Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

[deluxestogie]

Image from Florida International University: Photo by Germán Chávez

Peruvian ligero cigar leaf (from WLT) is "drier" and less aromatic than Caribbean and Central American cigar leaf. But it's nicotine strength is similar to most other varieties of ligero. Making it into Cavendish noticeably smooths its edges, and seems to add a vague, floral quality. Of course, the Cavendish process does not alter its nicotine content. (I tried a small bowl of pure Peruvian ligero Cavendish, and had to space it out over several hours to finish it, despite its wonderful aroma.)

Pouch aroma is softer and gentler than the smoke aroma. The proportions in this blend seem to balance the acidity of the Lemon Virginia Cavendish and the Basma. So there is no tongue bite here. The nicotine of the blend is medium-to-full. I don't detect any distinctive "cigar" character to the blend. The Basma lends a subtle crispness. For a blend that is ¾ Cavendish, the burn is surprisingly good. I'll leave the room note for you to evaluate.

Peruvian Frog

• Peru Ligero Cavendish 37.5% (6 parts per 16)
• Lemon Virginia Cavendish 37.5% (6 parts per 16)
• Basma 25% (4 parts per 16)

Peruvioid Frog

• Cigar Ligero Cavendish 37.5%
• Virginia Cavendish 37.5%
• Oriental 25%

Download 3½" hi-res Peruvian Frog blend label as pdf.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I've often puzzled over the problem of mixing based on weight vs based on volume. If all the tobacco is the same density, structure, and same level of case, then weight seems like it would be most accurate. If I wanted a 50/50 blend of two similar VAs where the weight and volume of both types of leaf are the same, then weighing works as expected. But when I blend something like a bright VA that has very thin leaves with something dense like a dark fired wrapper the proportion of leaf by volume suddenly seems skewed towards the bright VA even if the weight is exactly 50/50. Does it ever make more sense to mix strictly by volume rather than weight? I'm never sure of the proper method when using very different types of leaf

My scale was stolen by a crack head working for the moving company who last moved us, so I had to get a new scale, but in the mean time I made a blend based on volume that turned out really well. It works either way, so long as you know the tobaccos you're using.

 

[PressuredLeaf]

I smoked a small bowl of it when I was slicing it up, it was pretty good but will definitely be much better in a year or more. I was smoking a very similar flake that I made last April and it had a nice smooth, citrusy, dark fruit taste to it.

I know the dark fruit notes your are referencing, I found the same with my WLT plugs. Something about pressing really brings out a lovely fruit leather/fig newton kind of smell. I bet it will be awesome with some time to mature!

 

[smoknron]

I know the dark fruit notes your are referencing, I found the same with my WLT plugs. Something about pressing really brings out a lovely fruit leather/fig newton kind of smell. I bet it will be awesome with some time to mature!

Oh yeah, there's definitely fig newton in there along with dark plum maybe, raisins, I almost want to take a bite of these unmistakably excellent brownies lol. I have smoked some of the flakes fresh too. I've added a little to other blends just too. Its all very good.

 

[smoknron]

I was in a little bit of a hurry on the above post. I wanted to say about adding the Virginia flake to other blends, and also adding small amounts of Burley, and or Maryland, to the Virginias at low percentages. I've done that, as well as making up plugs with just Virginias. While I'm sorting through the leaf and preparing to press it, I like to smoke a little of each, to remind myself of the flavors. I remember learning that back when I purchased my first whole leaf tobacco and I'm looking forward to making up more blends here soon.

 

[smoknron]

I can tell by the description that the "Peruvian frog" blend is going to be a very desirable blend ! That cigar leaf is so good.
Much appreciated Bob, I can't wait to make something similar!

 

[smoknron]

A little project I worked on using (WLT) Red and bright Virginias, a little burley, a little "dark fired", (at the time I thought so ) dark air cured, and a little latakia. In the beginning of March 2020, a stressful time, I made up 4 pressed plugs of this. When I made them up I sliced a little off one to test smoke.,It was Awful ! Way to strong in the dark fired dept. (just learning) but progressing. I almost threw them in the trash but I,m not one to waste good tobacco leaf, so I carefully separated the plugs and took out a lot of the DF leaf (as much as I could) and added some bright leaf to it, and re-pressed into plugs again. The result was good. I left smaller amounts of the dark fired and the bright leaf was able to turn this into a decent smoke. The picture is the result of one cut plug. Lesson learned there. I like dark fired leaf, but I don't like it that much. I like latakia a lot more, and that's when I thought to add it and maybe the latakia will entice me to smoke a bowl of it once in a while.

