Haha yeah I tried it while walking the pram, not overwhelming in the small clay cutty but certainly going to be an evening smoke.
Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make
- Thread starter deluxestogie
- Start date
Hi, Bob. You described the processing in great detail. I have a question about Dark Air. In the mixes, you mention Dark Air. What kind of variety do you process like this? Cigar? I often see this phrase on the forum. It is not clear what kind of variety we are talking about. One of your recipes, specified 2g Dark Air-cured [2/16 = 12.5%]
What kind are we talking about?
- WLT Lemon Virginia: 15%
- WLT Red Virginia: 26%
- WLT Dark Air: 6% What kind of tobacco?
- WLT Basma: 18%
- WLT Cyprian Latakia: 29%
- Perique: 6%
- 3g flue-cured VA Red [3/16 = ~19%]
- 2g burley upper leaf [2/16 = 12.5%]
- 2g Dark Air-cured [2/16 = 12.5%] What kind of tobacco?
- 1g Oriental [1/16 = ~6%]
- 3g cigar leaf [3/16 = ~19%]
- 5g Perique [5/16 = ~31%]
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
Bob is probably referring either to this tobacco available at WLT, https://wholeleaftobacco.com/product/dark-air-cured/
or a dark air cured tobacco that he grew, such as Bolivian Criollo Black. Take a look at the different types of dark air cured tobacco available at Northwood Seeds. http://northwoodseeds.com/Seed List2.htm
I'll leave it to Bob to explain the difference between dark air and cigar filler because I'm confused about that distinction, myself.
"Dark Air-Cured" is a USDA market class. It includes more than a score of different dark air-cured varieties. Commercially, it is usually marketed as simply "Dark Air". So when you purchase it, it's luck of the draw for which variety you end up with. Many are quite distinctive. For example, Small Stalk Black Mammoth is easily distinguishable in its taste and aroma from typical, commercial Dark Air. My home-grown Little Yellow provides its own, unique aromas. Each has a different smoke pH, so influences blends differently.
Sometimes dark air-cured and dark fire-cured are categorized together, since they are similar tobacco varieties that are mostly distinguished by how they are cured. Dark air/fire tobacco varieties are typically very large leaves, and when growing appear to be notably "fuzzy" and sticky. This differs from cigar varieties.
Cigar tobaccos generally have a recognizable, "cigar" aroma, which dark air-cured lacks. This is easily recognized in room note as well as in pipe ghosting. A cigar made from dark air-cured simply does not "taste" like a cigar. Bolivia Criollo Black is an Andean primitive that is kind of in between dark air-cured and cigar, with characteristics of both.
While USDA market classes are a little confusing, they provide far more apparent order to the categorization of tobaccos than is really true. The reality is that there are over 3000 named tobacco varieties that, over the millennia, have veered in every genetic direction conceivable, resulting in a broadly overlapping spectrum of attributes.
In my posted blend recipes, I sometimes state a category (e.g. dark air-cured, Oriental, Virginia Bright), rather than a specific variety, mostly for the convenience of those attempting to create the blends with the varieties they have or can obtain. As an example, WLT always has several Oriental varieties, but over the years, WLT has offered over a half-dozen different Oriental varieties, but seldom all at the same time.
This is the joy of working with a wildly diverse agricultural commodity, rather than a "manufactured" product.
Bob
Sometimes dark air-cured and dark fire-cured are categorized together, since they are similar tobacco varieties that are mostly distinguished by how they are cured. Dark air/fire tobacco varieties are typically very large leaves, and when growing appear to be notably "fuzzy" and sticky. This differs from cigar varieties.
Cigar tobaccos generally have a recognizable, "cigar" aroma, which dark air-cured lacks. This is easily recognized in room note as well as in pipe ghosting. A cigar made from dark air-cured simply does not "taste" like a cigar. Bolivia Criollo Black is an Andean primitive that is kind of in between dark air-cured and cigar, with characteristics of both.
While USDA market classes are a little confusing, they provide far more apparent order to the categorization of tobaccos than is really true. The reality is that there are over 3000 named tobacco varieties that, over the millennia, have veered in every genetic direction conceivable, resulting in a broadly overlapping spectrum of attributes.
In my posted blend recipes, I sometimes state a category (e.g. dark air-cured, Oriental, Virginia Bright), rather than a specific variety, mostly for the convenience of those attempting to create the blends with the varieties they have or can obtain. As an example, WLT always has several Oriental varieties, but over the years, WLT has offered over a half-dozen different Oriental varieties, but seldom all at the same time.
This is the joy of working with a wildly diverse agricultural commodity, rather than a "manufactured" product.
Bob
This means that dark air can be any kind of tobacco. Unfortunately, Russia has a small selection of tobacco. Kentucky is not good to find. Most often he is from India, does not cause excitement. I will experiment with what I have.
Dark air-cured tobacco is produced from specific tobacco varieties, rather than "any tobacco". The issue is that you typically don't know the variety when purchased commercially.
I have used India dark air-cured as a blending condiment. As I recall, @ChinaVoodoo enjoys it straight, in a pipe. I find it potent, but with intense flavor. I've blended India dark air with burley, to roll cigars. I've also used it in a number of pipe blends. I find it a challenge to establish the best proportions, but in general I prefer to use it as a minor component, in the range of 6 to 19%.
Bob
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
China Voodoo enjoys it a cigar filler.
You need seed specifically for a dark air-cure variety (see the list at Northwood Seeds), then it is simply air-cured. The one variety of dark air-cured that I have grown is not on that list: Little Yellow. I just air-cure it, then kiln it.
