying to quote the original post but i guess it didn't work.. I see now that you said a couple hours.

 

[Yug]

Hello everyone.Today I'm trying to make cavendish using Bob's method: like canned green beans with a pressure cooker. I'm going to make one jar with virginia and the other with burley.

1) The leaf was first stemmed


2) With a brush, I saturate the leaves with water

3) I make small rolls and put them in the jars.

4) I put pieces of wood at the bottom of the pressure cooker to protect the jars.

5) I place the jars in the pressure cooker (with weights on the lid to secure them). Then I fill the pressure cooker with water, almost to the top of the jars.

6) FIRE!!!!! (for 5 hours).

I will tell you about the result in a few days...

 

[Yug]

Hello everyone! This morning I took the jars out of the pressure cooker. (virginia to the left and burley to yhe right)

Then I opened the jar of virginia and undid the rolls. I put the (very wet) leaves on a sieve. I put the whole thing outside, in the open air and sun to dry. I think it smells good and the cat confirms my feeling.

 

[Yug]

My cavendish is now shredded (handmade, with scissors).

The big moment: stuffing and lighting the pipe. A good smoke, quite dense and with a taste that has a lot of body and that corresponds well to the smell that this tobacco gave off. The only small problem is that the tobacco doesn't burn well, but that seems normal to me because it's still too wet. In summary, I am very happy with this experience. This cavendish will be a good component of my future blends. Thanks Bob for the recipe.

 

[deluxestogie]

Nice job. Be sure to allow it to dry down to low case, before storing it.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

My cavendish is now shredded (handmade, with scissors).

Bob has posted this tip that produces a similar shred, but could save some time. He is using Perique in the photos but the technique works with any leaf.

Really Easy Perique Press

Perhaps applying negative pressure (vacuum) to the puck will help in the expansion of it. I think the gradual moistening that bob suggested would be beneficial as well. When vacuum sealing different items (pound cake comes to mind) a steady negative pressure allows me to see the pores of the...

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[Old Gasman]

I thought I'd have a go at this Cavendish thing and here's the result. It's the time of year for my dear wife to make a Christmas pudding and she always cooks it in our slow cooker, I think most of you chaps refer to them as a crock pot. I took some random no name oriental leaf that I bought from Germany and brought it into high case. I then rolled them up tightly, stuffed them into jam jars added a teaspoon of water and popped them into my slow cooker. I left them cooking for 30 hours and the water temperature was 175°f. I'm waiting for it to dry down then I can rub it out and store it away.

 

[Alpine]

That is beautiful black cavendish!

pier

 

[Krausen89]

Cavendish made from Burley, Virginia sun cured and misc 1st priming from cigar variety, mainly Dom olor and little dutch. Steamed 8hrs with water then another 8hours with a little brown sugar and Watkins vanilla flavoring. Dried for a little then pressed most liquid out. Second pressure was to compact cut into slices and then cut again now drying for storage.

 

[deluxestogie]

Be sure to allow it to dry much drier than squishy, commercial Cavendish, to avoid mold.

Bob

 

[Plinsc]

I wonder if the sous vide would work for this?

 

[oldfellainspain]

• I read this thread and decided to have a go with some cured, first priming Virginia leaves that were probably not up to scratch for a good RYO cigarette. I also found @Watchmaker's Instant Pot Cavendish thread which helped, as I could steal my wife's Instant Pot.
• For a first go it came out looking okay. I haven't had a smoke yet so can't comment on flavour. I want to mix it in with a Virginia/Burley mix that I sometime smoke in a pipe.
• In Watchmakers thread it mentions the water used for steaming should finish up clear. Mine ended up dark brown. Can anyone enlighten me as to why this happened? Have I leached out the small amount of nicotine that would have been in the primed leaves?

 

[deluxestogie]

I have never used an Instant Pot. The color in the water is nicotine.

Be sure to dry-down the Cavendish fully, to avoid mold.

Bob

 

[oldfellainspain]

Be sure to dry-down the Cavendish fully, to avoid mold.

Bob

Will do.