Making Cavendish and my own Pipe blends - Need advice, Please.

[Maligator_Papa]

Hey Guys,

I'm new at handling raw tobacco and I've done reading and limited research but there question that I'm left wondering. I've already made my purchase of Tobacco and now I'm wondering what to do with it. In hind sight I should have asked what to buy first but here we are...lol

I bought 2lbs Burley/ 2lbs Canadian Flue Cured Virginia/ and 1lb of Light Fire Cured for my pipe blends.

I need recommendations on what to do next. My plan is to smoke each leaf separately and establish their unique profiles but I'm not sure how to proceed after that.

Questions

Blending
What blend should I try first? I have an open palette. I'm new to the pipe but like full flavoured cigars.
I've found many ratios available online but they're mostly ratios for Tobaccos I don't have.

Cavendish
What leaf should I Cavendish?
What size batch should I look at starting out with?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Hi. Welcome from Edmonton.

I'm a big proponent of the pressure cooker method, available in the key threads section which you may or may not have already found.

I usually do it in half pint jars with 50-60g of tobacco. I'll do a number of jars, but that's not relevant to your question, I think.

 

[deluxestogie]

Easy first one: burley 50% to flue-cured 50%
Second easy one: burley Cavendish 50% to flue-cured Cavendish 50%
Easy third and fourth ones: sneak 10% of your fire-cured into your first two easy blends.

Have fun.

Bob

 

[Maligator_Papa]

Hi. Welcome from Edmonton.

I'm a big proponent of the pressure cooker method, available in the key threads section which you may or may not have already found.

I usually do it in half pint jars with 50-60g of tobacco. I'll do a number of jars, but that's not relevant to your question, I think.

Since you mentioned it. I was thinking about the pressure cooker method. I only have an insta pot. From one of the threads I think I saw that using one is the same as a normal pressure cooker.

 

[Maligator_Papa]

Easy first one: burley 50% to flue-cured 50%
Second easy one: burley Cavendish 50% to flue-cured Cavendish 50%
Easy third and fourth ones: sneak 10% of your fire-cured into your first two easy blends.

Have fun.

Bob

Thanks Bob,
Thats what I needed to get me started.

 

[Knucklehead]

Have you looked through this thread?

Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

While some varieties of tobacco can be enjoyable when smoked straight in a pipe, the flavor horizon can be broadened by simple blending of contrasting varieties and cure-methods. My goal in this thread is to present some pipe blends that do not use casing of any kind. [Practically all...

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[burge]

Hey Guys,

I'm new at handling raw tobacco and I've done reading and limited research but there question that I'm left wondering. I've already made my purchase of Tobacco and now I'm wondering what to do with it. In hind sight I should have asked what to buy first but here we are...lol

I bought 2lbs Burley/ 2lbs Canadian Flue Cured Virginia/ and 1lb of Light Fire Cured for my pipe blends.

I need recommendations on what to do next. My plan is to smoke each leaf separately and establish their unique profiles but I'm not sure how to proceed after that.

Questions

Blending
What blend should I try first? I have an open palette. I'm new to the pipe but like full flavoured cigars.
I've found many ratios available online but they're mostly ratios for Tobaccos I don't have.

Cavendish
What leaf should I Cavendish?
What size batch should I look at starting out with?

What you do to your leaf is up to you. That is the beauty of leaf and remember the Black Friday sale that hopefully is coming. Cavendish is usually virginia in English blends. If you want to make a flake I do know is you need to make a brick. My suggestion would be 5 virginia leaves 2 burley and 2 fire cured mix them up find a vice and cold press them together then flip them over and press again this allows the juice to flow both up and down through the leaves. It takes a while then you can try it straight or mist with some vodka rum etc.

 

[GreenDragon]

Since you mentioned it. I was thinking about the pressure cooker method. I only have an insta pot. From one of the threads I think I saw that using one is the same as a normal pressure cooker.

I use an insta-pot for making my Cavendish. They don't get as hot/high pressure as a regular pressure cooker, so I just process mine a little longer. I do two (4 hr) cycles on "High" and that seems to work for me. I wet my leaf down, roll up loosely, and put in canning jars.

 

[deluxestogie]

I just searched for temp and pressure of an Instant Pot. I guess there are other brands of "smart" pot.

"The default setting of the pressure cooker [Instant pot] is “high” (with a pressure of 10.2-11.6 psi and a temperature of 239°F-244°F), but you can adjust it to a lower pressure and temperature (5.8-7.2 psi and 229-233°F)..."

