Anybody Else Rolls His Own Cigars?

[Slash McCoy]

This one is the best one yet. Great burn. No relights, no burnoffs. Held an ash beautifully. Filler was mostly viso, just a little bit of seco and ligero. Equador grown Connecticut Shade wrapper. Rolled 4 days ago, smoked last night. For a fresh cigar, flavor was excellent, if a bit bold. Started out with floral notes and finished with nuts and chocolate. This shape seems to make for a lot of surprise finishes.

 

[Slash McCoy]

The faster I roll them, the faster I smoke them, but the humidor is slowly starting to fill up.

 

[LMcC]

I do, just not the tobacco type.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Lately I have been working on a different way of bunching and applying the binder, and the result is a very nice burning cigar. It is slow, but I am a slow roller anyway. and still just a noob at this. I have rolled a grand total of maybe 40 cigars and most of them are still pretty ugly but I have only had a couple that didn't smoke well, and they are improving.

There are lots of vids out there on how to do this, and it is not expensive to get started. You need tobacco, of course. Cigar glue, and nothing works any better than plain old gum arabic. You can use pectin, but some guys say they can taste it. Or order some bermacoll glue from a cigar leaf vendor. You will need something to cut tobacco leaf with, and to cut the ends with. You could invest $350 in a tuck cutter, or just get a big cigar cutter or even use a RSO "sharpened" as good as you can get it, or a spineless SE blade. A "ulu" type knife also works, similarly to a proper chaveta. You will need bench space and a rolling surface or "tableta". I use 1/4" acrylic, 24" x 24". A slick surface helps wet wrapper to cling to it, making it easier to spread and stretch. A piece of sheet metal would work. A flat cookie sheet would work. An old mirror. Be careful not to break it with too much pressure from your knife. Wood is traditional. Sand it nice and smooth. Think carefully before treating it with anything that might add unwelcome flavor or aroma to your cigars. A cigar mold is said by many to be very nice to have. I have never used one. You can buy a new one, or an old used one, or 3D print one. Or just do without, which IMHO is the better option.

The two sites below sell cigar leaf and complete beginner kits, and kits with just the tobacco. I think they are affiliated, maybe the same business, not sure, but the Leaf Only site seems to have more stuff, but a lot of their kits are currently sold out.

Whole Leaf Tobacco | Buy Tobacco Leaf, Fronto Leaf, Cigar Wrappers, Bulk Tobacco, and More!

Buy Tobacco Leaf Online. Leaf Only is your number one source for whole tobacco leaves. Offering tobacco leaf bundles, and bulk tobacco for cigarette, cigar, fronto, grabba, hookah, and much more!

www.leafonly.com

Whole Leaf Tobacco | The Original Whole Leaf Tobacco

Whole Leaf Tobacco offers Premium, American-grown cigarette tobacco, imported cigar tobacco, cigar wrappers, pipe tobacco, fronto / grabba leaf, and more.

wholeleaftobacco.com

A good entry point is:

Melodioso Cremosa Cigar Blend Kit, 1lb.

Melodioso Cremosa is a unique cigar blend kit using the finest Dominican long filler and a Nicaragua Shade wrapper. The finished product will yield a medium-strength cigar. The kit includes the…

wholeleaftobacco.com

Some reviews mentioned that the wrapper leaf is very fragile, so be careful not to overstretch it. One dirty little secret is a decently rolled cigar with a good binder can be smoked even without a wrapper. You can also patch small holes and tears from the inside as you roll.

I would encourage anybody sitting on the fence or just thinking about it, to jump right in with both feet. By your second or third roll, you should be creating tasty and fine burning stogies, even if they aren't as pretty as the ones all dressed up in fancy bands and sleeves in color matched boxes at your local cigar shop, and they will be way cheaper. The rustic appearance and obvious DIY band (or lack of one) are instant conversation starters around other cigar smokers. And did I mention cheaper?