 

[deluxestogie]

Another Exciting Edition of Bob's Blend Label Fails

I have no real explanation for how some of these images ever seemed suitable for a pipe blend. To quote Gary Oldman from the film, Hannibal, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The Black Fish is a truly stunning image. Maybe it's just me, but I never could come up with an interesting blend to go along with it.

Yup. Cast in stone. This 220 million year old dino footprint caught my attention--for a while.

Shaggy Brain was just one of those days. It never worked out.

Yes. It's just styrofoam. But I really intended to use it as a background for something more flavorful.

This Mexican Walking Fish was just too cute to pass up. But it has languished in my ideas folder for over a year, with no takers.

The Dutch Artist, Jan Steen, painted this is 1665. The title is "As the Old Sing", and refers to the Dutch proverb, "As the old sing, so pipe the young." Rumor is that the father offering his son a pipe of tobacco is actually Steen himself. I never could make this seem okay.

Smoking a pipe relaxes me. This Midday Snack label felt a little off.

This one is just too dumb.

I love this imagery of Cerberus guarding the gates of Hell, drawn by Zuccaro. It must be the assorted, mutilated human bodies that just didn't work out for me.

And finally, this one simply did not seem to fit into my Frog series of blends. And then, I realized it wasn't even a frog. Total failure.

Bob

 

[smoknron]

I still have the Giggles. Those are great!

 

[deluxestogie]

Photo credit: Michel Mazeau

The Ténéré is 150,000 square miles of sand, spreading from northeastern Niger to western Chad. During neolithic times, it was the center of the Tenerian culture (about 5000 to 9000 years ago)--a much wetter period. On a happy note, Ténéré contains the sunniest spot on earth. Today, wells are sometimes hundreds of miles apart.

With 40+% Oriental, and another 25% VA Bright Cavendish, this blend's nicotine is modest. Pouch aroma is somewhat floral. Smoke aroma is rich and delicious. Burn is fairly good. I get similar results with any of the Basma-type Orientals, in place of Krumovgrad. Using Samsun, Bafra, Trabzon or Katerini gives it a little more edge. Substituting India dark air-cured rather than Kentucky dark air will increase the nicotine.

Perhaps in Ténéré, someone just might walk his camel a hundred miles for a bowl of this blend beneath a tree.

Ténéré

• Krumovgrad 40.6% (6½ parts per 16)
• Virginia Bright Cavendish 25% (4 parts per 16)
• Burley Red Tip Cavendish 25% (4 parts per 16)
• Dark Air-Cured 9.4% (1½ parts per 16)

Download 3½" hi-res Ténéré blend label as a pdf.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

78g Fire cured Delhi 34 plug


Plus
8g WLT perique
8g WLT dark air
Pressed again.

 

[smoknron]

I made up 2 of Bob's blends about a week and a half ago and I was really pleased with them. I had fun making this one The first one: "Towers of Antioch" and of course I used all wholeleaf.com tobacco leaf. I really can't say enough good about the quality of the tobacco leaf many of us get from Don & Company at wholeleaf.com. what quality! If you have time, look up the "Seige of Antioch" it's an interesting read and I got to smoke a bowl of this while reading up on that ! The blend calls for Latakia 37.50% Virginia Bright 25.00% Virginia Red 18.75% Oriental 12.50 and Dark air cured 6.25% For the Oriental I used Izmir, it's what I had and worked out great. I weighed out all the leaf and layered it in my form so that I could press it over night. I don't press the leaf with too much pressure, but enough to where it compresses it into what the picture shows. After I cut it up to a good shred (larger than commercial blends) I smoked a bowl of it and you guys know as well as I do, that Bob's blend recipes are really really good ! In the 3rd & 4th pictures, the steel form has plates on both ends held in place with a c-clamp so that the tobacco could be easily removed after pressing. The last 2 pictures show how I cut it up and the shred it was made into. It smoked like a dream ! I love the latakia content in this blend, and the floral notes in the smoke were just better than any commercial blend I've ever smoked. Many thanks to the man who gave us access to all this information.

 

[deluxestogie]

Your rendition of Towers of Antioch looks excellent. And yes, the history of the siege (and of the fortification of Antioch) is not usually taught in most history courses. Pretty wild stuff.

I appreciate the kind words. I prefer a coarse pipe shred. I am a strong advocate of open information, which is why all my blend labels reveal the "secrets they don't want you to know." As you experiment with your own blends, be sure to post them.

Bob

EDIT: If you enjoy remarkable history, then try to snag a copy of this.

Sebastien Mamerot: Les Passages... book by Thierry Delcourt

One volume is the original 1474 version, fully color illustrated and in French. The second volume is the text in English.

