preparing to make a Va flake

[greenmonster714]

Man, that's a great looking little press. If ya don't mind me asking where did you get the pipe and small solid pieces? Is that some kind of black stainless steel? Making them the right size to fit into mason jars is a great idea. Have you ever made any perique with that setup? I am sorry for all the questions but I really like the setup and would like to copy it. I do appreciate you taking the time to throw together this pic.

Just a little off subject here but where did you come up with that name? I've found many times on forums peoples site names have a story behind them. My wife and I watch that Bigfoot show now and then. Makes us want to go out back and give off one of those long cries and beat some trees with wood...lol. That would be fun but all it would accomplish is our horses would come running in search of apples, carrots, or sugar cubes..lol.

 

[SmokinSasquatch]

No problem. It's schedule 80 PVC pipe I got from McMaster Carr and I had a buddy turn those pucks on his lathe from some PVC stock he had for who knows what reason. I'd have to add an O-ring to it to make perique with it (keep the water in) but it's possible, if I'm willing to tie it up for the 90 days Perique likes to sit and ferment.

The sasquatch name comes from my childhood in that I was bigger and hairier than everyone else (for a short while anyway) and I usually was not in most of the pictures of our group of friends or I was blurry.

 

[greenmonster714]

Thanks, I understand what you mean about the seals. I should have known that. I've read quite a bit about the perique process. One more question. What size (diameter) is the pipe. I found a site that says the schedule 80 has a pretty high psi pressure rating. I know nothing about that but I assume its the pressure the pipe will tolerate before failing. It says for example the 4" has a 320psi rating. It appears that the schedule 80 is the highest psi rating for each diameter. Not to sure where I'd find plugs since you had them made by a friend. I'll keep looking around and see if I can find something similar.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Not to sure where I'd find plugs since you had them made by a friend. I'll keep looking around and see if I can find something similar.

Make your plugs out of wood.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I would suggest you put parchment paper in between the pucks and the tobacco. You don't want tobacco sticking to the plastic. It comes off really easy without leaving wax as wax paper would.

 

[greenmonster714]

Make your plugs out of wood.

You just made me feel a liiitttllle stupid. Great idea.

I would suggest you put parchment paper in between the pucks and the tobacco. You don't want tobacco sticking to the plastic. It comes off really easy without leaving wax as wax paper would.

China what's your thoughts on the plastic? I mean I know nothing about pvc other than they bring me water and float away my turds. Is there concern about chemicals seeping from the pipe? I'd always planned on using a stainless steel tube setup much like this one but pvc would be a lot cheaper.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

You just made me feel a liiitttllle stupid. Great idea.



China what's your thoughts on the plastic? I mean I know nothing about pvc other than they bring me water and float away my turds. Is there concern about chemicals seeping from the pipe? I'd always planned on using a stainless steel tube setup much like this one but pvc would be a lot cheaper.

I honestly can't say either way about the chemicals. People use various plastics to store tobacco. Jars for making perique. Your pipe itself is fine, all the pressure is vertical. Mostly, I know from experience that the tobacco sticks, even to wood in a press, and the paper is meant to disengage the plug from the press. If there is indeed risk of contamination, it's barrier to that would be a side bonus, just in case.

 

[greenmonster714]

Sounds good. The paper would be a good idea. I don't need the press right away so I think I'll check out some plumbing supply stores for scraps they'd be willing to sell or give away. Man, my list of stuff just keeps getting larger. Looking for a canning pressure cooker, fertilizer, bug and slug dope, and a few other things. Good news is all my plants are doing well so far. I guess it won't be long and we will all be in the garden. Thanks for the info.

 

[SmokinSasquatch]

I use the cardboard discs from dunhill tobacco tins to keep the tobacco from sticking to the pucks...i just cut them to size with scissors...will have to look up the order for the pipe but i can say it is overbuilt for purpose...it just had the right inner diameter for me, although admittedly the whole setup is overbuilt but thats usually how i do these things

 

[burge]

There is a link on McClelland on a pipe forum and gives in detail how the tobacco is made. Some blends are pressed for a year

 

[SmokinSasquatch]

https://www.mcmaster.com/#48855k27/=174gyw5 is the part number for the pipe I bought, having to buy then ship 5 ft of it made it a good deal more expensive than I wanted but I have a good bit left over for other projects, probably a perique press setup in the near future.

