Casing your own tobacco.

[dpm802]

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I just recently got back into RYO cigarettes for the economy of it ... but I'm also getting a better, smoother, more flavorful smoke than I can buy in commercial cigarettes.

I get a Turkish house blend at my local tobacco shop. $12.50 for a half-pound. Unfortunately, the name-brand cans like 150g of Drum or Bali-Shag are around $30, due to taxation. So generic house brands it is.

I like the Turkish, but I'm interested in spicing it up a little. Nothing too fancy, maybe a wine or whiskey soak.

Can you treat pre-shredded tobacco, or does it work best with whole leaf?

 

[Altreac]

On image hosting: I appreciate the input, I'll keep looking into it. I have a couple TB cloud space, so if I can host from it it'll be good. I have space in my gallery currently, so I have some time to figure it out. Most certainly thank you.

Absolutely I'll post my press. I'm honestly just trying to be reserved about my pic hosting.

For Latikia, I've found an alternate source. whole leaf tobacco.com. Again, no affiliation and I've had the most excellent service from Leafonly.com. But... Wholeleaftobacco.com has different leaves. My next order I'm going to order from them. Their 8 leaf sampler pack only has one cross-over leaf from Leafonly.com and add the Latikia on top it'll be about $200 USD for 1# Latikia and 3.5# of 8 x 0.5# whole leaf samples (shipped to Nova Scotia). I plan on doing the same thing with those tobaccos when I get them as well... But the wallet is only so elastic.
I contacted them and Latikia falls under the same whole leaf regulations for shipping. Same with Perique.
Cavendish on the other hand I believe counts as manufactured tobacco, so it's taxed at a 'much' higher rate.

Kk. Next question on treating tobaccos. Keep in mind that most of my knowledge is theoretical...

I've seen almost every variation of repurposing tobacco you can imaging.
-mixing factory blends
-mixing/ageing factory blends
-ageing factory blends.
Plus variants on the above with stoving and streaming and casing and recasing.

The above again plus pressing etc.

So my answer would pretty much be... Do whatever you want, and if it turns out well.. Do it again.

A couple things I'd avoid from reading: don't freeze your tobacco. Very dry tobacco doesn't press well.

The general consensus I've gathered is that any tobacco that has been heated (I suspect 165f may be a key number here) tends to age less well because the bacterial flora has been sterilized.

Tobaccos with more sugars (Virginia and Oriental) tend to age better.

Processed tobaccos like Latikia, Cavendish and Perique supposedly do not do much age, but meld with other tobaccos over time.

I'm still personally researching casing specifically myself.
But for the most part anything goes.

 

[Altreac]

My press:
'5.7" pollen press' from the Bay.

When I got it I tossed in whatever table scraps of my leftover cigarette blend and the remaining touch of the Perique (from above) and pressed it for 2 hours. It was dry going in so I spayed a little distilled water in as well.

It actually smoked ok. I've smoked my cigarette blend in a pipe and didn't really like it. The Perique straight is a chore to smoke alone. 2 hour pressed scrap tobacco blend... Was improved and too not bad.

The press is listed as 5.7". I stuffed in 30 grams using the plunger to pack it down to fit.

I don't know the maximum capacity yet. But an ounce is working very well.

I'd post more, but it's in use. The body is a cylinder. The bottom cap screws on and has flat edges you could use a wrench on. The top cap is threaded. The threaded rod goes through, T-bar handle. Muscle for compression.

This one is steel. Not aluminum.

 

[Altreac]

In the middle pic, if you look closely:

The plunger is actually extended past the cap threading. You are actually seeing the plunger.
It makes it really easy to push your plug through. If you keep parchment paper or whatever on the bottom cap it's almost zero maintenance.

 

[Kilroy6644]

That's a nifty setup. I might have to get one.

 

[Altreac]

I'd recommend it. They're not expensive and you can experiment with small batches.

They're not marketed for tobacco, but hey, its a tool to accompany a purpose, right?

Google 't pollen press' to find 'em. I recommend steel over aluminum.

 

[Altreac]

Update:

Uncharacteristically, I'm not writing a lot right now.

This is my first result.
1 oz Light Fire Cured ribbon cut tobacco compressed from 18 - 28 March.

