A caveman and his pipe

[captaincaveman]

This is 100% why I love this place. We are full of men that have a vision, and can use our mind to achieve it. We are a "can do" bunch.

I'm afraid you give me far too much credit.

So anyway, the puck I took out of my press yesterday was maybe 1.5-2x the thickness of an average flake. Overnight it decompressed and fluffed up to 1.5-2x the size it was when I took it out, losing its can-bottom-contoured shape and a lot of its stiffness.

I broke off a piece and it was still cohesive enough to fold-and-stuff, but in the pipe it was scarcely different than a good packing of loose tobacco. Remember how I was hoping not only that the flavors would marry but that the harshness would go away? Success! It was so very smooth.

It tasted great. It also behaved exceptionally well. No excess relighting. It burned to a fine ash with no dottle whatsoever.

 

[captaincaveman]

I put together another "press" and started another blend.
~25% Latakia
~25% John Bull
~25% Mac Baren Virginia #1 Ready Rubbed
~10% Sir Walter Raleigh (which, BTW, is also in the semi-aromatic blend I started yesterday, but I forgot to list it)
~10% Modern Virginia/Latakia mixture (the leftover unpressed amount)
...and just a pinch of Captain Black Dark.

Yeah, that only adds up to ~95% + a pinch. The other ~5% is probably just dark matter.

I mixed it in the same bag that I used for last night's blend so it may have picked up some residual Jim Beam and traces of the various ingredients I used.

 

[Docpsycho]

Steven Hawking says "mmmmmmm 5% dark matter". Possibly star stuff. All kidding aside Captain. It sounds like your hitting it out of the park there.

Rick

 

[captaincaveman]

We'll see...these blends could turn out to have been wastes of tobacco that will have to get dispersed in small percentages into future blends to use them up, but I'm hoping that with them (and future blends) I'll have half the success that I had with my first pressing attempt. I smoked that one again today and it was just lovely.

Semi-random thought: I was thinking...instead of using ill-defined terms like "English" and "Balkan" we should just use the same format used for other non-aromatics. Just as we have VA, VaPer, VaBur, etc, why not LaVa, LaOr, LaTur, LaVaOr, etc.

 

[Slickside]

Great job, capt! You are blazing a trail for the rest of us to follow. Make sure you note everything down. You don't want to creat an awesome Frankenblend, then forget how you got there. I'm about a year away from trying to do some blends of my own. Glad to see you are journaling this.

 

[TexLaw]

It's the dark matter that's gonna put this try over the top. You'll have to name that blend "Dark Matter," so you will have a short name to refer to it while trying to figure out what in the world you did to make it in the first place.

 

[captaincaveman]

 

[captaincaveman]

I took the "press" apart and retrieved my puck of tobacco. It's shaped like the last slice of cranberry sauce. It smells like a delicious English. I'll smoke some tomorrow.

Then I put together a melange including: ~40% Latakia, ~20% Black & Gold, a little bit of some mildly vanilla P&C Best Of The Rest, some Pipa Vanilla Cavendish, some Virginia Gold Vanilla, some Captain Black Dark, a tiny bit of Newminster, some Borkum Riff Bourbon, and I don't remember what else. I sauced it with Jim Beam to provide a little moisture to help marry flavors. The end result was a lot more tobacco than intended and I had trouble assembling the "press", which previously barely fit together anyway. I ought to use a larger C-clamp, but my big C-clamps are out in the truck and it's raining and cold out there. This blend is probably gonna suck, and I made way too much of it...oh well.

Laro Melange #1 (or perhaps LAM1, Latakia Aromatic Melange #1 ) has been released from the press.

Puck note is English with an undercurrent of bourbon. I'm not sure I can pick up the aros. The wax paper had a little bit of brown goop. I just picked some of the loose fringes off the edge and they were a little damp too and my thumb is a little brown. I'll probably have to dry this blend before smoking. That's no surprise.

Dark Matter stays in its press for one more day, I think.

 

[captaincaveman]

Sliced off a bowl or two worth.

It's drying under my lamp now.

 

[TexLaw]

I'm on the edge of my seat!

 

[captaincaveman]

That was pretty good. The first couple minutes were extremely mild, then v-tec kicked in yo for 10 to 15 minutes of very nice sweetness, followed by the rest of the smoke being a very mild and pleasant tobacco flavor.

 

[Docpsycho]

Those slices look delish. I can't wait to see and hear how the "Dark Matter" turns out.

Rick

 

[captaincaveman]

I'm trying to be as patient as possible on Dark Matter. I'm hoping I can hold out until I finish that first batch of Latakia + Modern Virginia (maybe that should be called "MoVaLa"?), which really shouldn't be too long. That way I can re-use the pouch that I have for it.

Speaking of storage, I need a Dunhill-style tin for my puck of LAM1. I think I'm going to evict my Dunhill Early Morning Pipe from its tin and use that. Then I can keep a razor blade safely in the tin with the tobacco for slicing off a bit. I had to put the razor blade in an empty pill bottle to bring it with me this morning since the puck is in a ziploc. It's on my dashboard now drying so I can smoke it after lunch.

 

[Docpsycho]

Have you been rubbing out those flakes of MoVaLa or folding and stuffing them? I know you prefer your baccy to be somewhat dry.

Rick

 

[captaincaveman]

MoVaLa refluffed itself within 12 hours of removing it from the press, but didn't totally rub itself out. While it was still formed I would pinch off a bit and fold and stuff and that behaved better than folding and stuffing a real flake. Now it has mostly fallen apart but there are still some proper sized pinches to fold and stuff. Eventually I'll be down to shake, much of which I suspect didn't really get pressed because it fit in the margin between can diameters, and I might roll that forward into the next blend.

So far, LAM1 is the only one to which I added moisture. MoVaLa and Dark Matter both went in very dry, and of course MoVaLa came out dry and ready to smoke.

Also, I found a smaller, stiffer can from Campell's condensed soup. It nests nicely in the previous inside can. Smaller cans would help with low-volume blends, but also the reduced diameter means increased pressure with the same force from the clamp. Actually I could press two blends at once with more layers of cans..though at the moment I have two extra sets without that strategy. I have 3 sets of cans (not including the new smaller can) and 5 clamps, but only one blend (Dark Matter) is pressed right now, with two clamps on it.

 

[captaincaveman]

So, I smoked some of that LAM1 after lunch. It wasn't as good as the first time. I got that sweetness burst for only a few puffs about 25 minutes in. The rest of the time was ok but nothing to write home about.

 

[captaincaveman]

I evicted EMP from its tin, placing LAM1 and a razor blade for slicing it there instead.

 

[captaincaveman]

I had LAM1 again today. It was kinda crappy, should be called Lame1.

I should cut from a different area on the puck and see if it's better.

 

[Kilroy6644]

I've got a practical question: how are you extracting the pucks? I've got some cans and a c-clamp ready, but I want to make sure I can get the tobacco out once I put it in.

 

[captaincaveman]

I've got wax paper under it. I patiently work it, pulling up with little tugs going around the circle, then getting the spoon part of the Czech tool in the gap as it comes around and working/prying. The procedure is a little too fiddly and needs work. I should place something stronger under it, perhaps a 1 inch wide strip of denim or some thin sheet metal (beer can material maybe). A decently thick plastic bag might even work.

Since the thread is bumped: I haven't been smoking lately. I've felt a non-stop twinge of a cold threatening to come on and have wanted to avoid my own second-hand smoke. I smoked once or twice this month. I've still got a blend pressing, it's been a few weeks now and I guess it'll be a few more. I should give the clamps a crank now.