As far as tobacco contact with PVC, I don't lose any sleep over it. If I did, since it's round I could probably roll up parchment paper and let it unroll in the tube and act as a liner, there's just enough clearance in the puck to tube ID to allow for that. Although I feel like it'd get scrunched up when I press with it in there it's not something I've tested.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I use to use wax paper but had a hell of a time getting it off the tobacco. It would come off in little pieces. Now I just press bare wood to tobacco and then use a drywall taping knife to separate the plug from the wood. Works great.

 

[SmokinSasquatch]

Sounds like a winner to me.

 

[deluxestogie]

I would imagine that a disc cut from a freezer Ziplock bag would just peel right off the tobacco. Food grade polyurethane.

When I use my wall-mounted cheese press (just a lever arm) for pressing a block of tobacco, I just place the tobacco into a freezer Ziploc, and fold it over once, leaving the zip open. It's then pressed between two wood planks that are wider than the tobacco block. No sticking. No polyvinyl chloride. No shipping.

It comes out with somewhat rounded margins, like a foam pillow, but less comfortable. Since you need only a relatively low psi to press tobacco, the folded bag never splits.

Bob

 

[greenmonster714]

There is a link on McClelland on a pipe forum and gives in detail how the tobacco is made. Some blends are pressed for a year

Ya got a link burge?

 

[burge]

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-manufacturer-retailer-spotlight/the-perique-pilgrimage/ it was on one of these articles http://naspc.org/Archives/tobaccopressing.html http://mac-baren.com/about-tobacco They had a huge article on pipesmagaine I hope this helps

 

[burge]

https://pipesmokersforum.com/community/threads/how-i-press-a-plug.9587/ here is another idea oh how a guys does it

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I use a rectangular box and rip the leaves by hand to fit in the plug mold so there are no folded leaves. I also line them up so when I slice, I'm always slicing perpendicular to mid ribs. (The leaves have been frogged, not completely stripped). If your press is too small, the edge of your plug, and all throughout, will be folds of tobacco. When you slice the folds, it results in a ribbon width twice what the slice width is.
So, first I use the rectangular press to make a plug, then I slice it. Then I stick it in a tubular press like yours and make a press cake.

 

[CowboyTed]

Thanks to this thread, I've been experimenting with pressing whole-leaf blends. I made a couple variations on the press that SmokinSasquatch showed us here. These are the plugs I've made thus far.
The two larger plugs are DeluxeStogie's Warspur and Jewel of Macedonia, pressed in a 3 inch PVC pipe, in 100 gram batches.




The small ones are some of the Latakia blends DeluxeStogie posted in the sticky thread at the top of the forum. Interestingly, though Davy Jones, Saz, Smyrna Bright and Balkan White each looked very different in the bowls when I blended them, they all look pretty much the same color and texture after pressing. A little Latakia goes a long way in sharing its color with other tobaccos. I pressed those small 16 gram samples in a stack in the same press, separated by oak "pucks" in a pvc pipe. They all received the exact same pressure that way.

Here's the press I used to make the tiny pucks from 16 gram samples:



After learning that Smyrna Bright was my favorite of DeluxeStogie's Latakia blends, I started my blending experiments there, and some pressing experiments as well. I mixed up a 100 gram batch using the Smyrna Bright recipe, but I stoved roughly half the virginias and half the Latakia, and added some of the cigarette casing that comes in the WLT sampler to the unstoved virginias. After adding water to bring the whole blend into high case, I rolled the batch up into a sausage shape, with whole leaf on the outside layers. I then stuffed it into the small PVC pipe shown, plugged both ends and pressed the sausage into a cylindrical plug. Here are two of the plugs that came out of that experiment. I don't think it is any different from the hockey-puck shaped plugs in terms of the success of blending flavors during pressing, but if someone likes the look of "coins" you can make coins from a cylindrical plug like this, rolled up and pressed into a small-diameter PVC pipe.

 

[deluxestogie]

Interesting pipe press. It looks a whole lot easier than the twists that some members have tried. As you've discovered, my recipes are just a place to start.

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Bob