Pipe tobacco topping

[JohnM76]

Hello,
I am interested in creating a topping for some of my home grown tobacco and I cannot seem to find detailed information on how pipe tobacco topping is made or used. I have some organic vanilla beans that are over 5 years old sitting in glass tubes that I intend to use and I don't want to ruin them. I would also like to stick to a more natural approach using honey over processed sugar. Any links to useful information would be greatly appreciated. I have tried several terms and searched two separate forums without much luck.
Thanks in advance

 

[deluxestogie]

Here is a link from our Index of Key Forum Threads (menu bar above).

Info On casing

Just a little filler for you all that are playing with casing. There are two types of "sugars" used for casing. These are Reducing Sugars and Non Reducing Sugars. Reducing Sugars: These include glucose, fructose and invert sugar. These are considered more chemically reactive than non...

fairtradetobacco.com

I would suggest that your home grown tobacco be fully finished (color-cured, aged or kilned) and smokable, prior to experimenting with a casing. For your trials, do tiny test batches. You just might ruin a vanilla bean or two, trying to find the result you hope for.

Do report your results.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

From experience I can tell you it takes a good 3-6 months to make a full flavored vanilla extract. Also, based on some recent experiences I’ve found that home extracts of herbs/spices tend to be disappointing (just can’t seem to make them strong enough for my liking as tobacco seems to have a peculiar way of diminishing the flavor once applied).

My next batch of experiments I’m going to really finely grind the spices into a powder and mix directly onto the leaf. I’d suggest you try something similar with a 1” piece of a vanilla bean and see how that works! I want to try the same with a batch of cavendish I have.

 

[CobGuy]

I just happened to be watching this recently and thought you might like it:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y30FA7MD3fM

 

[deluxestogie]

...finely grind the spices into a powder and mix directly onto the leaf...

I suggest a burn test of each solid, prior to directly mixing it into tobacco that will be burned. Some delightfully smelling spices really reek when the physical version is burned.

Bob

 

[Alpine]

Very interesting video! Thanks CobG!

Pier

 

[GreenDragon]

I suggest a burn test of each solid, prior to directly mixing it into tobacco that will be burned. Some delightfully smelling spices really reek when the physical version is burned.

Bob

Very true - thanks!

 

[Charly]

Yes, good video that shows some «natural» casing.
By the way, it was already posted in this thread : c-ds-golden-days-of-yore-recipe

 

[GreenDragon]

Yeah, but you don’t see them actually applying it to some tobacco though, do ya...

I think they really used it in the punch at their holiday party.

 

[JohnM76]

From experience I can tell you it takes a good 3-6 months to make a full flavored vanilla extract. Also, based on some recent experiences I’ve found that home extracts of herbs/spices tend to be disappointing (just can’t seem to make them strong enough for my liking as tobacco seems to have a peculiar way of diminishing the flavor once applied).

My next batch of experiments I’m going to really finely grind the spices into a powder and mix directly onto the leaf. I’d suggest you try something similar with a 1” piece of a vanilla bean and see how that works! I want to try the same with a batch of cavendish I have.

I know it can take a while to make a good extract and my plants are just nearing the end of their life cycle so I should have plenty of time to get an extract done. I will be trying several methods of flavoring, thanks for your suggestions!

 

[CobGuy]

My next batch of experiments I’m going to really finely grind the spices into a powder and mix directly onto the leaf. I’d suggest you try something similar with a 1” piece of a vanilla bean and see how that works! I want to try the same with a batch of cavendish I have.

I've heard that this is part of the success of some of Wilke's blends ... powdered vanilla and / or honey instead of liquids.
I'll be curious to hear how your experiments go!

~Darin

 

[Leftynick]

My only successful attempt at topping a tobacco is only when I attempted vanilla tobacco using vanilla flavoring for baking. I soak my tobacco really wet with it, and pressed it. The flavor is quite good and strong. The flavoring is pg based so it doesn't mold. I then slice it into flake and stored it without drying it first. I just dry the flake when I want to smoke it so the flavor really hold well.

My current tobacco blend uses just a dash of vanilla extract to enhance the tobacco smell. It work well even when I dry to tobacco, still have just a hint of vanilla smell when smoking.

 

[PressuredLeaf]

As far as toppings/casings go, I thought I would share my experience in an attempt to create various tobacco toppings/casings. I recently decided to make some invert syrup as the basis to try a few different casing recipes. Invert syrup is easily made by boiling a 50:50 mixture of table sugar with an acid source, in my case I used lactic acid from the homebrew shop. Heating this mixture to about 240F gives you a thick golden syrup that will not crystallize.