Also there's the full press opened up.

I haven't smoked this yet, I've jarred most of it but I broke off a little chunk to sample.

I've got 2 more uncompressed jars to do. 9 out of 11 tobaccos there, 1 of 11 compressed and jarred.

Project coming along. Pretty happy with the initial results though.

 

[captaincaveman]

Wow, that looks excellent!

 

[Altreac]

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with the results so far.
This type is an additive tobacco versus a base, but I loaded my Canadian flue cured into the press after I posted those pics.
A straight Virginia may smoke nicely by itself after pressing. The Canadian Virginia is half my cigarette blend (by weight), so I 'know' I like the stuff.

After my first round of bowls here, I'm a little 'trigger shy' smoking a few of these leaves themselves. I decided I'm going to do it, so I'm going to do it and it's valuable experience.

I'm excited about this next plug for sure. The Light Fire Cured is good tobacco, and I’ve got some ideas for it, but I'm thinking it’s a 5% by weight addition to a blend versus something you smoke a bowl of straight.

I tried my first 'new' custom blend cigarette today too. I made 4 smokes:

Vera Cruz Elegante tubes
70/30 Virginia/other.
Virginia mix- 50/50 Canadian flue cured/Brightleaf Virginia smooth
Other mix - 50/50 Izmir Oriental/Fronto dark air cured.

It turned out to be a very tasty cigarette. Virginia overtones with a 'chocolatey/spicy' flavour.

It was a bit too spicy for my taste but if I go 70/30 Izmir/Fronto for the 'other' portion I may have a new viable cigarettes blend.

I want a couple pieces of info for me at the year's end on this experiment:
Personal familiarity with the taste of the tobacco leaves (raw, raw compressed, raw aged 1 year, raw compressed aged 1 year). Notes on each bowl listed above (44 entries). And the same breakdown for a couple cigarette blends and a couple of basic pipe blends.

Then…after all that is bottled up I’ll give a shot at bracketing a couple casing recipes.

 

[Altreac]

I've created a public access Album on my OneDrive where I'll host all these pics as well.
I'll give a shot at linking the images later, but give a shot at viewing:

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=...&id=EA5D85DF3966F578!175&cid=EA5D85DF3966F578

Let me know if you can't access it. I'll see if I can fix it. It should be good though. I'll put all my pics in there, as well as post them when I shoot them now.

 

[Altreac]

I finally got around to smoking a quarter bowl of the compressed Light Fire Cured tobacco. There was a very noticeable, favourable result. It was much smoother and sweeter. It was still rather spicy, but a lot of the bite was cut back.

Very encouraging for sure.

Still not a tobacco I'd smoke itself, but this time around it was approaching pleasant.

Good aroma and aftertaste, earthy and spicy, but smoother and sweeter.
There's a hint of the 'campfire' scent left on my clothes now too.

 

[Altreac]

Round two out of the press:

Canadian Flue Cured Virginia

The entire album is available in full quality here: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=EA5D85DF3966F578!175&authkey=!AKEy7ZMiXhm-exA&ithint=album,.

First run image hosting from my OneDrive. Let me know if you've got any issues viewing content anywhere.

Eventually I'm going to type up my Excel sheet and link it to this thread. For now I'm just keeping ink and paper notes.

Still have 2 ribbon cuts to bottle (I know...I'm being lazy...lol). I'll load up the press again with something else and get that going...and think about doing the last two ribbon cuts. I swear...I'll have them done by the time I'm done bottling all the compressed plugs.

 

[captaincaveman]

Those plugs just look so great. Keep bumping this thread occasionally, that way I won't forget, and maybe I'll have a few bucks to throw at one of those pollen presses one day.

 

[Altreac]

I put the limited edition American Flue Cured Virginia into the press for this round. I wasn't a fan of the straight standard American Flue Cured. Don't get me wrong, it's a great tobacco, but the Marlboro flavour isn't my thing so much. The LE American FC though, now this leaf I can get behind. It's still reminiscent of a Marley, but sweeter and smoother. I'd almost say out of all this new batch of leaves, the American Flue Cured Limited Edition leaf was the finest smoke just straight ribbon cut whole leaf. I can't wait for this one to get out of the press.

