Pics of your sticks!! 2022

[GrowleyMonster]

Best one yet! You know it's good when you burn your fingers with it. I thought maybe I could keep the ash on until discard, but it fell off right after the third pic. I am going to keep rolling that style for a while as I am really starting to get the hang of it. This one was rolled about 4 days ago. Aged for 3 or 4 years, it would be superb. This one is filled with all viso except for two half leaf of seco and a half leaf of ligero. The burn was very good, no relights and no canoe burnoffs. I wish all my factory rolled cigars burned that nice. I might never smoke another factory roll.

 

[Red Lime]

Looking great!
Can't wait rolling my own cigars from my own tobacco!

 

[jclif43]

Any secrets to getting that nice shape?

 

[deluxestogie]

I've moved the response to here:

How I roll a Figurado: @GrowleyMonster

Any secrets to getting that nice shape? Keep in mind that I am a beginner at this. More experienced guys have more refined methods, and most prefer to roll parejos, or straight sided cigars, rather than figurados, which are basically any other shape besides a cylinder. For the bunched filler...

fairtradetobacco.com

Bob

 

[jclif43]

Thanks , Bob.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

I've moved the response to here:

How I roll a Figurado: @GrowleyMonster

Any secrets to getting that nice shape? Keep in mind that I am a beginner at this. More experienced guys have more refined methods, and most prefer to roll parejos, or straight sided cigars, rather than figurados, which are basically any other shape besides a cylinder. For the bunched filler...

fairtradetobacco.com

Bob

Okay, cool.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

A Clint Eastwood I rolled a couple weeks ago. Not very pretty but The Man with No Name probably would have been okay with that. All seco, piloto as I recall. I really should start numbering and logging these stogies with all their details.

 

[Jacobp]

Expiremental one I bought the oscuro y rico kit from wlt. Still trying to figure out what i like but I enjoyed the habano 92 binder and the habano 2000 wrapper so I used those with the Nicaragua viso and Rene seco. At a 2:1 ratio Going to give it a few days then see how it turns out.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Rolled this a few days ago, Dominican Binder and Nicaraguan CT Shade Wrapper, filler about 3 parts aged Dominican Seco Piloto Cubano and 1 part
aged Dominican Ligero Criollo 98. I used my "monotubado" bunching, and applied single binder with the rolling machine. "S" cut wrapper.

Draw seemed too light at first but the burn was actually quite good, with no relights, two very small burnoffs required. Smoked surprisingly cool down to the nub. Only two ash drops, not bad for a long-ish cigar. Very tasty, oak and berries.

The last two I smoked kind of sucked, rolled too tight, some tunneling in one, a big canoe in the other. Still, about as good as some of the smokes I have had to pay for. But this one was a lot better.

 

[Jim D]

Sometimes I wonder if the wonky burn might be due to uneven moisture within the filler. I've not seen it in quite a while but I've also slowed down my consumption a lot.
Nice looking stogie @GrowleyMonster , and its always fun when the homeroll is better than commercial!

 

[tullius]

no. 157, 46 x 5 5/8. 1 corojo seco, 1 corojo viso, 1 corojo ligero, nic condega seco binder, corojo oscuro wrap, 2.5 years

 

[tullius]

Result: easy draw, OK burn (foot was underfilled, someone should have words with the roller), spanish cedar, white pepper, tangerine, pencil shavings, rose hips, aromatic leather. Blend holding consistently good