I decided to try to make two casing sauces from some of the syrup, I used 10g of syrup in ~60ml of water as the base for both, here are the base recipes:

1. Syrup, water, 15g of toasted oak chips (1hr at 425F)
2. Syrup, water, 1.5g star anise, 10g of sassafras bark.

Both we sealed in small jars and pressure cooked for 1hr. After cooling, I but both of them in an ultrasonic bath for 1hr to see if I could get better extraction, totally overkill but why not. Both syrups were filtered using a coffee filter.

They both smell great. but man the toasted oak syrup smells extra yummy. I decided to use some of this as a base sauce for a Virginia blend. I used 20ml of the oak syrup, 20ml of bourbon, 1g of lactic acid, and 1g of licorice root extract. This was lightly sprayed on a blend of red VA, and some bright VA I aged in a charred oak barrel for a few months. I only lightly cased the leaf, and allowed it to absorb overnight. The next day I loaded it into the press, where it is currently sitting. I can tell you the unpressed leaf smelled divine, I am hoping it carries through in some way to the smoke. I am going to press it for a few more days, then vacuum pack it for a month or so to meld.

 

[Charly]

@PressuredLeaf : your recipe seems interesting, but I wonder if you are not using too many variables simultaneously in your tests ?
You might have hard time understanding which actions improve your tobacco and which ones do not.
- Your casing uses many different things,
- Your tobacco is already a blend,
- Your tobacco was aged in charred oak,
- You will press your tobacco,
- You will age your tobacco a few month in vacuum pack

Maybe you should try to save some samples at each step of your experiments ? It could help you understanding what works.

P.S. I am not saying that your recipe will not work, I hope you will get some good results, but I know that sometimes it's better to keep things simple at first

 

[PressuredLeaf]

I'll be the first to admit that I am not following good scientific procedure. That being said I am not completely flying by the seat of my pants. I am following two references I was able to dig up for ppm concentrations of various additives in pipe tobacco. The tricky part is finding out what application rates are used, and what can be excluded.

DOI 10.13140/2.1.1552.8006 and 10.1016/S0278-6915(03)00189-3 for those of you who are curious.

The sauce is really only has one ingredient completely new to me, and that would be the oak chips, other than that I have some familiarity with the other ingredients. My goal with this sauce is to add some of that oaky/bourbon nuance to the mix.

You are correct though Charly, if I were start from square one it would need to be one tobacco/ single ingredient.

 

[LivinInPiperHell]

Has anyone tried soaking spices in alcohol to make a casing/topping?

My order of star-anise, cinnamon sticks, whole aniseed & a few vanilla beans has just arrived.
I'm intending to break up the spices into Jim Beam & Bundaberg dark rum to soak for a few months.

Does quality of whiskey as a casing/topping make much of a difference in the final smoke?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

My advice is use the cheapest stuff with the strongest flavour. You won't get interesting high notes.

The only spice I recollect using is cloves which I ground up, mixed with glycerin and added directly to the tobacco.

 

[GreenDragon]

Has anyone tried soaking spices in alcohol to make a casing/topping?

My order of star-anise, cinnamon sticks, whole aniseed & a few vanilla beans has just arrived.
I'm intending to break up the spices into Jim Beam & Bundaberg dark rum to soak for a few months.

Does quality of whiskey as a casing/topping make much of a difference in the final smoke?

Yes, and it was disappointing. They contribute to the tin note, but will be almost undetectable in the actual smoke. It's very hard to get them concentrated enough using this method. I would suggest using these: https://www.lorannoils.com/ (They can commonly be bought in home-brew stores and chef supply stores also.)

All nuances of finer whiskey will be lost once the tobacco is dry enough to smoke. Just use what you have on-hand.

 

[LivinInPiperHell]

My advice is use the cheapest stuff with the strongest flavour. You won't get interesting high notes.

The only spice I recollect using is cloves which I ground up, mixed with glycerin and added directly to the tobacco.

Were you pleased with the result?

A bag of Moes Confetti had dried out a bit before I jarred it. To bring it back to case I sprayed it with a little Jim Beam [Straight because I didn't think to dilute with distilled water]
It improved the flavour & was quite popular with a couple of mates.

Bundaberg dark rum has a very distinctive taste so I think that will be a winner. [Bundaberg also has a coffee & chocolate flavoured rum that I'm keen to try]
Is it correct that I need a little PG to stop the flavour from dissipating? [Glycerine goes 'off' after a few weeks so I'm not keen to use it]

 

[LivinInPiperHell]

I just happened to be watching this recently and thought you might like it:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y30FA7MD3fM

Thanks CobGuy - I should have watched that before asking questions, lol [Only 3 mins long for those who usually avoid clicking on vids]

I'm surprised at how much sugar was used. Is that much used just for a caramel flavour?
Would a topping like that need to be diluted with distilled water before applying to tobacco?
Did not notice any PG being added to the mix. Not necessary?