 

[fathandle]

I am going to try this. Cigars just cost too much dang money. I am done with that. I already have a lot of loose cig/pipe tobacco laying around. Need to get over to whole leaf and ask them what leaves I need to match my favorite cigars. Medium to full strength and mostly cuban seed stuff grown in Nicaruagua.

From what I saw for prices, I could roll up a 1 ounce cigar for around 2 or 3 bucks with quality tobacco leaves.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I am going to try this. Cigars just cost too much dang money. I am done with that. I already have a lot of loose cig/pipe tobacco laying around. Need to get over to whole leaf and ask them what leaves I need to match my favorite cigars. Medium to full strength and mostly cuban seed stuff grown in Nicaruagua.

From what I saw for prices, I could roll up a 1 ounce cigar for around 2 or 3 bucks with quality tobacco leaves.

Absolutely yes. There's lots of youtube videos. Whole Leaf Tobacco (WLT in cigar geek) and Leaf Only (LO) are the two big players for leaf. Both usually offer kits with enough stuff to roll about 12 to 25 cigars, and a kit is a good way to get started.

 

[DesertIguana]

Use to go to La Plata Cigars in Los Angeles.

Owner and staff rolled everything they sold.

I was fascinated by process, owner left me try, it’s an art.

My first try was my last try. The staff and Victor laught at me.

I had more respect for the real artists.

Rolling Cigar is a skill, I do not have.

Thank goodness I have friend who owns company, my cigar are inexpensive.

Not what you know, it’s who you know. Nice to have my friend. He takes care of me.

 

[fathandle]

I intend to learn. I learned how to roll joints and cigs, I can learn cigars. I do not want to pay for ready made cigars anymore.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I intend to learn. I learned how to roll joints and cigs, I can learn cigars. I do not want to pay for ready made cigars anymore.

youtube is your friend.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I am about half done picking this year's tobacco crop. Here's a little eye candy for you addicts out there. This variety is called Monte Calme Yellow.

I also planted Piloto Cubano, which is usually a cigar filler, and Golden Burley, a fine producer of early, large leaves that cure to a beautiful yellow tan color, and Moldovan 456, normally used as a "turkish" or "oriental" addition in some cigarette blends but the leaves cure to a beautiful light tan and get pretty big. Connecticut Broadleaf, which was good last year but didn't do so great for me this year. Also some Big Gem and Yellow Leaf, two old school varieties not widely grown today, and the results I got were meh. The bugs hit my bakky hard this year, before I started spraying with BT and Spinosad. Had aphids too but they didn't do a lot of damage.

I might plant again for a fall crop, but just the Monte Calme, Golden Burley, and Piloto Cubano. Otherwise, next spring.

<EDIT> notice the tape measure on the upper leaf. 29 big fat inches. Woo-HOO! 18" wide!

 

[FarmerTan]

Yeah we have two shops in the French Quarter where you can watch the rollers, and buy fresh, or straight off the bench fresh, or aged. It never occurred to me to try to roll my own until a couple weeks ago I saw a vid on youtube that inspired me.

I am on the porch now, with laptop, bottle of tawny port, cutter, lighter, and dog rocket. I know it won't smoke as nice as after a couple weeks in the humidor to let the mosture migrate but I still anticipate a decent smoke. The geckos are out, the breeze is nice and balmy, and the crickets and cicadas are making symphony noises. The sounds of the city are all around but they just sort of blend in with nature. Ship's whistle on the river. Tug's toot on Industrial canal. Trains switching a couple blocks away. Neighbor taking the trash out. Truck making contented rusting sounds. Now, time to pour, sip, cut, and light.

You sound like a modern day Samuel Clemens my friend. A poet. Thank you for the mental vacation...

 

[Slash McCoy]

Here is what's left of my tobacco harvest of 2022. I lost a lot to worms while it was hanging. Lost a lot to mold, from hanging it improperly. Rolled a little bit, gave away a few pounds to cig and pipe smoking friends.What's left is about 17 lbs of basically all mixed filler.