 

[deluxestogie]

 

[Indianapiper]

I made up 2 of Bob's blends about a week and a half ago and I was really pleased with them. I had fun making this one The first one: "Towers of Antioch" and of course I used all wholeleaf.com tobacco leaf. I really can't say enough good about the quality of the tobacco leaf many of us get from Don & Company at wholeleaf.com. what quality! If you have time, look up the "Seige of Antioch" it's an interesting read and I got to smoke a bowl of this while reading up on that ! The blend calls for Latakia 37.50% Virginia Bright 25.00% Virginia Red 18.75% Oriental 12.50 and Dark air cured 6.25% For the Oriental I used Izmir, it's what I had and worked out great. I weighed out all the leaf and layered it in my form so that I could press it over night. I don't press the leaf with too much pressure, but enough to where it compresses it into what the picture shows. After I cut it up to a good shred (larger than commercial blends) I smoked a bowl of it and you guys know as well as I do, that Bob's blend recipes are really really good ! In the 3rd & 4th pictures, the steel form has plates on both ends held in place with a c-clamp so that the tobacco could be easily removed after pressing. The last 2 pictures show how I cut it up and the shred it was made into. It smoked like a dream ! I love the latakia content in this blend, and the floral notes in the smoke were just better than any commercial blend I've ever smoked. Many thanks to the man who gave us access to all this information.

That looks very yummy! Can I ask what your method for shredding them was? Like how you broke down the larger slices and worked from there?

As a General question to Bob and everyone else, when it comes to materials to make the forms what is a good and safe? I want to use wood and am not sure which varieties are safe and toxin free. I have no skill with fabricating metal otherwise i would use stainless or some such.

 

[deluxestogie]

While you can, of course, press tobacco within a folded, freezer Ziploc, between two planks, if you want to make one of wood, just visit the nearest home improvement store and buy untreated wood. Poplar, oak, walnut, bass, etc. I would be inclined to avoid coniferous tree wood (pine, spruce, etc.), to avoid the turpentine flavor of the sap.

Bob

 

[smoknron]

That looks very yummy! Can I ask what your method for shredding them was? Like how you broke down the larger slices and worked from there?

As a General question to Bob and everyone else, when it comes to materials to make the forms what is a good and safe? I want to use wood and am not sure which varieties are safe and toxin free. I have no skill with fabricating metal otherwise i would use stainless or some such.

I just use a large kitchen knife to cut the pressed cake/plug but it's not easy to get cuts on it like I do, because of the amount of pressure you have to put on it pressing down, and trying to rock the blade to get it to cut. Like Bob uses in his book a Kulu type, arched blade,, works much, much better. Then after I made the first cuts with the knife, I used a pair of fishing type scissors/snips, from w-mart , "Cuda" brand. The scissor/snips were about 8-10 dollars, which was a couple of years back but they can cut sheet metal also. There are better types of tin "snips" that cut metal that would probably work even better that what I have right now. In the second to last picture I would just snip the ends, of one of those cut pieces to make that shred. I tried to zoom in on the size of the little pieces but the camera wouldn't focus. I also like the larger sized shred, I'll see if I can get a better picture of that shred if I can get the camera to focus, maybe different light will work. As for a form to put the tobacco in, I used some steel plate that I had, I think the plate is 1/4" thick. , maybe 5/16" and basically made a small rectangular shape with ends that were not welded so the pressed plug/cake could be removed after being pressed. A "follower" is the plate that actually presses on the tobacco a rectangle plate that basically fits inside the form.

 

[smoknron]

While you can, of course, press tobacco within a folded, freezer Ziploc, between two planks, if you want to make one of wood, just visit the nearest home improvement store and buy untreated wood. Poplar, oak, walnut, bass, etc. I would be inclined to avoid coniferous tree wood (pine, spruce, etc.), to avoid the turpentine flavor of the sap.

Bob

I did start out with making a wood form. I made it from an old, rock maple miter box I used to use for making angles on wood trim for houses, (trim work). The steel one is nice if you have the tools to make one. A stainless steel form is the way to go if making a good dedicated form to press tobacco. I thought about it, but I just put plastic liners in the form (like a credit card) so that the tobacco wouldn't touch the steel. If you don't use that the leaf will stick to the steel and it's tough to remove it. I found that out too with a wooden box also. The wooden box form you just have to be more careful with the amount of pressure from a bottle jack. I've had some good success with all of it Bob and the greatest thing is that I can make up my own blends that don't have the dreaded PG or other goopy chemicals they use in commercial tobacco. I've been using the whole leaf for a while now, and I can easily pick out that chemical taste/burn in many if not all the commercial products now. Years back I don't think they all used humectants and whatever else they use, but today.

 

[smoknron]

That really looks like a great book to read, I'm checking to see if they can get a copy for me on Thrift books.

 

[Knucklehead]

That really looks like a great book to read, I'm checking to see if they can get a copy for me on Thrift books.

It appears to be in French.