Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

[Alpine]

I mean “regarding” pipe tobacco blends... not much to concern about coins or pipes...

pier

 

[deluxestogie]

The coin is a stunning reminder that not everybody is pretending that tobacco is not a major agricultural product. I know just the spot for that coin image.

Bob

 

[Alpine]

On the verso side of every coin from Croatia there’s something deeply rooted in the country ‘s culture or environment: the bear from the Velebit mountain, the tuna from the Adriatic Sea, the nightingale.... and the tobacco plant.
Their currency is the Kuna (marten) divided in 100 Lipe (linden).

pier

 

[deluxestogie]

Big & Bold

• Latakia 62.50% (10 parts per 16)
• Burley Cavendish 25.00% (4 parts per 16)
• Oriental 12.50% (2 parts per 16)

Bob

 

[Jb00]

I have been experimenting with VaPer blends, my current experiment is 35% Lemon VA 25% Red VA and 40% McClelland Perique. It doesn’t have any tongue bite to it, so now I’m trying add a bit more depth, somehow.

 

[deluxestogie]

Replace a smidgen of the Perique with burley or Maryland or dark-air.

Bob

 

[Jb00]

Replace a smidgen of the Perique with burley or Maryland or dark-air.

Bob

I will definitely give that a try.
By the way, the Davy Jones blend from your book is one of my new favorites.

JB

 

[deluxestogie]

Typhoon

• Black Mammoth Cavendish 43.75% (7 parts per 16)
• Virginia Bright Cavendish 43.75% (7 parts per 16)
• Stacked Basma 12.50% (2 parts per 16)

This blend offers a very full pouch aroma, a rich flavor, and a nicotine level somewhere between Cat 3 and Cat 4. Room note not available, since the roof was blown off.

Typhoon-ish

• Dark Air-Cured Cavendish 43.75%
• Any Flue-cured Cavendish 43.75%
• Oriental 12.50%

Bob

EDIT: Just say something if you want a high-res label image, and I'll post a link.

 

[deluxestogie]

Typhoon Hagibis over Tokyo last night:

@ara_to1/ Twitter

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

My typhoon blend should be way too strong for a regular smoke. But surprisingly, I've found that I enjoy a robust bowl of it once every day or two. It's got cigar-strength punch. And the pungency that I associate with Black Mammoth has really smoothed out in the Cavendish that I cooked up from it last winter. (But do tie down your lawn furniture.)

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

My typhoon blend should be way too strong for a regular smoke. But surprisingly, I've found that I enjoy a robust bowl of it once every day or two. It's got cigar-strength punch. And the pungency that I associate with Black Mammoth has really smoothed out in the Cavendish that I cooked up from it last winter. (But do tie down your lawn furniture.)

Bob

I can verify all of this! The Black Mammoth Cavendish has a truly deep and delicious pouch aroma too, but should include a warning label for potency.

 

[deluxestogie]

Lake Shkodra, the largest lake in Southern Europe, lies on the border between Albania and Montenegro. Most of the tobacco grown in Albania has long been the Oriental varieties, like Xanthi, Bafra and a number of others. As in many other countries, the tobacco growers of Albania are turning more and more away from tobacco and to other crops, such as herbs, to pay their bills. For a long time, they had been required to sell their tobacco to a foreign-based monopoly, at whatever price the monopoly would offer. Today, that has changed. Domestic buyers are now permitted, and the foreign monopoly is paying higher tariffs. So perhaps tobacco growers will grow more tobacco in Albania once again.

Lake Shkodra

• Basma 50% (8 parts per 16)
• Samsun 43.75% (7 parts per 16)
• Dark Air-Cured 6.25% (1 part per 16)

This blend is low in nicotine, mild and lightly floral in aroma. The slight edge of tongue bite common with pure Orientals is softened by the tiny portion of Dark Air. Replacing 6.35% of the Basma (that's 1 part per 16) with an equivalent amount of additional Dark Air makes a significant difference in the taste, aroma and nicotine, and might be worth your experimentation.

There are a number of varieties that are in the Samsun family (having a leaf petiole), each offering its own subtle character: Samsun, Bafra, Trabzon, Samsun-Maden. For my final test blend, my "Samsun" was sun-cured Cyprus Oriental (seed obtained from @Markw), and grown in 2014. It was subsequently kilned, and tucked away. Although it is actually an unnamed Oriental variety, its leaf petiole indicates that it is in the Samsun family.

Note the somewhat heart-shaped leaves and the petiole.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

What a great way to use some of the excellent stacked Basma I bought for the Latakia experiment. I think I will swap out 1 part with some Burley for 7:7:1:1, just because I just like Burley.