I put a shaving of this last plug of Canadian Virginia aside, it's not so nice outdoors right now, so I'll have wait until it's a bit nicer out.

As for bumping this thread, I'll drop a line in (at least) every week as I'm pulling this first set of plugs.

I really want to start pressing blended plugs, but I'm also dedicated to this experiment. Once I've got all my leaves set up for this experiment, I'm going to do a couple custom blends in the same way.

For this part, I'd be more than happy to do a couple other blends as well. I don't know a thing about exporting tobacco, but if anyone wants in on this experiment (with the consent of Administration of course), I'd also be willing to work something out with people...within the confines of the law of course.

Although, I am hoping that with the information I'm working out, others will be able to build on what I'm working on here. I'd love to eventually build some sort of community sourced data base on leaves, blends, distributors, processes, methods and recipes.

I'll make what I'm doing available, for free, and also slowly start working my way towards such a thing, but anyone who wants in on this project is more than welcome. Either way, just kinda thinking out loud. I want to streamline all my projects like this, and I'm working on the resources and interface to do it.

Thanks for the positive input, it's very encouraging. I'll try not to spam too much! You have no idea how hard it is to restrain myself in posting and hosting etc. I'm just enthusiastic about stuff, please forgive me.

 

[Altreac]

Latest from the press:

Left: Freshly cracked press. Figured you may like to see what I see as soon as it's open.
Right: Obligatory scale shot. See I'm learning. I added an 'actual' scale instead of a Bic. Can't leave the Bic out though, it would just be wrong.

Slightly different angle. You can see that vein of oils running through from top to bottom.

You can really start seeing the oils saturating the tobacco with this leaf. This is the most visible permeation I've seen for my 1 week compression runs. I'd wager that with either more (mechanical or hydraulic) pressure, or more time, this leaf would come together wonderfully. Luckily for me, I haven't smoked it all yet. This one may get a second plug pressed for longer at the end of this.

Full Album: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=EA5D85DF3966F578!175&authkey=!AKEy7ZMiXhm-exA&ithint=album%2c


This one smells fantastic. Just pure, sweet Virginia aroma.

We got 4 inches of snow last night...so....who knows....this one may have me cave and smoke a part bowl indoors. It just smells too good.

 

[Altreac]

​Comparison:

Left to right: Light Fire Cured, American Flue Cured, Canadian Flue Cured. All 1 oz. All pressed 1 week.

 

[Landri]

I need to get me one of those pollen press.
Great thread by the way!

 

[Altreac]

Thanks very much.

Really, the results speak for themselves. I can't take too much credit.
Between some very excellent quality tobacco leaves from LeafOnly.com and a tool designed to multiply mechanical compression, the rest is just a cheap dude trying to find a way to smoke good tobacco for as cheaply as possible.

Since the industry won't share secrets with us 'peons', I suppose we'll have to figure it out ourselves.

And so far, I'm having a $h1tl0@d of fun doing it.

What I really personally hope for, is like this: after a year and change, I release all my completed notes (I'll release my running notes way before then...but after I get at least more of this downrange and the compunction to transfer my notes to digital) that someone actually goes out, replicates some of this with the numbers I'll provide, re-posts a success story, adds to our collective knowledge base and we all get to have a Wide-Area custom-blended smoke. Cause that would be easy after everything else. All for fun and good times.

I've never done anything like this, but I'm doing my very best to fully document the entire process. I really hope that you all can see the quality coming out of this press. I'm only using the stock camera on a Samsung Galaxy S4 for images, all stock images. I will not doctor these shots in any way. The comparison above is just a side by side crop, cut and paste from original images.
For reference, to those who are interested. The tobacco plug photography: The Light Fire Cured is shot in very bright mid afternoon sunlight. The other shots on my tobacco table are from a 60W incandescent (I know...not fluorescent or LED...I won't buy them anymore, but I still have a few hanging around that may as well be consumed as they exist. Wasteful otherwise).
The 60W bulb is about 10" from the subjects.
I 'always' take 3 shots in rapid succession of everything. Pick the best, delete the other two and move on.
Execute the principles of marksmanship for each 3 shot bracket; one breath one 'shot'. comfortable/firm grip, steady point of aim (if you close your eyes, or turn your head, when you look back your target should be very close to where you left it without wandering off). [Trigger rules don't apply...lol, sorry]

I just wish there was some way to share 'some' of this experience with you folks.

