Sounds like all the excuses are gone. I am anxious to see what you come up with. I am so tempted to try this, but if my wife sees another box of baccy show up on the porch, I'm cooked. LOL
A Tobacco Blending Odyssey.
- Thread starter Price
- Start date
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- #42
"Look, honey! Must be my <cough> Secret Santa gift <cough> !"
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- #43
I had picked up a few supplies last weekend, so today I started work on Tobacco Press 1.0 (TM). Made a few cuts:
And started putting the box together:
...then I had to stop because I need a longer drill bit.
For anyone keeping score at home, I'm using 1"x4" oak boards for the sides, and 1"x6" for the top & bottom. I used oak because it's going to have to withstand a considerable amount of pressure, so I figured this was my best shot. Nominal 1" boards, of course, are actually only .75" thick - I would have liked to have gone thicker but that was all they had at Lowe's. The box is held together with 2" wood screws (stainless steel, I learned the hard way after shearing off two brass screws). I got the good, self-piloting woodworkers's screws, and I think that was a good choice.
I don't think I'm going to have time to get back to it tomorrow, and Friday night is my command's holiday party, so I hope to finish this up over the weekend. I think I've spent about 20 whole minutes on it thus far.
More to follow...
And started putting the box together:
...then I had to stop because I need a longer drill bit.
For anyone keeping score at home, I'm using 1"x4" oak boards for the sides, and 1"x6" for the top & bottom. I used oak because it's going to have to withstand a considerable amount of pressure, so I figured this was my best shot. Nominal 1" boards, of course, are actually only .75" thick - I would have liked to have gone thicker but that was all they had at Lowe's. The box is held together with 2" wood screws (stainless steel, I learned the hard way after shearing off two brass screws). I got the good, self-piloting woodworkers's screws, and I think that was a good choice.
I don't think I'm going to have time to get back to it tomorrow, and Friday night is my command's holiday party, so I hope to finish this up over the weekend. I think I've spent about 20 whole minutes on it thus far.
More to follow...
Nice! I was thinking of making one like that too, but I'm too dang lazy.
...then I had to stop because I need a longer drill bit.
That's what she said.
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- #46
The one I have is a good size!
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- #47
Well, we'll see how this goes. Jayson Dagner uses a metal one that Sarge sells, but I thought it would be more interesting to try to build one. Hopefully the prototype here gets the job done, but I can see a couple modifications I'll probably make for version 2.0.
First, a question: What is the benefit of pressing?
Second, just a thought... Take a 3" ID piece of PVC pipe. Slit it lengthwise for facilitating removal. Use two hose clamps to hold two halves of pipe together. Take 2 hockey pucks (3" OD) and drill a small indent in the center of each; maybe 1" dia x .25" deep. Inside of pvc layer puck, wax paper, tobacco, wax paper, other puck (the non-drilled sides of the pucks should face eachother) then put a big C-clamp pressing on each puck.
Should be a wicked cheap mini press if it works! I would build one, but I don't know the answer to my question yet! haha
Second, just a thought... Take a 3" ID piece of PVC pipe. Slit it lengthwise for facilitating removal. Use two hose clamps to hold two halves of pipe together. Take 2 hockey pucks (3" OD) and drill a small indent in the center of each; maybe 1" dia x .25" deep. Inside of pvc layer puck, wax paper, tobacco, wax paper, other puck (the non-drilled sides of the pucks should face eachother) then put a big C-clamp pressing on each puck.
Should be a wicked cheap mini press if it works! I would build one, but I don't know the answer to my question yet! haha
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- #49
Pressing can produce a plug or flake. It helps the flavors of different tobaccos meld together faster and better. Produces a smoother, more even flavor.
I think your press would probably work. I wouldn't use wax paper - I think with the level of pressure that needs to be applied, you'd end up digging wax out of your tobacco. I think silicone is the way to go for non-stick results. Hockey pucks aren't as omnipresent in San Diego as they might be in other areas of the country this time of year, but I could probably get my hands on a couple. My biggest concern would be that split PVS might not have the structural integrity to hold together under pressure. Something to look into, though.
Looking good, Price! That's very similar to the ones Steve uses at HoC. I will likely build something similar at some point, but "some point" is out running' me these days!
