Please help me with 7lbs of unsmokable tobacco leaves

[Greasy Dirt]

Hey y'all,

I just received my first order of whole leaf tobacco and, wow, 7lbs takes up more space than I expected, and also it's savage to smoke. Ok, so it's not 'unsmokable' but it's not good. I've been smoking a nice pipe blend for a while and maybe I've spoiled myself, but there must be a way to turn what I have into something enjoyable to smoke.

I've got 1lb each of:
Organic Burley
Maryland 609
Samsun Turkish Oriental
Greek Basma Oriental
Organic Canadian Virginia Flue Cured
Organic American Virginia Flue Cured
Bright Leaf Virginia Flue Cured Sweet

Should I, make a pound into Cavendish? Make a kiln and force age the lot of it? Press it into bricks? Stuff it into my collar and shirt sleeves so I can pretend I'm a scarecrow?

Please send help y'all.

Sophie

 

[leverhead]

Ageing has always been a good thing for tobacco, just not for me. Let it "air out" for a week or two after artificial ageing.

 

[GWLee]

Hey y'all,

I just received my first order of whole leaf tobacco and, wow, 7lbs takes up more space than I expected, and also it's savage to smoke. Ok, so it's not 'unsmokable' but it's not good. I've been smoking a nice pipe blend for a while and maybe I've spoiled myself, but there must be a way to turn what I have into something enjoyable to smoke.

I've got 1lb each of:
Organic Burley
Maryland 609
Samsun Turkish Oriental
Greek Basma Oriental
Organic Canadian Virginia Flue Cured
Organic American Virginia Flue Cured
Bright Leaf Virginia Flue Cured Sweet

Should I, make a pound into Cavendish? Make a kiln and force age the lot of it? Press it into bricks? Stuff it into my collar and shirt sleeves so I can pretend I'm a scarecrow?

Please send help y'all.

Sophie

Wow, you appear to have a great spread of it all! Sounds like you have the beginning to finding out your own blend. Maybe you can take the blend you are used to and try and match it and then tweak it to maybe a tad bit more enjoyable. Start making just a 1 to 2 oz batch, which takes very little leaf from each group. Also, as I've been directed, look on the wiki link at the top of the page for some tips on blending.

Just my two cents, as I am also fairly new to this and am experimenting with all kinds of blends. Admittedly, some of my test blends don't get past the 1 to 2 oz stage, but I've got a couple of blends that I'm working that I like and will continue to fine tune them until I feel it is spot on.

Experimenting making cavendish is also a good plan. I hope to try my hand at that in the near future as well.

Cheers

 

[deluxestogie]

If the leaf came from WholeLeafTobacco.com, then it is already fully aged. You need to create balanced blends that you enjoy. Here is a huge thread, with over a hundred blends that you can scan through.

Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

While some varieties of tobacco can be enjoyable when smoked straight in a pipe, the flavor horizon can be broadened by simple blending of contrasting varieties and cure-methods. My goal in this thread is to present some pipe blends that do not use casing of any kind. [Practically all...

fairtradetobacco.com

Use burley or Maryland to balance the acidity of some Bright Leaf and/or Basma. A simple blend is half burley: half bright. Also, you can make Cavendish from any or all of them. I particularly like half burley Cavendish: half Bright Cavendish. Just take your time, and page through the blending thread linked above.

and of course, download the free pipe blending book as a pdf:

Blend Your Own Pipe Tobacco - Download the FREE Color Book

Blend Your Own Pipe Tobacco: 52 recipes with 52 color labels written by your very own deluxestogie front cover back cover Download link below. This new, 46 page, 8.5" X 11" full-color book is available for you to download for FREE from this page. As a convenience, it is also available to...

fairtradetobacco.com

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

I should add that for most blends that specify dark air-cured as an ingredient, you can substitute either burley or Maryland, by increasing their proportion slightly.

Bob

 

[Charly]

I've been smoking a nice pipe blend for a while and maybe I've spoiled myself, but there must be a way to turn what I have into something enjoyable to smoke.

If you are used to commercial blends, then it may take a bit of time to taste the real taste of whole leaf.
Try each leaf alone to see what it gives, then you can begin to blend them together.
Start simple, with just Virginia + Burley for example (like Bob said).

After that, you can create some other type of tobacco, like cavendish and perique to add new dimensions.

If your tobacco does not come from wholeleaftobacco.com, then it can also be possible that the quality is not there (you can find some people complaining about the bad quality of some others online vendors).

Enjoy your blending journey

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

There's also this option. If you're just so used to the sweet and aromatic tobaccos you get locally, put a few pinches into a whole leaf blend. It doesn't take much, actually, as whatever they use to flavour those tobaccos will still stand out. It's a compromise that saves you a ton of money, has you smoking high quality whole leaf, but let's you get that vanilla cherry rum chocolate hit you enjoy.

 

[Greasy Dirt]

Morning guys, thanks for the input.

To answer some questions, the tobacco is not from WLT but is from LO, not sure if they have a reputation good or bad. I lost about a quarter to a half pound of the bright as it had mould when I received it, which was a bummer.

