These cigars are wrapped in the opposite halves of the same leaf of Banda Seca Habano Nicaragua #20 (a sample of binder), despite their differing appearance. The whole leaf was misted, and rested overnight in a bag. But the polka-dot half simply would not relax its secondary veins. For binder, I used a double Cameroon. Filler is 2/3 of the Seca Grande and 1/3 of the Viso Mediano, described in a previous post regarding these samples.
I tip my hat to
@rainmax, for providing me with his hand-crafted mold, that can transform even my farmhouse stogies into a presentable appearance. My standard, deluxe glue can be seen at the heads. The bright orange Kuhn-Rikon 6" Kulu blade is now a collectors' item. (They are no longer manufactured.)
I've smoked a similar stick that consisted of a double Banda Seca Habano Nicaragua #20
binder, without a separate wrapper. The leaf is a little too heavy to double-up like that. This one smokes like a charm.
I'm not so sure about the prettier of these two cigars. It's a tiny bit shorter, but seems to weigh more. I suppose I will never get a really good feel for rolling a bunch for stuffing into a mold, since I seldom want to spend the additional 500% time, just for cosmetics. But it is fun every now and then.
Bob
.
