Questions before attempting to roll

[Texmo87]

Hello Everyone,

First off I'm extremely excited to begin this journey into rolling my own cigars. I recently ordered my Binder, Filler, and Wrapper from whole leaf tobacco. Here's what I've ordered:

Seco - Corojo 99
Viso - Criollo 98
Ligero - Criollo 98
Binder: Vuelta Abajo
Wrapper: Ecuador Maduro
Glue: Gum Arabic Cigar/Tobacco Glue

After a ton of research and watching a lot of videos on these forums and youtube, I've come up with a plan of attack to roll my Entubato style Parejo cigar. But of course I have some questions after researching:

1.) Does the wrapper/Binder need to be cased overnight?
2.) For tools I ordered a Chaveta and a wooden cigar mold for various sizes. After doing some research on the forums here most rollers say for beginners to learn how to roll without a cigar mold and press first before proceeding to using one. Is this something I should definitely consider?
3.) I seen video saying to lay the wrapper and binder leaves dark side down? Not sure if all tobacco leaves have a dark side?
4.) What decides the foot and head of the cigar after the first stage of rolling the filler into the binder?
5.) For casing, this is what I've read and want to confirm;
Filler - Light case, might not even need to be cased depending on consistency (crunchy but not crumbly)
Binder - Medium Case
Wrapper - Heavy Case
6.) How long after the cigar has been rolled should it be left to dry before smoking? does this depend on casing methods?
7.) Wrapper and binder veins should be rolled to the inside of the cigar?

Thanks for any help in advance, Its much appreciated!

- Tex

 

[GreenDragon]

There are many opinions on some of these questions. Here is what I do and why.

1) No, but I do. Why? I tend to prefer wrapper varieties that happen to have thicker veins. The longer they sit at high case, the softer the veins, and the easier it is to flatten them out and prevent ruptures. Batches and varieties differ. How pretty do they need to be? If you are rolling to smoke that day, then no; they just need to be pliable enough to do the job and as dry as possible and still retain elasticity.
2) Yes. Molds make for pretty ciggies, but they can mask some sins / create problems such as too tight a roll giving poor draw. Roll one, smoke it. Roll one, smoke it.... You will learn much faster.
3) Some it's more obvious than others, but they all have a darker side. The lighter side is the underside with the veins. This needs to be up so it will wind up inside the cigar. When in doubt, use your fingers and feel for the veins.
4) Where you start rolling will be the foot, and where you finish will be the head.
5) Yes, but even heavy should not be "wet" unless you want to wait a long time to smoke it. This is all relative.
6) Yes, the drier your cases, the sooner you can smoke it. Again, some wrappers/binders require a higher case than others to make them flexible and pretty. Others, like C. Shade are very thin and don't need a lot of water to work with them, therefore drying much faster. There are no hard and fast rules, it depends on your materials and technique.
7) Yes

 

[GreenDragon]

Bob recently posted a good explanation of the proper case of each leaf here: https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/pics-of-your-sticks.3785/post-160449

 

[deluxestogie]

Cigar rollers who prefer filler that rolls nicely into little tubes (entubado) have to bring the filler to a higher case than I use for my filler.

Bob

 

[Texmo87]

Thanks for the advice and help everyone!