How to Use an Instant Pot, Button by Button

There can be a learning curve to using an Instant Pot to its full functionality. There are a lot of buttons, and trying to intuit what they do exactly can make one feel a little...pressured. Here's a guide on what all those buttons can do for you.

skillet.lifehacker.com

A common, dumb, pressure cooker (and an effective autoclave for sterilizing things) runs at 15 psi and 121°C (~250°F). [Bacterial food-borne pathogens are usually killed at just above 131°F.] Albuminous proteins (present in tobacco) denature at 141°F, while some other proteins apparently require up to 160°F to denature.

"...the rule of thumb: 'cooking = time * temperature.'"

Cooking for Geeks

Chapter 4. Time and Temperature: Cooking’s Primary VariablesEVER SINCE CAVEMEN FIRST SET UP CAMPFIRES AND STARTED ROASTING THEIR KILL, MANKIND HAS ENJOYED A WHOLE NEW SET... - Selection from Cooking for Geeks [Book]

www.oreilly.com

As with cooking, making Cavendish with different temperatures and different pressures is a trial and error process. And your cooking pressure may depend on the elevation of where you live.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

I'm making Cavendish in an instant pot at this very moment since I couldn't find the weight for my classic pressure cooker.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I just searched for temp and pressure of an Instant Pot. I guess there are other brands of "smart" pot.

"The default setting of the pressure cooker [Instant pot] is “high” (with a pressure of 10.2-11.6 psi and a temperature of 239°F-244°F), but you can adjust it to a lower pressure and temperature (5.8-7.2 psi and 229-233°F)..."

How to Use an Instant Pot, Button by Button

There can be a learning curve to using an Instant Pot to its full functionality. There are a lot of buttons, and trying to intuit what they do exactly can make one feel a little...pressured. Here's a guide on what all those buttons can do for you.

skillet.lifehacker.com

A common, dumb, pressure cooker (and an effective autoclave for sterilizing things) runs at 15 psi and 121°C (~250°F). [Bacterial food-borne pathogens are usually killed at just above 131°F.] Albuminous proteins (present in tobacco) denature at 141°F, while some other proteins apparently require up to 160°F to denature.

"...the rule of thumb: 'cooking = time * temperature.'"

Cooking for Geeks

Chapter 4. Time and Temperature: Cooking’s Primary VariablesEVER SINCE CAVEMEN FIRST SET UP CAMPFIRES AND STARTED ROASTING THEIR KILL, MANKIND HAS ENJOYED A WHOLE NEW SET... - Selection from Cooking for Geeks [Book]

www.oreilly.com

As with cooking, making Cavendish with different temperatures and different pressures is a trial and error process. And your cooking pressure may depend on the elevation of where you live.

Bob

My altitude holds my pressure around 14.5 to 14.75lbs, max.

 

[deluxestogie]

My altitude holds my pressure around 14.5 to 14.75lbs, max.

Since that decreases the temp under pressure, it just increases the required time a smidgen. That would be significant for sterilizing surgical instruments.

Bob

 

[Davo]

I’m lazy. I’d just make a blend with all of the va and burley and half of the dark fired. Then buy another two pounds of each the burley and va and use the rest of the dark fired with it.

remove the stems and either bobs chop the whole lot and blend together or roll into sticks with alternating leaves. I’d be tempted to process blends in slow cooker or oven on a low heat

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

When I make 50g of cavendish, I add 1g of glycerin before processing. I'm the only one here who does it. I'm not ashamed. Well, maybe. But, it adds a bit of sweetness, softens it, and imparts a bit of a familiar, commercial cavendish flavour.

 

[Maligator_Papa]

I'm making Cavendish in an instant pot at this very moment since I couldn't find the weight for my classic pressure cooker.

What recipe are you following? (i.e. two four hour cycles)
are you doing single leaf types for each jar?

 

[Maligator_Papa]

When I make 50g of cavendish, I add 1g of glycerin before processing. I'm the only one here who does it. I'm not ashamed. Well, maybe. But, it adds a bit of sweetness, softens it, and imparts a bit of a familiar, commercial cavendish flavour.

Do you add the glycerin to all leave types? (i.e. Burley vs Virginia)

 

[Radagast]

What recipe are you following? (i.e. two four hour cycles)
are you doing single leaf types for each jar?

A combination of ChinaVoodoo's pressure canner method (for the water:tobacco ratio) and this:

I use an insta-pot for making my Cavendish. They don't get as hot/high pressure as a regular pressure cooker, so I just process mine a little longer. I do two (4 hr) cycles on "High" and that seems to work for me. I wet my leaf down, roll up loosely, and put in canning jars.

For the water I used equal weight dry leaf and r.o. water, left in jars overnight to soak it up. The leaf soaked most of it up overnight and the rest absorbed in the cooking process.
So yes, two four hour cycles for two of the types I made, one four hour cycle for one type.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Do you add the glycerin to all leave types? (i.e. Burley vs Virginia)

I have only made flue cured and air cured bright tobacco cavendish of late.