I opened a couple of bags and let the leaf air a little. The aroma after being bagged all winter and into the summer is unexpectedly intoxicating, very exotic, nutty, fruity, resinous, a hint of pine needles and jasmine. Mrs. Monster even likes the smell. A light and joyous aroma, pleasant and surprising. Meanwhile about 80% of this years crop is in the barn. It's not much, probably about 5lbs cured, but there will be some wrappers in there, this year. I will pick the last of it in a week or two. Planting some seeds next week in case I go for a second crop. I am leaning toward just Piloto Cubano and Golden Burley. I have a good feeling about that combination.

The Moldovan, Burley, and Monte Calme are all curing to a nice yellowish light tan color. The leaves are a little mottled, most of them, but I think the color will blend and smooth out as they age. Maybe 1/4 of the crop has wrapper and binder potential. The Big Gem and Yellow Leaf will not be planted again. Next year I will try the CTBL again in the back bed where it did fairly good last year. The side bed just doesn't seem to be a place that CTBL likes. I know the CTBL is a good race and has a lot of potential but the GB was much more robust, and a nicer color, nicer leaf texture IMHO, and the Monte Calme threw much bigger leaves. I may end up dropping the CTBL, Need to smoke some cigars rolled in the other varieties before I commit fully.

I am really curious how the Moldovan will taste as a wrapper and binder. Nice looking leaf, but if the flavor or aroma clashes with the fillers, it's outta there. Plus, if I can't get down to just two varieties, I will settle for three. Four is just too much for the scale of my operation. If there is a fall crop, it will only be a dozen plants or so. There is not much point in me growing too big of a surplus. Fewer plants means I can take better care of them and better care of the product.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

This is wild. From rolling a few to becoming a farmer!

 

[duke762]

I'm really impressed Slash! Extremely cool!

 

[fathandle]

From WLT I ordered August 30 and got it today. 3 lbs. Criollo seco, 3 lbs. Criollo viso, 2 lbs. Criollo ligero, and 1 lb. of Rene ligero. They threw in a rolling tray and a leaf of Connecticut wrapper and Ecuador habano viso. Looks good. I have work to do.

I bought a chavela or knife and have a rolling cutter like pictured in this thread coming. Bought a bamboo cutting board, so I am ready to go. Also have a 56 x 7" mold coming. I did not order wrapper as I want to concentrate on the basics now and might not even want to mess with a wrapper.

 

[duke762]

I've been fascinated with cigar rolling ever since I saw Jimmy Stewart whip one up on the porch, in the movie Shenandoah. I have no cigar knowledge or taste in cigars. I really like Sweet Janes and other sweetened tip cigars. That being said, after seeing this thread I now own big leaves of tobacco from LeafOnly and plan on experimenting.

Anyone ever tried to sweeten their own tips? I'd sure like to know how they give the Sweet Janes such a long lasting sweetness.

 

[fathandle]

I use honey to seal the cigar, that might work.

 

[fathandle]

This is 7 inches long with 56 ring gauge or 7/8" diameter. .65 oz weight. No wrapper. Criollo 98 all the way. Binder and one filler leaf seco, 2 viso, 1 ligero. I use honey to seal it up. Used paper to mold it even though I have a 7x56 mold. Set it in the sun 3 hours to dry and now smoking it. It would be straighter if I used the mold and being in the sun I think warps it a bit.

I find it as enjoyable as an Upmann 1844 so for $1.70 I get a $10 smoke experience. I suppose the Upmann is the better smoke but for enjoyment, not a big difference. For sure it keeps up with the Oliva O cigars I have, which would cost me around $9 for this size.

 

[fathandle]

This is about as big as I make them. Sometimes the leaf I use is larger and I may need to use two leaves to properly bind the cigar. I am only using 1 ligero, 2 viso and 1 seco to bind, sometimes 2 if I have to. I get bombers like this once in a while. 1" x 9"

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

Slash:
Not I but I once saw Jimmy Stewart roll his own.

“He [rolled] his cigar and sat back at peace with the world;…”. Evelyn Waugh