Gavroche
Well-Known Member
Ok thank you
The Periqueining
- Thread starter ProfessorPangloss
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Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
that would be the shop next door
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
Ok so I'm temporarily unemployed....until Friday when I go to the next job chock full of overtime and I have no life yet again...
So...to pick up where I left off with my perique, I'm doing this
https://julianstockwin.com/2013/10/17/prick-perique-or-plug/
So far the leaf I am using (for this batch) is the first primings of the past current season. Large leaves that are color cured (nice medium tan)and stem dried. I've got 2 wires worth and I'm guessing its about a pound or so of full leaf. I've brought it in from the barn, hydrated it by spray bottle with filtered water. Once it becomes pliable enough I will strip the main rib .
I have also cut off a long strip of canvas (sail cloth) off of a clean natural white painters drop cloth ,cut that up into 6 somewhat equal and square pieces and set aside . For now, 100 ft of 3/16 nylon rope(70 lb tensile)...looked up a marline hitch(YouTube), easy peasy. . 6 batches should be a good start considering I have 2 more primings of main season leaves plus 4 wires (smaller leaf) from the completely sucker growth leaves. I'll do up a batch of each to test to see if theres a noticeable difference in -aroma, taste, strength and of course, burn.
Not sure yet if I want to put anything on it (Rum, honey,real vanilla extract) before rolling it up tight in a carrotte or just leave it (one)natural . Maybe I'll flavor each batch with something different and then blend it later to balance it out.
The sailors used to put rum and honey on it to flavor it. I'm thinking the honey may have been used to discourage mold or just impart some sweetness .
I also bought a small (2 gallon) plastic paint bucket to try a small batch as the pressure fermentation in a vessel since I didn't find a small oak keg before I got this going.
Thoughts appreciated please.
So...to pick up where I left off with my perique, I'm doing this
https://julianstockwin.com/2013/10/17/prick-perique-or-plug/
So far the leaf I am using (for this batch) is the first primings of the past current season. Large leaves that are color cured (nice medium tan)and stem dried. I've got 2 wires worth and I'm guessing its about a pound or so of full leaf. I've brought it in from the barn, hydrated it by spray bottle with filtered water. Once it becomes pliable enough I will strip the main rib .
I have also cut off a long strip of canvas (sail cloth) off of a clean natural white painters drop cloth ,cut that up into 6 somewhat equal and square pieces and set aside . For now, 100 ft of 3/16 nylon rope(70 lb tensile)...looked up a marline hitch(YouTube), easy peasy. . 6 batches should be a good start considering I have 2 more primings of main season leaves plus 4 wires (smaller leaf) from the completely sucker growth leaves. I'll do up a batch of each to test to see if theres a noticeable difference in -aroma, taste, strength and of course, burn.
Not sure yet if I want to put anything on it (Rum, honey,real vanilla extract) before rolling it up tight in a carrotte or just leave it (one)natural . Maybe I'll flavor each batch with something different and then blend it later to balance it out.
The sailors used to put rum and honey on it to flavor it. I'm thinking the honey may have been used to discourage mold or just impart some sweetness .
I also bought a small (2 gallon) plastic paint bucket to try a small batch as the pressure fermentation in a vessel since I didn't find a small oak keg before I got this going.
Thoughts appreciated please.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
Well, I think you're doing a great thing. I'd like to know a bit more about the rolling and tightening technique. I read the comments after that article - sweet article - and there was a sailor who said there was an original perique on display in his ship. Someone should track that down!
I wouldn't use a paint pail unless it was also food grade plastic. I don't know how to tell.
I wouldn't use a paint pail unless it was also food grade plastic. I don't know how to tell.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
The plastic bucket is my plan "B" . As you know (maybe?) from my past (first few, remember the "brain tan buckskin" post) threads ,I like to try things the old fashioned way . Makes the effort worth just that much more personal to me over any "modernized" methods. Kind of gives me an idea what they went through before they discovered an easy way to mass produce things. Ok, moving along. I went ahead and did the first carotte . I flavored it with this elixir of essential pipe tobacco flavorings. yeah yeah , I know I just couldn't talk myself out of going au naturale with the first one.
in a pint trigger sprayer I put
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
1 tbsp honey
1 oz coffee infused rum (the custom local made stuff I infused cigars with previously)
1 oz Buffalo Trace bourbon whiskey
a tad bit of warm filtered water to loosen up the honey and thin the mixture to spray.
Shook that up well and sprayed down the stripped tobacco leaf,turning and tossing it like a salad reapplying the dressing.
rolled it up in a 12 x 12 square of the "sail cloth" ,squeezing it tight as I could by hand to compress it (felt and sounded like the air and juice was moving around)
tied it on both ends like a sausage with some jute twine. At this point it looked like a burrito / kielbasa combination if you can image.