I guess to be fair, I'll make an update on the pollen press. I had a bit of an issue with the handle. I stripped 'something' in it. Fixed it up with some JB Weld no problem, but if you look at some of the pics I'm posting here, you'll see there are two colours of JB Weld on there. That's due to me being stupid. It should have worked the first time, except I stupidly forgot to score the sections of the handle where I was sticking it to. So...you know...adhesive on smooth metal under pressure...it just doesn't go so well. So, the darker patch is just a preventative patch. I just scored the original JB weld's surface, and the area around the original patch on the handle and re-applied more adhesive. This way, the first patch, which was just starting to lift 'should' stay put now. If not, I'll grind it all off and patch it again.

The other thing I so far haven't to date really highlighted; I've been getting a bit of metal transfer from the plunger. Now, this doesn't really bother me too much personally, because we're burning the tobacco anyways. I'm either smoking it in a bowl or a filtered tube, so I'm not too concerned. Nothing gets to temperatures hot enough to evaporate anything, so didn't really do anything about it. Besides, with the parchment paper on the top, it wasn't really a big deal.

Either way, I 'think' I've come up with a fix that I put in use this time. Stupidly...I forgot it take a picture of it.

What I did was take the plunger, placed it on a plastic plant pot base tray thingy, scored an outline with a penknife and took a pair of scissors and cut it out. Very slowly and very carefully. I made sure it was too big to start, and trimmed little by little until it was a perfect fit. Look at me again...too many words. Make fitted circle out of plastic plant pot base. As carefully as you care to.

Then, instead of 1 piece of parchment paper, I made 2 circles of wax paper. After I stuffed the tobacco in the tube, I drop in the PLASTIC cap first, then the 2 x WAX circles. This way I've got flexible, but hard plastic on the tobacco itself, then two wax paper discs to act as lube between the plunger and the plastic circle.

I'll do my best to remember to photograph it all coming out of the press. Paper releasing from the press etc. I suppose, if I forget, I've got a few more rounds to capture it all.

The next round of tobacco going into the press. (Burley. Not aged, etc...just straight up standard 'Burley')

'1 oz' I've been aiming for 30 grams and calling it an ounce. Precice enough for this experiment. You can safely assume that the weight going into the press will be 29-31 grams +/- 0.1g. So we'll say I put 30 grams or 1 oz in the press every time.

Left: This is as far as I am physically capable of compressing the tobacco with no mechanical assistance. I push it down with the plunger, I leaned on it with my full body weight. I won't say I'm the strongest person out there, but I am 33 year old male, and active duty/regular force soldier and on again/off again athlete. Needless to say I can apply 'some' force. Enough to require repairs to my handle anyhow.

Right: This is as far as I can squeeze the press initially. Over time, as things meld, you get a bit more compression, but only in small increments. (I 'may' have been showing off a touch, as I intended to show the pre and post press 'squish' but this is the most I've been able to compress a batch in the first go, and overall I think. The biggest difference this time is that I think the leaf was a bit damper than any of the rest so far. The Burley leaf is really, really, paper thin and dries out fast. So I sort of over-hydrated it and probably didn't wait quite long enough drying it before stuffing it in the press. It wasn't sopping wet or anything, but it was definitely in the 'damp' range.

Album: https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%...5D85DF3966F578

 

[Altreac]

More motivation to go agricultural whole leaf tobacco regardless of your source:

Comparison of tailor-made commercial cigarette versus a RYO cigarette tube.

There 'used' to be no difference. But then packs started to have 'new, innovative' pack design.

 

[Altreac]

Pulled the Burley from the press today.


The little plastic cap I cut did an awesome job. Now I think I gotta make one for the bottom too. See below:

Upon opening the press.

After removing the parchment paper on the bottom. It looks like I'll need some plastic down there too.

This is after I removed the plug from the press. With the plastic separated from the plunger by to circles of wax paper, it worked perfectly. I don't know if it was this tobacco was damper than other rounds I've done, or if the lubrication between the 2 sheets of wax paper helped, but I got more compression on this plug than the rest.

Top of the plug came through super clean this time. Very happy with that result.