Whelp, excuse me while I sneak off to the bat-cave garage to get mixing.

 

[Charly]

Great new recipe !
If my eyes are still good you made a mistake on the (very nice) label : you wrote «Darl» air cured.

 

[GreenDragon]

Had a bowl of Lake Shkodra this weekend. A nice change from the usual.

 

[deluxestogie]

Thank you Charly. You are quite correct. I've fixed the label.

Had a bowl of Lake Shkodra this weekend. A nice change from the usual.

It's a super-mild blend, on the order of Captain Black "Gold", or the similar, Lane 1-Q, but without the pancake syrup casing.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

This smooth, bite-free blend features a mild-to-medium nicotine level, a broad aroma profile, and a sweet, complex pouch aroma. (No smokiness or stinkies here.) My own tests used an Oriental mixture, with roughly half of it WLT Stacked Basma and the rest aged, sun-cured and kilned Cyprus "Samsun". The Burley Red Tip has been kilned.

Reflection

• Oriental 70%
• VA Red Flue-cured 12.5%
• Burley Red Tips 12.5%
• Dark Air-cured 5%

[Those of you with advanced math skills may have noticed that I started with 12 parts of the Lake Shkodra blend, and just added 2 parts each of VA Red and Burley Red. Yes, my numbers are a bit off. But no one will notice a variance of one percent in a pipe blend. The chosen pipe will probably have a greater influence on the result.]

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Sorry. No seat belts. This simple, all Cavendish blend is as smooth as can be. But the burley red tip still has all its nicotine, despite the Cavendish process. It sneaks up on you without warning. But don't worry. The engine is an air-cooled, opposing 6 cylinder, with tons of hoursepower and practically zero vibration. (And gas is only 31 cents a gallon, and cigarettes are 26 cents a pack!)

In reality, the blend is a nearly homogeneous, medium brown color. But its aroma profile is more complex than its blend name might suggest. This is a kinder, gentler and non-adulterated take on the "drug store" blend called Half and Half [from Lane Ltd.], which is half burley and half bright leaf, is fairly harsh stuff, and heavily cased.

Greenbrier Two-Tone

• Virginia Bright Cavendish 50%
• Burley Red Cavendish 50%

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Balancing Flue-Cured and Perique

After sampling a series of 4 different Virginia / Perique blends the other day, I decided that I liked the Tegu best: (75% VA Red; 25% Perique). Yesterday evening, I thought it would be interesting to make up a new batch of Twice as Bright, to compare directly to the Tegu.

Twice as Bright uses 2/3 VA Double-Bright and 1/3 Perique. I made up a batch that would require some effort to press it all into a 2 ounce tobacco tin. (Today's "2 ounce" commercial tins hold only 1.75 ounces weight, or less. I was using a 20 year old C&D tin that was still really a 2 ounce tin.)

As I lay in bed, hoping to fall asleep last night, I pondered the difference between Tegu and Twice as Bright. Now, how is it that they differ? 3/4 to 1/4 vs 2/3 to 1/3. Slowly and disappointingly, I realized that I had made up my generous batch of Twice as Bright using VA Red, rather than VA Double-Bright. Is that a new and exciting blend? Nope. It contained way too much Perique to balance the VA Red. It would knock me on my butt.

Balancing the pH of various flue-cured Virginias with Perique
VIRGINIA................PERIQUE.........RATIO
Bright 62.5%..................37.5%.....5 VA to 3 Perique
Double-Bright 67%.....33%........2 VA to 1 Perique
Red 75%..........................25%........3 VA to 1 Perique

Of course, if burley or dark air are included in a blend, the Perique proportion needs to be reduced somewhat.

This morning, I dumped the pressed tin of incorrectly blended Twice as Bright into a large bag, and did the math to change it from 2:1 to 3:1, then shredded and added more VA Red, to make an even larger batch of Tegu. Starting from scratch, this time using VA Double-Bright, I made up a generous batch of correctly blended Twice as Bright. I'll compare them later.

Blending Guideline
VA Bright produces the most acidic smoke (Lemon more than "Bright"). VA Red produces a less acidic smoke. VA Double-Bright is made from VA Bright that has had additional heating (similar to kilning), so while it produces smoke that is less acidic than VA Bright, it is still more acidic than VA Red. The greater the acidity of the smoke, the higher the relative proportion of Perique required to neutralize it.

Bob

 

[Ruffseas]

Thanks jojjas! Excellent link, just further confirms makin our own.