Wrapped the entire thing pre-compressing it along the way with a Marline hitch and snugging and struggling (by the way , for future reference , wear leather gloves,found out the hard way with a raw rubbed finger) until the whole thing ended up rather phalic looking and the brown "elixir" and tobacco juice dripped out the tail end...it was stiff and had a good bend to it. lol.
my hands already smell like a good pipe tobacco. Hung it up in the garage by the ceiling to do its thing. Not sure how long to wait. I'm thinking just faghetaboutit.
in a pint trigger sprayer I put
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
1 tbsp honey
1 oz coffee infused rum (the custom local made stuff I infused cigars with previously)
1 oz Buffalo Trace bourbon whiskey
a tad bit of warm filtered water to loosen up the honey and thin the mixture to spray.
Shook that up well and sprayed down the stripped tobacco leaf,turning and tossing it like a salad reapplying the dressing.
rolled it up in a 12 x 12 square of the "sail cloth" ,squeezing it tight as I could by hand to compress it (felt and sounded like the air and juice was moving around)
tied it on both ends like a sausage with some jute twine. At this point it looked like a burrito / kielbasa combination if you can image.
Wrapped the entire thing pre-compressing it along the way with a Marline hitch and snugging and struggling (by the way , for future reference , wear leather gloves,found out the hard way with a raw rubbed finger) until the whole thing ended up rather phalic looking and the brown "elixir" and tobacco juice dripped out the tail end...it was stiff and had a good bend to it. lol.
my hands already smell like a good pipe tobacco. Hung it up in the garage by the ceiling to do its thing. Not sure how long to wait. I'm thinking just faghetaboutit.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
This is my carrotte . There are many others like it but this one is mine...
Yeah the rope is rough on the hands, I've got a technique down that spares hands but it's still a pita. Been thinking about getting the press and mould my fil uses to press ak receivers and making some 12x4x4 ingots. If pressed for a couple days under extreme pressure I was hoping I'd be able to take them out and have them hold form until needed.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
I was going to try and design a poor mans press of sorts with 2 x 4s and a length of threaded rod, much like a grape press but extra heavy duty. I still might just for a small batch test.
ProfessorPangloss
Amateur Kentuckian
Today I learned
I had a little time this afternoon to do an unpack-repack of the press, and I learned something. What I learned was a tiny bit of the rage that BrownThumb felt when his press got stuck in the bucket and he couldn't get it out.
See, thinking ahead, I drilled a hole in the center of my oak plug. It's sized so the nozzle from the airgun fits into it snugly. Today when I got the screw off the press, the block was stuck. So I dug out the air compressor, fired it up, and tried blowing 40 psi into the hole. No dice - the air was escaping under one side of the wood block. So I let it run and went for 60 psi. No dice, though it blew some Kahlua-colored goop up the side of the pot. I ran it up to 80 pounds, and this time, the bottom of the pot buckled outward *literally* an inch, but the plug remained stuck. I got a bar of metal, placed it cross the rim of the pot, and kneeled on it with my full weight. It lifted me up like the airbag in a lowrider.
At this point, I approached my slightly older and wiser neighbor, gardening buddy and smoke pal. He studied the problem momentarily, worked at the plug with a heavy screwdriver, then asked if we could maybe split the pot with a winch or something (it has a few rips in the metal). I suggested (last ditch effort) banging the motherf---er on the driveway, which he did, with credible imitation of the Incredible Hulk. After about five blows, the whole works popped out and landed tobacco-side-up on the pavement. The pot is not exactly better for the wear, but it was junky to begin with and it cost $5.
I suppose I learned that oak and leaf are stronger than air, and that smart solutions are rarely as smart when they encounter a real-life problem. Oh well. The perique is back in the press, and it's lost a lot of the fruity smell and picked up something more complex - less sweet and more nuanced. My neighbor saved a few small pieces for rolling, so perhaps we'll try it later this week.
I had a little time this afternoon to do an unpack-repack of the press, and I learned something. What I learned was a tiny bit of the rage that BrownThumb felt when his press got stuck in the bucket and he couldn't get it out.
See, thinking ahead, I drilled a hole in the center of my oak plug. It's sized so the nozzle from the airgun fits into it snugly. Today when I got the screw off the press, the block was stuck. So I dug out the air compressor, fired it up, and tried blowing 40 psi into the hole. No dice - the air was escaping under one side of the wood block. So I let it run and went for 60 psi. No dice, though it blew some Kahlua-colored goop up the side of the pot. I ran it up to 80 pounds, and this time, the bottom of the pot buckled outward *literally* an inch, but the plug remained stuck. I got a bar of metal, placed it cross the rim of the pot, and kneeled on it with my full weight. It lifted me up like the airbag in a lowrider.
At this point, I approached my slightly older and wiser neighbor, gardening buddy and smoke pal. He studied the problem momentarily, worked at the plug with a heavy screwdriver, then asked if we could maybe split the pot with a winch or something (it has a few rips in the metal). I suggested (last ditch effort) banging the motherf---er on the driveway, which he did, with credible imitation of the Incredible Hulk. After about five blows, the whole works popped out and landed tobacco-side-up on the pavement. The pot is not exactly better for the wear, but it was junky to begin with and it cost $5.
