DIY Tobacco Press V2

The Death Press 2.0 is in the works. I don't think I'll be making another batch of Black Death, but I would not have made this without the Black Sails thread. This one is flush and square, and has a 2" x 6" surface area. According to Price's computation, this should be perfect for about 7 ounces of 'baccy.

To solve the problem of getting the plug out, I'm just not going to glue the walls to the base. I'll just unscrew the 2 screws connecting the base to the walls, and the plug will be able to pop right out of the mold.

Here are the cut pieces minus the base.

I don't know if I'll have time to finish it later tonight. So I might have to finish it tomorrow. I just need some pre-drills and some screws. I also need to go out and get a couple more C clamps so I can do more than one batch at a time. This is just a mock setup.

This is awesome. Excited to see what this ends up turning out.

Well done, Erik. Looks great. "Death Press". It has a ring to it!

I was fairly distracted this week, so I didn't get the press done until this morning. Still, pretty simply thrown together with leftover 3/4" hickory flooring. The interior dimensions are 2" x 6" x 2.5". I didn't use any wood glue this time so that I can just unscrew the base screws and pop the plug out of the bottom of the mold. I'll probably toss some blend together and load it up tonight.

Senshi said:

This is awesome. Excited to see what this ends up turning out.

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Riff Raff said:

Well done, Erik. Looks great. "Death Press". It has a ring to it!

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Thanks, guys!

I loaded up V2 tonight with a bogus batch of Black Death. It has a hefty helping of red Cavendish Virginias in it, along with dark spiced rum instead of cognac this time.


The batch dry,


The batch wet with dark rum.


Fitting it in the mold


Getting ready for the cover.

Placing the cover on.


C-clamps.


The waiting begins...

Very cool. Now I have a question. When pressing, do you periodically increase the pressure as time goes by? I know when curing perique, the jack presses are periodically tightened to make sure constant pressure is applied. Will you be doing something similar?

Riff Raff said:

Very cool. Now I have a question. When pressing, do you periodically increase the pressure as time goes by? I know when curing perique, the jack presses are periodically tightened to make sure constant pressure is applied. Will you be doing something similar?

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I did that until I couldn't tighten it anymore (after a few days) with the first batch from the Black Sails thread. I plan to do the same with this batch. This batch gurgled more when tightening the clamps, so I decided not to tighten it as much right off the bat. It's still pretty darn snug, but I could torque it down a bit more throughout the next few days.

I'm just winging this stuff, though. I've done a slight amount of research, but I'm mostly just following what was mentioned in the Black Sails thread and shooting from the hip.

Claudel Xerxes said:

I did that until I couldn't tighten it anymore (after a few days) with the first batch from the Black Sails thread. I plan to do the same with this batch. This batch gurgled more when tightening the clamps, so I decided not to tighten it as much right off the bat. It's still pretty darn snug, but I could torque it down a bit more throughout the next few days.

I'm just winging this stuff, though. I've done a slight amount of research, but I'm mostly just following what was mentioned in the Black Sails thread and shooting from the hip.

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A tried and true strategy, actually. Remember that the microwave oven was made after a mistake was made when using magnetrons for radars!

Riff Raff said:

A tried and true strategy, actually. Remember that the microwave oven was made after a mistake was made when using magnetrons for radars!

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I guess I'm on the right track, then! I would love to be able to enhance my tobacco and cook my food at the same time,

Riff Raff said:

Very cool. Now I have a question. When pressing, do you periodically increase the pressure as time goes by? I know when curing perique, the jack presses are periodically tightened to make sure constant pressure is applied. Will you be doing something similar?

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Yes, Bill. As the tobacco compresses over the first few days, you have to torque it down a little bit periodically. After about 4-5 days, you're at about the maximum density you can create by hand cranking, which is just about perfect. (I've seen youtube videos of a guy who uses a hydraulic press, and the tobacco looks like a shard of glass when he's done. Umm, no.)

The two versions of Cpatain Packer's Black Death are going to be veritable Lat bombs. I can't wait to try one. When I tried the same mix around 1990 (before I moved to Texas and after having read David Poyer's book The Circle) it almost killed me. I need to hit up Half Price Books to see if I can find that book, for old time's sake.

I've flipped mine upside down a few times. It's amazing how much liquid flows from it when it's inverted.

Really nice tutorial. I am a huge fan of pressed tobacco so I can't wait to see the end results.

rockclimber said:

Really nice tutorial. I am a huge fan of pressed tobacco so I can't wait to see the end results.

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Thanks!

If you haven't already, then you should check out the Black Sails thread that inspired all of this madness in the first place.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/495579-Black-Sails

oc_in_fw said:

The two versions of Cpatain Packer's Black Death are going to be veritable Lat bombs. I can't wait to try one. When I tried the same mix around 1990 (before I moved to Texas and after having read David Poyer's book The Circle) it almost killed me. I need to hit up Half Price Books to see if I can find that book, for old time's sake.

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The sample of the first batch that I have pressing tasted very mild for my preferences before the batch was pressed. We'll see what it's like after a bit of curing and two weeks of pressing.

oc_in_fw said:

The two versions of Cpatain Packer's Black Death are going to be veritable Lat bombs. I can't wait to try one. When I tried the same mix around 1990 (before I moved to Texas and after having read David Poyer's book The Circle) it almost killed me. I need to hit up Half Price Books to see if I can find that book, for old time's sake.

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Is The Circle a book worth reading?

Claudel Xerxes said:

Is The Circle a book worth reading?

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I thought so at the time. It is the first (in the storyline) of the Ensign Lenson series. I read the second one, then working two jobs got in the way of reading for a while. It is set in the post Viet Nam war navy, and some of the characters are really shady. Poyer was ex-Navy.