C-clamps are sub-optimal for this purpose. I'm using them with nested soup cans (which saves the effort of cutting PVC and hockey pucks) and I get decent results but a few pieces of threaded rod would make it easier to apply more pressure.
Wax paper holds up just fine in my rig. I used aluminum foil too, that works ok. The hard part with either of them in my rig is extracting the result.
I too find a lack of availability of hockey pucks. Honestly I could use them in about a million projects every year in all kinds of widely varying contexts, but they're expensive. I wish I could just buy worn-out used ones by the dozen, or even better, score them for free from a hockey team. Do hockey pucks wear out?
Wax paper holds up just fine in my rig. I used aluminum foil too, that works ok. The hard part with either of them in my rig is extracting the result.
I too find a lack of availability of hockey pucks. Honestly I could use them in about a million projects every year in all kinds of widely varying contexts, but they're expensive. I wish I could just buy worn-out used ones by the dozen, or even better, score them for free from a hockey team. Do hockey pucks wear out?
I guess that's worth another look. I checked once and it wasn't pretty but that may just have been a bad day for pucks on eBay.
Kilroy6644
Smoking a corn dog in aviators and a top hat
I had an idea for that. I had three cans nested, pressing two different blends. I lined my cans with Ziploc bags, think that it would be easier to extract the cakes. The Heavy English came out easy enough, but the BOTR put up a fight, and the bag tore. Thinking perhaps that the compression had created a vacuum, I used a can opener to poke a couple holes in the bottom of the can, hoping to equalize the pressure. I don't know whether it worked, but I did eventually get the cake out. More importantly, I had the idea to cut the bottom completely out of that can. I'd still use three cans, but only make one cake. The inner and outer cans would be intact, while the middle can would be bored through. See my high quality illustration:
The idea is that the cake can just be tapped out the bottom of the middle can after it's removed from the press. The more I think about it, though, the more I think that I've overcomplicated it. With a solid enough bottom piece, you can dispense with the outer can, or use a PVC pipe, or whatever. I think where we're making a mistake is trying to extract the tobacco after we take it out of the press. We should be extracting it while it's still in the press. Relieve the pressure, then wiggle the container (PVC, soup can, etc.) loose. Let the press hold the tobacco. Then take everything apart.
I was thinking in a different direction...placing in the can before the tobacco a 1 inch wide strip of sheet metal bent into a U or even just a ribbon should suffice just fine.
I haven't done any more pressing experiments since I came up with that idea but I'm going to try it next time.
I haven't done any more pressing experiments since I came up with that idea but I'm going to try it next time.
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- #56
Okay, finished the drilling and pounded some 5/16" T-nuts into the bottom:
Put the threaded rod through and put some lock nuts on the bottom, and that's pretty much a wrap:
The threaded rod is 12", I'll probably cut that down some. I bought some non-stick oven liner to hopefully avoid too much sticking. If all goes well, I'll start pressing the inaugural batch tomorrow.
Put the threaded rod through and put some lock nuts on the bottom, and that's pretty much a wrap:
The threaded rod is 12", I'll probably cut that down some. I bought some non-stick oven liner to hopefully avoid too much sticking. If all goes well, I'll start pressing the inaugural batch tomorrow.
Nice job, i hope the first batch will be a success!
Kilroy6644
Smoking a corn dog in aviators and a top hat
Looks like a good set-up. Maybe some day I'll get ambitious and build one.
- Thread starter
- #59
Well, hopefully I can get all the trial and error done here so when you so, you won't have as many variables.
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- #60
Trying to ensure that I get about the right density of tobacco cake. The last thing I want is for my cake to fall apart the moment I extract it. On the other hand, I've seen a couple youtube videos, and this guy using a hydraulic press (which would make life a lot easier, but reduce the margin for error) makes a plug of tobacco that could probably be used to carve wood. So, time to do a little measuring, which I did last night. A 1.75" square cake of JKP is almost exactly 1" thick and weighs 48 grams. Roughly 16 grams per cubic inch. The I.D. of my press is 3.5"x5", so to get a thickness of 1" at the right density, I estimate I'd need 280 grams of tobacco, or roughly 9.8 oz. My plan was to do batches of 8 ounces at a time, but to get the right density that would mean my cake would be about 3/4" thick. I want them to be thicker than that, so my batches are going to have to be 10 ounces.
First one goes in the press tonight.
First one goes in the press tonight.
