Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

[greenmonster714]

There's nothing in the blend that can't be found at wlt or BigB's. A normal bowl is about 3g I believe. So a half ounce works for me. I can space out bowls trying them in different pipes. Maybe I should make more but what if you create something that tastes bad? Your kinda stuck with a pile of compost. I'm new to blending so any suggestions or comments are appreciated.

Good to see ya tweak it to your liking Bob. It is a dark blend. I like it a lot so far.

 

[alPol05]

Generic Black Horse Recipe 1/2oz or 16g

• 3g flue-cured VA Red [3/16 = ~19%]
• 2g burley upper leaf [2/16 = 12.5%]
• 2g Dark Air-cured [2/16 = 12.5%]
• 1g Oriental [1/16 = ~6%]
• 3g cigar leaf [3/16 = ~19%]
• 5g Perique [5/16 = ~31%]

Bob,
you are like a master chef coming from a lunch break: "Bang, bum, bang - this is how you do it!" I am always amazed how quickly you come up with solutions!

Most of my initial blending trials consist of a batch about that size. Just blend it well. (I mix it into a quart-size Ziploc, inflate and seal the bag, then agitate it aggressively for about 60 seconds. I then expel the air, squeeze and roll the bag, and re-seal it.)

Bob

I do it the same way... Hm, I wonder where did I get this idea?

 

[deluxestogie]

Blending is often an exercise in substitution. If the recipe calls for hearts of palm, you'll be close with yucca growth tip or even cattail shoots.

Old faithful ingredients for pipe blends often go out of stock, or simply change from one shipment to the next. My "generic" recipes are easily recognizable as the "same" blend as the original, specific one, but there will always be subtle differences in strength, burn and aroma. That's half the fun. (The other half is always having something nice to smoke.)

Bob

 

[alPol05]

Your kinda stuck with a pile of compost. I'm new to blending so any suggestions or comments are appreciated.

Suggestions you are asking for is not a simple or easy issue to address. I only can say what I do, and I am only at the beginning of my learning. When I had my disaster with Krumovgrad, I got furious and tossed about 300g of different mixes into a trash can. I consider this to be a cost of learning.

After calming down a bit, I stopped with the next jar in hand, and used Bob's trick and sprayed the mix with a lemon juice. The mix became at least smokable. Then I started manipulating the mix to make it even more tolerable. I added a bit of this and a bit of that and was looking for the effect. I continued this until I was in a ballpark satisfied. I was making notes to the minute detail as I went along. The key to this approach is two things. One is understanding what each tobacco will bring to the mix, the other is detailed notes with accurate measurements of added tobaccos.

From my notes and previous recipe, I constructed a new formula and was ready to an improved mix.

 

[greenmonster714]

Suggestions you are asking for is not a simple or easy issue to address. I only can say what I do, and I am only at the beginning of my learning. When I had my disaster with Krumovgrad, I got furious and tossed about 300g of different mixes into a trash can. I consider this to be a cost of learning.

After calming down a bit, I stopped with the next jar in hand, and used Bob's trick and sprayed the mix with a lemon juice. The mix became at least smokable. Then I started manipulating the mix to make it even more tolerable. I added a bit of this and a bit of that and was looking for the effect. I continued this until I was in a ballpark satisfied. I was making notes to the minute detail as I went along. The key to this approach is two things. One is understanding what each tobacco will bring to the mix, the other is detailed notes with accurate measurements of added tobaccos.

From my notes and previous recipe, I constructed a new formula and was ready to an improved mix.

Thank you for the input. I do something similar to that when combining Tobaccos. I've smoke all of them solo to see what they can bring to a mixture. All in all I am pleased with the recipe above. My personal descriptions fall into three catagories. 1. Omg this is wonderful 2. I can work with this 3. WTF...is this even tobacco. I rarely overevaluate but that's just me. I can understand your anger at something your trying to accomplish. I have about 600g of snus that I can't seem to get the bitter taste out of. I want to throw it over the hill but I keep hacking away at it in hopes I can find a solution. I don't mind throwing away ash or spent snus but not unused tobacco...lol Thanks again for sharing.

 

[alPol05]

The best person to give us some hints would be Bob, but I don't even know if he remembers how he did that. He seems to be dealing with tobaccos for decades and I am not sure he remembers what he did when he started his first blends and what process he applied to change a blend.

Now he is probably just taking a scoop of this and scoop of that, shakes it up, loads his pipe, seats on his patio and looks at the sky.

 

[deluxestogie]

The sky is gray here at the moment.

I discuss my approaches to pipe blending repeatedly. My matrix grids are experimental sliding scales of several general categories of pipe blending. I've also discussed the impact of adjusting specific ingredients (Oriental variety, flue-cured characteristics, various versions of Perique, dark-air, burley and even some primitive types). I'm sure many of you have read a lot of these discussions (hint: in this thread). Blending is experimental on nearly every occasion, and is often a trial and error process.