Bob
Bob
I will try with different varieties. There are several for dark air. Tell me,the firing temperature? How many minutes to burn? In an airtight container? On a pallet?
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
Alex. You cure them the same as burley or cigar leaf. Hang them until they turn brown. Not too fast or they dry green. Not too slow or they mold.
Каталог табака | Сорта табака и махорки - Polygon55
Каталог сортов табака и махорки. Коллекция семян Polygon55. В каталоге на сезон 2019 года 534 сорта табака и 105 сортов махорки.
Dark air-cured is not fired. It is air-cured in a shed, under ambient conditions.
Bob
Bob
I believe that this discussion of seeds and growing and curing would be most useful if it is continued in a separate thread, within the growing tobacco section of the forum.
Bob
Bob
I understand that translation is often a challenge, especially when presented with ambiguous tobacco terminology.
Bob
Bob
“This is not a library...”
1 part perique
3 parts burley
3 parts Va
Haunted bookshop was my desert island smoke until I turned to whole leaf. Truth be told, I prefer this ‘match’ more than the original as I am able to tweak the cut, case and blend ratio to my tastes. The absence of any preservatives would help too with such a simple smoke.
With the exception of perique, which I shredded/granulated and dried fully before storage, I made each component seperately in plugs and let sit for a month before processing some for the blend. I coarse/cube cut the burley and the VA was more ribbon/broken flake style. While the blend needs no dry time before smoking I still take a half a minute to give it a rub out to break up any clumps.
the burley plug had about 15% MD609 in it this time.
the VA plug was forward in red, orange and double bright, with about 20% yellow. Any combination could do.
I have tried using components that were stoved, and I have also tried pressing the blend but in both cases it made the perique more pronounced - not a bad thing! Very enjoyable. But it wasn’t what I was after for a yard smoke. I ended up adding a pinch of Latakia and Dark fired to these other versions and smoke in the study.
1 part perique
3 parts burley
3 parts Va
Haunted bookshop was my desert island smoke until I turned to whole leaf. Truth be told, I prefer this ‘match’ more than the original as I am able to tweak the cut, case and blend ratio to my tastes. The absence of any preservatives would help too with such a simple smoke.
With the exception of perique, which I shredded/granulated and dried fully before storage, I made each component seperately in plugs and let sit for a month before processing some for the blend. I coarse/cube cut the burley and the VA was more ribbon/broken flake style. While the blend needs no dry time before smoking I still take a half a minute to give it a rub out to break up any clumps.
the burley plug had about 15% MD609 in it this time.
the VA plug was forward in red, orange and double bright, with about 20% yellow. Any combination could do.
I have tried using components that were stoved, and I have also tried pressing the blend but in both cases it made the perique more pronounced - not a bad thing! Very enjoyable. But it wasn’t what I was after for a yard smoke. I ended up adding a pinch of Latakia and Dark fired to these other versions and smoke in the study.
Although this is indeed smoky, from its hefty proportion of Latakia, it is a surprisingly smooth smoke. The Dark Air-Cured Cavendish perfectly balances the acidity of the Basma, while not really cranking up the nicotine as much as I would expect, especially when compared to burley. Nicotine is medium. The aroma spectrum is understandably narrow, though the pouch aroma is engaging. It makes a wonderful pipeful for later in the day, and is not so heavy as to limit it to your last pipe for the day.
The image of Smoky Man on the blend label is actually a real thing. It's from a real-time atmospheric map of particulates in the Pacific Ocean, just west of the California coast, one late summer afternoon during the record breaking fire season of 2020. I have not modified it. (You can spot a vertical, longitude grid line passing through his left eye.) [Screen capture from https://earth.nullschool.net/]
Any oriental can be used, and the Dark Air-Cured Cavendish might be reasonably replaced with burley Cavendish.
Smoky Man
- Latakia 62.5% (10 parts per 16)
- Basma 25% (4 parts per 16)
- Dark Air-Cured Cavendish 12.5% (2 parts per 16)
- Latakia 62.5% (10 parts per 16)
- Oriental 25% (4 parts per 16)
- Cavendish 12.5% (2 parts per 16)
Download 3½" hi resolution Smoky Man label as .pdf.
Bob
Big Yellow features the genuinely unique, dark air-cured variety named Little Yellow, both straight and as Cavendish. Little Yellow tends to cure to a yellow-brown, rather than the dark brown of most other dark air-cured varieties. Its taste and aroma are broader, rounder, and not quite as intense as its cousins.
For balance, the Orientals and Lemon Virginia provide enough acidity to the smoke to lend it a slight bite. Katerini is in the same family as Samsun, Bafra and Trabzon. So it is a bit darker and mellower than the Basma types.
Visually, most of the darker colors in this blend are from the Little Yellow and its Cavendish incarnation. Nicotine is full. Burn is excellent. I find it to be a tasty late day smoke.
Big Yellow
- Little Yellow Cavendish 25.00% (4 parts per 16)
- Little Yellow 18.75% (3 parts per 16)
- Katerini 18.75% (3 parts per 16)
- Basma 18.75% (3 parts per 16)
- Lemon VA 18.75% (3 parts per 16)
A very rough approximation (I can't be held accountable here) can be made with:
- Dark Air-Cured Cavendish 25.00% (4 parts per 16)
- Dark Air-Cured 18.75% (3 parts per 16)
- Oriental 37.50% (6 parts per 16)
- Flue-cured VA 18.75% (3 parts per 16)
Bob
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