Can you nuke a flake?

If a flake is too moist and a person is impatient can you microwave a flake. I'm trying to figure out how I'll prepare Bob's Chocolate Flake when it arrives. I hope Mr. Price may comment here as he seems to have a lot of time with this tobacco. Any other thoughts are welcome.

Thanks,

Rick

I've had good luck placing flakes on top of a lamp that is turned on - on the lamp shade wires. Gentle heat.

I don't know if it's just my personal experience, but I've found that nuking tobacco with added flavoring kind of mutes that flavoring. Maybe it evaporates in the microwave? No idea. But I'd start off doing it au naturale.

Absolutely microwave it! But only do so on 10 second intervals. I do this with Stonehaven when I'm too impatient to wait and I cube up a half flake, 10 seconds at a time makes you realize real fast how much moisture really is in some tobacco!

Thanks guys. I think I will start out " Au natural" then experiment with the lamp and microwave later. As a cigarette smoker I am finding this business of waiting for tobacco to dry gets in the way of my natural tendency towards instant gratification. I usually wanted the problem, such as it is, to have been solved yesterday due to my natural impatience.

Thanks,

Rick

I am in the non nuking group.

Planning pipes is definitely a pain sometimes.

But the juice is worth the squeeze.

You have a very solid point Sir. Your logic is flawless. Sometimes logic has nothing to do with the cogitations that happen in my fevered little mind.

Thanks,

Rick

I find planning to be difficult sometimes.

Sure, sometimes I get a good routine going and I can just do things according to schedule. For a long time I was smoking after supper. Having a very predictable schedule made it easy to schedule when I'd start drying some...depending on blend I might start it before eating, maybe as soon as I get home from work, or maybe the day before (but often it's hard to know a half hour ahead of time which blend I'll want, let alone a day ahead).

Sometimes despite my routine I have an unscheduled smoke. When I dry some, it's always at least a little more than necessary for one bowl, and it usually ends up being two to three bowls worth. I saved the extra for those unscheduled smokes. Sometimes I would specifically dry some to have available for unscheduled smokes.

The hard part is remembering to bag, label, and store it...otherwise it might end up an unidentifiable bit of ready-to-smoke tobacco. I've gotten better about it. I have a baggie full of little folded up pieces of paper, each containing a bowl's worth of unidentified ready-to-smoke that lately I've got an itch to smoke through, but I usually have an itch for a specific blend rather than an open-ended want to smoke whatever's handy.

For probably a year now I've had almost no routine at all, and the routine I do have is incompatible with immediate drying; I smoke on the drive in to work. I've been gravitating towards blends that need less drying, and for other blends I'll dry a larger amount of it at once and be very sure to bag and label it immediately after it's ready.

I think this is going to develop into just pre-drying everything that I have for current smoking, leaving only new tobacquisitions and long-term-storage at original moisture level.

Docpsycho said:

I hope Mr. Price may comment here as he seems to have a lot of time with this tobacco.
Thanks,

Rick

Click to expand...

Bob's Chocolate Flake is one of the very few aromatics that I enjoy. I've never been a nuker, but I do have the benefit of a fairly dry climate to speed the natural drying process. One thing I've done with BCF (as well as FVF and other notoriously moist-in-the-tin baccys) is to "partially pre-dry" the whole tin when I open it - pop the tin and leave the tobacco in there for a few days before transferring to a mason jar, or alternatively just lay the flakes out for a couple hours before jarring. This shortens the "I'm-waiting-for-this-damn-flake-to-dry-so-I-can-smoke" time.

With BCF, I also rub the flake out loosely when I set it out before smoking, which accelerates the process as well.

Thank you Mr. Price and Captaincaveman. By the way. I heard today is the birthday of the US Navy. Happy birthday Mr. Price. Sweepers man your brooms and sweep the deck fore and aft. A little nautical talk for your birthday Mr. Price! Thanks for your service in Uncle Sam's canoe club for the protection of our freedom.

Rick