I've read the whole wiki and a lot of the key threads and also the pipe blending book I read my first day here Bob, it's excellent thank you.

I've been smoking each one hoping to get a feel for each ones personality, but the inhale on the Canadian Virginia was so brutal I didn't even smoke my whole cigarette. I will continue to try them each out and will be blending to hopefully get a smoother smoke.

I don't smoke candy/food/alcohol flavoured tobacco, so it's not about that. It's about being able to actually inhale and it not tasting like sawdust.

Sophie

 

[Danny M]

Typically I let the tobaccos speak for themselves but there are flavorings available to help transition from package tobacco that IS altered in many cases to unprocessed tobacco that isn’t. Personally it looks like you ordered tobacco to blend for cigarettes, not pipe. Throw some Latakia or Perique in there or look for the flavorings. I saw a site just a day or so ago that has several flavors that might be found appealing.

 

[GreenDragon]

Morning guys, thanks for the input.

To answer some questions, the tobacco is not from WLT but is from LO, not sure if they have a reputation good or bad. I lost about a quarter to a half pound of the bright as it had mould when I received it, which was a bummer.

I've read the whole wiki and a lot of the key threads and also the pipe blending book I read my first day here Bob, it's excellent thank you.

I've been smoking each one hoping to get a feel for each ones personality, but the inhale on the Canadian Virginia was so brutal I didn't even smoke my whole cigarette. I will continue to try them each out and will be blending to hopefully get a smoother smoke.

I don't smoke candy/food/alcohol flavoured tobacco, so it's not about that. It's about being able to actually inhale and it not tasting like sawdust.

Sophie

Make an order with WLT. You will be much happier with the results.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Morning guys, thanks for the input.

To answer some questions, the tobacco is not from WLT but is from LO, not sure if they have a reputation good or bad. I lost about a quarter to a half pound of the bright as it had mould when I received it, which was a bummer.

I've read the whole wiki and a lot of the key threads and also the pipe blending book I read my first day here Bob, it's excellent thank you.

I've been smoking each one hoping to get a feel for each ones personality, but the inhale on the Canadian Virginia was so brutal I didn't even smoke my whole cigarette. I will continue to try them each out and will be blending to hopefully get a smoother smoke.

I don't smoke candy/food/alcohol flavoured tobacco, so it's not about that. It's about being able to actually inhale and it not tasting like sawdust.

Sophie

One other option which turns lemons into lemonade would be to roll up 10 or so cartons of cigarettes and walk around Vancouver giving packs to the homeless.

 

[logs]

I should add that for most blends that specify dark air-cured as an ingredient, you can substitute either burley or Maryland, by increasing their proportion slightly.

Bob

What the hell is dark air cured anyway? The only type I ever see is cigar wrapper.

 

[deluxestogie]

No hell involved. Dark Air-cured varieties (a USDA market class) produce large, thick, sticky leaves that are high in nicotine, and once air-cured and finished (e.g. aging or kilning) produce a somewhat alkaline smoke.

Dark Air Cured Tobacco, 1lb.

This is a high nicotine Dark Air variety. It is a thick, gummy leaf that has a multitude of uses including cigarettes, pipe and smokeless.

wholeleaftobacco.com

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

What the hell is dark air cured anyway? The only type I ever see is cigar wrapper.

Dark Air Cured - what is it?

I'm based in the UK.. For the past couple of years it has been illegal to deal in raw tobacco. Before the ban I made a point of stocking up, from fair trade UK agents. Of course, I wish I had bought more. Anyway, I now have a variety of stock, including some " Dark Air Cured". Can anyone tell...

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[logs]

What does it taste like, strong burley?

 

[Knucklehead]

What does it taste like, strong burley?

To me, it has its own unique flavor. It does not taste like burley, although it does have a strong flavor. It’s as different from burley as flue cured or oriental is different from burley. I use dark air in my cigarette blend at 5% to add another layer of flavor. It is not a subtle flavor.

 

[FmGrowit]

I can honestly say that nobody has ever bought seven types of tobacco from WLT and said they are all un-smokable

 

[Biglizard1]

I can honestly say that nobody has ever bought seven tyes of tobacco from and said they are all un-smokable

YeH, the line is a bit misleading. It was not purchased from WLT.

 

[F4RM3R]

Stove your virginias ! World of a difference and you'll get closer to that sweet pipe taste you are accustomed to. I would say do some light stoving(3-4hours) medium stoved(brown cavendish 6-8 hours) and some black stoved(12+ hours) and try those in your blends. Lots of methods around, but I just use simple baking loaf tin, in goes the tobacco (shredded or just stripped), then wrap the top with tin foil tightly. Make sure the tobacco is in very moist, spray it with water or spiced rum or bourbon if you want. Then oven at 200F.

Also make a plug from a mixture of different leaves and wrapping it in tin foil and stoving that for a few hours can sweeten and smooth things out alot.

 

[deluxestogie]

Belated welcome to the forum, @F4RM3R. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Bob