So the adventure begins!
I started off over a week ago with organic Virginia flue cured Canadian leaf and whole Perique leaves from Leaf Only and their inexpensive hand cranked shredder. I hadn't discovered WLT and this forum at the time.
The shredder is cheaply made and the clamp on it sucks. The clamp is so narrow I can only attach it to the edge of a wooden tv eating tray, and the clamp is poorly made; it doesn't want to stay clamped on, so I'm going to be upgrading to a better shredder before long.
The box took forever to arrive. 6 days. The leaves decided to spend two days sightseeing in St Paul in the sorting facility, and why it went there in the first place is beyond me. Then, in a matter of hours, it managed to go from there all the way to Des Moines, on to Waterloo, and Decorah before it arrived in my town. I was so impatient when it got delayed!
Opening the WLT box was exciting. I was stunned at how nicely each half pound sample was packed in the vacuum bags. It was a big contrast to the Leaf Only packaging. It was like Christmas coming early!
So far I've shredded the entire sample of Virginia Red, and part of the Prelip, Katarini, and stacked Basma. Shredding the Prelip and Katarini was a real PITA with that shredder. The stacked Basma was very easy to shred. I could do 3 leaves at a time. I'll continue working my way through the different bags as I have time and need distraction from boredom being isolated at home constantly.
Anyways, to taste the new leaves, I took some of the Leaf Only Canadian (pretty mild and neutral) and blended in about 10% Prelip and make 2 cigs, and then added 10% Katarini to what was left and made 4 cigs. I didnt use any casing yet. I started out with Gambler brand tubes from the convenience store, and I don't like them. I got 3 cartons of Mascotte Gold tubes on EBay and I like them much better. The test cigs are in these tubes.
I can taste the Oriental varieties in the cigs very clearly compared to the Canadian leaf blended with 15% Perique I started with. I can already see that I am going to have a lot of fun playing around with this sampler and learning about the flavors they contribute to blends, and how they taste alone. I think I'm going to.have to start a 3 ring binder for my new whole leaf and tobacco growing hobby, like I keep records in for my brewing, winemaking, and knit/crochet hobbies. This is going to be a big distraction from chores and work (I work from home) requiring some discipline or I'm not going to get much done!
Thank you to all of you forum members! I'm grateful for everything I've learned from this forum so far. I didn't know how to even stem the leaves I was ordering until I began exploring all the great threads and posts. You all have contributed a vast wealth of info and knowledge here.
I started off over a week ago with organic Virginia flue cured Canadian leaf and whole Perique leaves from Leaf Only and their inexpensive hand cranked shredder. I hadn't discovered WLT and this forum at the time.
The shredder is cheaply made and the clamp on it sucks. The clamp is so narrow I can only attach it to the edge of a wooden tv eating tray, and the clamp is poorly made; it doesn't want to stay clamped on, so I'm going to be upgrading to a better shredder before long.
The box took forever to arrive. 6 days. The leaves decided to spend two days sightseeing in St Paul in the sorting facility, and why it went there in the first place is beyond me. Then, in a matter of hours, it managed to go from there all the way to Des Moines, on to Waterloo, and Decorah before it arrived in my town. I was so impatient when it got delayed!
Opening the WLT box was exciting. I was stunned at how nicely each half pound sample was packed in the vacuum bags. It was a big contrast to the Leaf Only packaging. It was like Christmas coming early!
So far I've shredded the entire sample of Virginia Red, and part of the Prelip, Katarini, and stacked Basma. Shredding the Prelip and Katarini was a real PITA with that shredder. The stacked Basma was very easy to shred. I could do 3 leaves at a time. I'll continue working my way through the different bags as I have time and need distraction from boredom being isolated at home constantly.
Anyways, to taste the new leaves, I took some of the Leaf Only Canadian (pretty mild and neutral) and blended in about 10% Prelip and make 2 cigs, and then added 10% Katarini to what was left and made 4 cigs. I didnt use any casing yet. I started out with Gambler brand tubes from the convenience store, and I don't like them. I got 3 cartons of Mascotte Gold tubes on EBay and I like them much better. The test cigs are in these tubes.
I can taste the Oriental varieties in the cigs very clearly compared to the Canadian leaf blended with 15% Perique I started with. I can already see that I am going to have a lot of fun playing around with this sampler and learning about the flavors they contribute to blends, and how they taste alone. I think I'm going to.have to start a 3 ring binder for my new whole leaf and tobacco growing hobby, like I keep records in for my brewing, winemaking, and knit/crochet hobbies. This is going to be a big distraction from chores and work (I work from home) requiring some discipline or I'm not going to get much done!
Thank you to all of you forum members! I'm grateful for everything I've learned from this forum so far. I didn't know how to even stem the leaves I was ordering until I began exploring all the great threads and posts. You all have contributed a vast wealth of info and knowledge here.