If I blend a genuine loser, I start playing with it. I never toss it out. The one pipe tobacco that I was truly considering throwing away was a newly opened 4 ounce tin of what was labeled as Rattray's Black Malory. Its new (low bid) producer in the greater EU had decided crappy tobacco with lots of flavored casing was a good idea. I allowed it to air out (completely open) for several months, then gradually smoked it all--with a grimace.

I am not knowledgeable about the preparation of smokeless tobacco, so I can't help there.

Bob

 

[alPol05]

Back to reading.

 

[DistillingJim]

Does anyone have any recipes that use dark fired leaf? It's one I've not really used before and am not sure what sort of proportions to start playing with

 

[deluxestogie]

I would suggest beginning with a non-aromatic blend that you enjoy, and adding only a tiny amount of dark fired leaf. That will give you a sense of how intense its contribution to aroma and strength can be.

Bob

 

[greenmonster714]

I'm interested as well. I have Larry's dark fire and Don VA fire and have not played with any in blends yet. I like Bob's idea.

There's another leaf with a smoky odor and taste equal to his VA fire. The black fronto. I tried some straight and I liked it and plan on using it just as I would either of the other two.

 

[DistillingJim]

Cheers, Bob. I might put some in a Va/Per with equal parts dark fired and perique. I'll keep the forum posted.

 

[Levi Gross]

Does anyone have any recipes that use dark fired leaf? It's one I've not really used before and am not sure what sort of proportions to start playing with

Blend 110
1.5 Virginia Lemon =15% WLT
1.5 Virginia Orangey =15% BB
.5 Maryland 609 =5% WLT
.5 Dark fire cured =5% BB
1.0 Bursa =10% BB
1.5 burley red tips =15% BB
1.0 perique =10% WLT & BB
3.5 Latakia =35% WLT

If you like this blend let me know, if you think it stinks let me know. I liked it but thought it could improve. I have not played around with it anymore since making the first batch.

 

[DistillingJim]

Thanks Levi,
I tend not to smoke much Latakia in the warmer months but I'm growing bursa at the moment so when its ready I'll make some of this and let you know my thoughts

 

[Charly]

Blend 110
1.5 Virginia Lemon =15% WLT
1.5 Virginia Orangey =15% BB
.5 Maryland 609 =5% WLT
.5 Dark fire cured =5% BB
1.0 Bursa =10% BB
1.5 burley red tips =15% BB
1.0 perique =10% WLT & BB
3.5 Latakia =35% WLT

If you like this blend let me know, if you think it stinks let me know. I liked it but thought it could improve. I have not played around with it anymore since making the first batch.

Hum... didn't you forget some cavendish ?
Apart from cavendish, you did put everything you can in this blend !

Jim : More seriously, if you want to know what dark fired add to a blend, it may be easier to begin with a blend you already like and add just a pinch of dark fired in it (5 to 10% should be more than enough)

 

[Levi Gross]

Hum... didn't you forget some cavendish ?
Apart from cavendish, you did put everything you can in this blend !

Jim : More seriously, if you want to know what dark fired add to a blend, it may be easier to begin with a blend you already like and add just a pinch of dark fired in it (5 to 10% should be more than enough)

I have yet to make cavendish but do plan to do so!

 

[Levi Gross]

Yankees Delight!
20 G. Double Virginia Bright WLT
6.5 G. Perique BB
25 G. Latakia WLT
25 G. Samsun Maden LG
26 G. Fire Cured BB

THIS IS A GREAT SMOKE AND PACKS A WALLOP. I Think it will be a great fall mixture...

 

[deluxestogie]

Nice work. I've taken the liberty to simplify and generalize the blend recipe. The percentages are approximate.

Simplified Yankee's Delight!

• Virginia Bright: 20%
• Perique: 5%
• Latakia: 25%
• Oriental: 25%
• Fire Cured: 25%

Bob

 

[Levi Gross]

Nice work. I've taken the liberty to simplify and generalize the blend recipe. The percentages are approximate.

Simplified Yankee's Delight!

• Virginia Bright: 20%
• Perique: 5%
• Latakia: 25%
• Oriental: 25%
• Fire Cured: 25%

Bob

Thank You Bob I hope it’s a hit for all!

 

[deluxestogie]

Baldío Vera

This shred is two year old Baldío Vera. (I've been placing the accent on the wrong letter for two years. I finally paid attention to a map from Spain.) It is an equal mixture of leaf from the bottom, mid and top of the stalk.

Baldío Vera is a highly productive plant, with huge leaves that color to a gold on the stalk--much like a white-stem burley. It stalk-cures perfectly.

The opinion has been expressed that this is a variety of burley. I'm convinced now that, whatever its heritage, it is not a burley. It looks like one, but doesn't taste or smell like one, and does not have the nicotine hit of burley. I have kilned it for 4 weeks at ~128°F, and then rested it for a long time.

In a corncob, this leaf lights easily and burns well. The taste is somewhat dry (not-sweet). It is soft and mild. The pH seems neutral. Nicotine is low. Room note (I actually smoked a bit in my study, made a quick trip to the store, then came back into the study) is not cigar-like, and not particularly distinctive or strong.

As a straight smoke, it is pleasant enough, but not really interesting. I will blend it with some Samsun and Latakia, then post my impressions.

Bob