OakBayou
Active Member
I'm still very new to whole leaf, but I thought I'd share one of my early experiments for any new members or folks who wander here to learn.
I bought a 7 type sampler from WLT, which as of Sept. 2023 includes lemon, bright, and red VA flue-cured, Izmir Turkish, dark fire cured, KY burley, and dark air cured (though my shipment had a mistake and I received Krumovgrad B2 instead of dark air).
After experimenting with several different blends, I decided I'd try smoking some leaf in a pipe and looked around in the free Pipe Blends books for ideas. With what I had, I decided that "Vizier" was a blend I could approximate given what I have. I made a few tweaks and ended up using roughly 22% lemon, 22% bright, 10% red, 26% burley, 10% Izmir, and 10% Krumovgrad B2. Smoked a bowl in a brand new cheapo pear wood filtered pipe and enjoyed it (even though I smoked too fast, the filter helps). Tried it as a cigarette and it wasn't great. So I packed everything down into a small mason jar, labeled it, and left it alone thinking I'd use it for the pipe, which I did again.
Flash forward a week, and after several experiments where I had decided I just don't like unprocessed burley I thought I'd try again in a cigarette. Opened the jar, the aroma is amazing. All the flavors have melted together so much better and the moisture (which was slightly different at blending) had equalized. I also have realized that the entry level shredder I have is on the high end of its specs, and shreds closer to 1mm than the advertised 0.8mm, so breaking up the shred by hand before rolling in a manual roller makes a huge ..difference.
It was night and day. One of the best smokes I've ever had. The harsher aspects of each of the varieties all balanced each other out and even my wife, who prefers exceptionally smooth and balanced smokes, thought it was a winner.
A note for other whole leaf beginners: Be Patient! Don't overlook the moisture content as a component of flavor and burn qualities. Handling of your tobacco is just as important as the blend ingredients. As long as your fresh shred isn't too dry or too moist, the "pack down" method of blending, packing it down into a container, and letting it rest and "marry" is a simple and easy but can work wonders.
TL;DR: The "Vizier" pipe blend doubles as an excellent cigarette blend. No casings necessary, at least for the tobacco I received, which I think all has had a bit of aging on it at time of ordering and writing.
I bought a 7 type sampler from WLT, which as of Sept. 2023 includes lemon, bright, and red VA flue-cured, Izmir Turkish, dark fire cured, KY burley, and dark air cured (though my shipment had a mistake and I received Krumovgrad B2 instead of dark air).
After experimenting with several different blends, I decided I'd try smoking some leaf in a pipe and looked around in the free Pipe Blends books for ideas. With what I had, I decided that "Vizier" was a blend I could approximate given what I have. I made a few tweaks and ended up using roughly 22% lemon, 22% bright, 10% red, 26% burley, 10% Izmir, and 10% Krumovgrad B2. Smoked a bowl in a brand new cheapo pear wood filtered pipe and enjoyed it (even though I smoked too fast, the filter helps). Tried it as a cigarette and it wasn't great. So I packed everything down into a small mason jar, labeled it, and left it alone thinking I'd use it for the pipe, which I did again.
Flash forward a week, and after several experiments where I had decided I just don't like unprocessed burley I thought I'd try again in a cigarette. Opened the jar, the aroma is amazing. All the flavors have melted together so much better and the moisture (which was slightly different at blending) had equalized. I also have realized that the entry level shredder I have is on the high end of its specs, and shreds closer to 1mm than the advertised 0.8mm, so breaking up the shred by hand before rolling in a manual roller makes a huge ..difference.
It was night and day. One of the best smokes I've ever had. The harsher aspects of each of the varieties all balanced each other out and even my wife, who prefers exceptionally smooth and balanced smokes, thought it was a winner.
A note for other whole leaf beginners: Be Patient! Don't overlook the moisture content as a component of flavor and burn qualities. Handling of your tobacco is just as important as the blend ingredients. As long as your fresh shred isn't too dry or too moist, the "pack down" method of blending, packing it down into a container, and letting it rest and "marry" is a simple and easy but can work wonders.
TL;DR: The "Vizier" pipe blend doubles as an excellent cigarette blend. No casings necessary, at least for the tobacco I received, which I think all has had a bit of aging on it at time of ordering and writing.