I suppose I learned that oak and leaf are stronger than air, and that smart solutions are rarely as smart when they encounter a real-life problem. Oh well. The perique is back in the press, and it's lost a lot of the fruity smell and picked up something more complex - less sweet and more nuanced. My neighbor saved a few small pieces for rolling, so perhaps we'll try it later this week.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
squeezyjohn
Well-Known Member
I've just put my carottes together as well. With the practice of making them for a couple of years I'm getting a bit better at the process I think - and this year using good quality canvas as the cloth instead of thin cotton and natural fibre rope rather than synthetic has made the process much easier. The coarse natural fibres are much less stretchy and grip eachother better when trying to roll it up.
I've made 2 carottes - one is a whole leaf length - the shorter one is made from half-leaves.
I love the result this process gives. It's no-where near as fermented as true perique made under very high pressure. But it has all the notes of fermented tobacco there in a more subtle way if left under the pressure of the rope for 6 months or so. I also love the process because of it's relative simplicity (although if you've ever tried to actually make a rope carotte then the skill itself is not so easy!), it is a viable alternative to kilning in the way it "speed-ages" the tobacco with much less equipment and the resulting tobacco is so compact that the leaf takes up very little space in storage which is something I personally need to consider.
As an aside - from my experimenting with carotte tobacco - it seems you have some level of control over the eventual "fermentedness" of the tobacco by varying how moist the leaves are when the carotte is assembled. You can make one from tobacco which is just in case and that will roll up to make a tobacco that ages in to something which almost tastes the same as regular air-cured leaf ... but the more moisture there is in the leaves, the more fermented the end product will taste. Take care though, if the leaf is really wet as a result of being in someting close to 100% humidity then not only will it be prone to mould, it will also be very hard to roll up tightly as the leaf will mush about under the pressure of the ropes and try and escape from the ends of the cloth giving some quite strange looking results!
A video would have been fun to see!!!!
Gavroche
Well-Known Member
I make him(it) in glass jars, when they break, me change them...ready to the 12/25/2016, three months...
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
Went to Menards for some lumber to rebuild the dogs whelping box but I grabbed a piece of 1x6 oak too...Made an all oak perique pressing box. It ended up about 5 x5 x 9 inches tall, an oak "follower"plate/lid and a few pieces to get the pressure to the plate . Just in case theres even a slight difference between pressing in oak vs stainless steel. Once I get a chance to grab a couple wires of Perique leaf out on the barn ,I'll press it up in this and let it go .Theres a tiny bit of daylight in the bottom corners so I may take it apart enough to drip a little wax down in mating surfaces and seal it back up to hold in the black gold fermenting juice. $10 board,cheaper than a used oak barrel.
Only thing is ,I'm wondering if I should swab out the inside with a bourbon or whiskey ...or should I maybe char it? BigBonner ,thoughts??
Only thing is ,I'm wondering if I should swab out the inside with a bourbon or whiskey ...or should I maybe char it? BigBonner ,thoughts??
I'd char it with a torch, seal it like you say, then pour some everclear in it for a month to see if there are any leaks.
After the month I'd cut the new whiskey down to 50% and see if it was delicious or not, bottle it, then proceed to making perique.
Hey wait, I think I'll copy your/my idea next time I go to HD.
After the month I'd cut the new whiskey down to 50% and see if it was delicious or not, bottle it, then proceed to making perique.
Hey wait, I think I'll copy your/my idea next time I go to HD.
Copenhagen Forever
Well-Known Member
I was looking at the julianstockwin site mentioned above and it occurred to me that this could be the answer to my quest to recreate copenhagen. It says;
" If the binding had been spun yarn, the Stockholm tar used in the preparation of the rope added a special dimension to the taste and colour of the tobacco…"
I looked it up wikipedia -Pine tar- and that's the taste and smell of cope. In 1822 what better a flavor for copenhagen to recreate than the old sailors way of making. Now if it can figure out how to recreate stockholm tar without creosote.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
I'd char it with a torch, seal it like you say, then pour some everclear in it for a month to see if there are any leaks.
After the month I'd cut the new whiskey down to 50% and see if it was delicious or not, bottle it, then proceed to making perique.
Hey wait, I think I'll copy your/my idea next time I go to HD.
I actually like your idea. I have a buddy that has a copper um..."kettle" and makes distillations. Might see if he as anything fresh needing aging.
ProfessorPangloss
Amateur Kentuckian
I uncorked the press today (minimal violence necessary), hoping to find my Perique blackened and goopy. Instead, it was mostly just damp and still brown-ish. It did smell more complex and ferment-y, with a lesser undertone of fruit. Thoughts, anyone? I sprayed it with a bunch of distilled water and left it on the back table to air out a little. I'll put it back in in a little while. Guess it's not done.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
Mine too. I pulled it out of the stainless steel cup...the oak follower had swelled up but it came out with a little coaxing. the 3/4 inch compressed perique puck popped out, same thing. Brown, a little on the fruity side but still has a raw tobacco scent. Its sitting on my not yet coolador drying out...When I go to check and shuffle the leaf batch in the oak press box, I'll mix it in .Maybe it'll give the new batch a boost ,like the mother of vinegar/sour dough.
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
It takes time.
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