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Short and spicy. Supposed to be my answer to the Fuente Hemmingway Short Story. Fine little smoke, but I could have rolled it just slightly looser. Still, a great smoke. Lots of ligero in this one, but no core of pure ligero. I haven't had so much luck with the center being all ligero and the outside being all seco. I mix the seco and ligero in the center and surround that with all seco or seco and viso. I get a much nicer burn that way. I will probably concentrate on shorter cigars for a while, though maybe not so many as short as this one, or as potent as this one. My bartender, Mrs. Monster, gave me a Manhattan to accompany this, and it was not the best of pairings. An Old Fashioned would have been nicer, or some Tawny Port or Amontillado, but we are out of ports and sherries at the moment. I do have a Spanish red that is not too terribly dry, bold enough to match this smoke, but just one bottle left and I was reluctant to open it. My usual Beaujolais would never stand up against this little firecracker.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Rolled these a half hour ago. More of my Imperfectos. These are going to be my last unbanded cigars. From now on I will band all that I roll and keep a log so when I got one that truly impresses, I can go back and look at how I rolled it and what bakky went into it. This will be more important starting like "a week ago" because I am working on a new bunching technique. Might be a good idea. Might be a stoopid idea. Time (and record keeping) will tell.

I do think maybe I will start using a less exaggerated taper and center bulge. I really did want to do a few cartoon cigars. You know, the mobster's or mad scientist's or other evil villain's henchman, he smokes them. Mine have been burning quite decently but with that shape, the potential for a bad burn exists. And there is no way a factory could make this vitola with any reasonable degree of consistency, I don't think. It takes me almost a half hour to roll one. Half that time is just thinking about what is next and how to do it.

Sometime in the next few weeks I will probably do a batch of parejos. Toros, Robustos, whatever. Maybe a Lancero or two. After all, I do have a machine, and Parejos are where a machine really shines.

Anyway, without further adoo, I present, two Imperfectos.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

I smoked this last night. The lighter weight and the thinly tapered but strongly reinforced head made this a great stogie to smoke hands free. Binder was from my recent Sumatra Filler order and wrapper is CT shade. Filler is Piloto Seco with just a bit of Ligero, half a leaf I think, don't remember what variety or origin. Smoke was overall very smooth, almost buttery, and draw was well balanced until the last 1/4 or so, where it started to tighten up slightly, and condensation caused it to go out a couple of times from excess moisture. One burnoff, when it canoe'd a bit on me just as it approached its widest point. Mrs. Monster had a puff or two, and liked it. There will be others like this in the future, I am sure.

 

[Jacobp]

I was really proud of the way this one turned out

 

[FrostD]

Been on a little bit of a binding spree the last couple weeks. This is batch 1 of 3, of some triple Ligero blends. However, this particular batch with Paraguayan fillers only has 2 ligeros & 1 Viso. Next 2 batches with have Dominican & then Nicaraguan triple ligeros. Went with Cameroon, Vuelta Abajo, and Dominican Piloto Cubano for 3 different binders. Now to prep up 4 different wrappers to lay over them.

Paraguayan filler batch of 66 sticks. 22 of each different binder variation:



Left over binders I used to bind up some “left over blend scrap” sticks from the blend above. Once I ran out of the left over blend scrap, put in some of my random bag scrap from all my previous blends.

32 random filler blends. Same 3 binders used from above:

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

That would last me at least a month! Wow.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

That would last me at least a month! Wow.

It would take me a month just to roll that many!

 

[FrostD]

I have hand rolled with paper strips to start. I have a few molds also. They are super nice while applying the wrapper. However, sometimes leaf ratio’s go right out the window and can plug up a cigar. The pics above are all hand rolled and molded with paper strips. A couple things I’ve learned, is that molds, are sometimes great, as long as you have your ratios & feel of the body of the cigar down. Otherwise, too loose or too tight of a burn/draw can happen. Molding with paper strips, helps you adjust and compensate for that feel of where the filler is located you can add or subtract filler if needed immediately. Outside of all that, you can personally adjust the tightness of the bind needed for that particular cigar. Sure they won’t come out all uniform, but do you have enough golf balls to suck down a garden hose or need an extra hot burning stick with too much air flow, Nope! Not here at least. I’ll care here and there with molds and a consistent look, but this lesson truly taught me this even more so now than before. A cigar is meant to be enjoyed during your time with it. If it’s too tight/ loose of a draw, or your just not enjoying it, chuck it. Note what didn’t work, so you can make sure to not make that decision again.