First Rolls

[deluxestogie]

Here's one (almost) that appeared in a review at blindmanspuff about 5 years ago. It's from Drew Estates.

Bob

 

[yo1dog]

Hahaha looks like a cigar grenade!

 

[deluxestogie]

I'll bet that @MarcL could roll an actual, spherical cigar. He is a artist of the most challenging shapes.

Bob

 

[MarcL]

..like this OpusX?

 

[MarcL]

Here's the egg I did next to a real Egg Maduro.

 

[yo1dog]

You guys are too much

 

[Knucklehead]

Party knots

 

[yo1dog]

Second round of rolling complete. Much improved over the first batch.

I'm worried my filler was too wet this time. Hard to tell as a beginner. I'm also not sure if I rolled some significantly tighter than others, but I used the same number of leaves for each stick and some turned out almost twice the size of others. Checkout the 3rd picture. My guess is A) inconstant rolling, B) inconstant case, C) varying sized leaves. Probably some of all 3. We'll find out how well they smoke tomorrow.

Do you guys use hygometers to monitor your leaves when casing? Or you just go by feel?

Are there negative side effects from wrapper and binder being too high case (within reason)? I'd assume they'd dry out pretty fast being on the outside and having such little volume.

There are significant color variations in the wrappers on some. Checkout the top one in the 2nd picture. Looks like a chrysalis lol. Did I just not notice the leaf had that much variation? Or did I somehow change the color?

I also got @deluxestogie 's book and some Guar Gum powder in the mail today. Woo!

 

[Charly]

Nice sticks.
Quick aswers :
- rolling with too wet binder/wrapper leaves will require longer drying time
- rolling with too wet filler leaves can give too tight cigars
- leaves are not often equaly colored, some parts can have different colors.

 

[GreenDragon]

Rolling is just as much art as science, and like any Art, it takes practice to become proficient. Don't get discouraged, just keep rolling.

Every leaf is unique, and temperature and humidity change constantly. You want you filler leaf to be as dry as possible without crumbling when worked. I like to remove the midrib, them fold a piece in half. If I can hear a slight crack, it's good. If it snaps or crumbles, too dry. If it just folds nicely with a crease, it's too wet. Get into the habit of taking a test draw as soon as you put on the binder. That will immediately tell you if it's too loose or tight, and much easier to just re-roll at this point.

All leaves are variegated to a certain extent. Only small % are perfectly uniform in color. Sometimes you can cut the wrapper in such a way to minimize the color change. It also depends on the variety of wrapper leaf - some are just naturally more uniform than others. I find that the darker the leaf the less uniform they tend to be. Maybe why Ct. Shade is one of the world standards for wrappers. Anyway, I embrace the variation - it's a leaf, it's shouldn't look artificially perfect. You pay a big premium when you buy commercial cigars for those perfectly colored wrappers. Just my opinion!

 

[yo1dog]

like any Art, it takes practice to become proficient. Don't get discouraged, just keep rolling

Yup. No discouragement here. I've been quite content with my work and progress so far. All the sticks I have smoked have been enjoyable. Can't complain about that.

rolling with too wet filler leaves can give too tight cigars

I like to remove the midrib, them fold a piece in half. If I can hear a slight crack, it's good. If it snaps or crumbles, too dry. If it just folds nicely with a crease, it's too wet.

Defiantly too wet.

Get into the habit of taking a test draw as soon as you put on the binder. That will immediately tell you if it's too loose or tight, and much easier to just re-roll at this point.

Arg! I remember learning this after my first batch but forgot again. Next time!

leaves are not often equaly colored, some parts can have different colors

Anyway, I embrace the variation - it's a leaf, it's shouldn't look artificially perfect.

 

[DePasta]

High moisture can darken spots of the leaf too...as they dry they will even back out.

Filler should bend, not break
Binder should be like vinyl...not wet but flexible.
wrappers can be pretty wet but you don’t want water “puddles” on the leaf, just need to dry longer...

 

[yo1dog]

I smoked the smallest stick, a middle sized one, and the largest one.

First two were rolled too tight. Hard to draw from. Cut them in half and they were enjoyable.
Second was too loose. Burned a little hot. Smoked it slow and it was enjoyable.

Filler was defiantly too wet which allowed it to be easily compressed into a single tight clump with little airflow. The loose one was due to me over compensating for that and rolling too lightly.

High moisture can darken spots of the leaf too...as they dry they will even back out.

Yup. The colors evened out after a few days as you can see in the last picture.

First pic is the loose one. Second is the tight one.

 

[Mathaious12]

Looking good. If you test draw your bunch before putting the wrapper on you tend to get more consistent draws. The first 10 -15 rolled are the most exciting, that's were you go from it would be cool to roll my own cigar to Holly mess I can roll cigars that rival the $10-15 sticks I get at the cigar shop ( I'm in California we got the taxes). Plus your rolling skills are improving in leaps and bounds at that point, it wasn't till after the excitement died down a little that I remembered to do things like test draw, and bunching and wrapping in the same direction.

 

[waikikigun]

Looking good. If you test draw your bunch before putting the wrapper on you tend to get more consistent draws. The first 10 -15 rolled are the most exciting, that's were you go from it would be cool to roll my own cigar to Holly mess I can roll cigars that rival the $10-15 sticks I get at the cigar shop ( I'm in California we got the taxes). Plus your rolling skills are improving in leaps and bounds at that point, it wasn't till after the excitement died down a little that I remembered to do things like test draw, and bunching and wrapping in the same direction.

I'm in California, too: you need to be hitting that $4 bargain basket on the lower shelf in the walk-in....

 

[Mathaious12]

I'm in California, too: you need to be hitting that $4 bargain basket on the lower shelf in the walk-in....

My regular sticks are typically in that ball park. Luckily there is a shop in my city that is owned and operated by a family in the DR that farms and produces their own brand. A bulk of their lines are in the $3-8.

 

[waikikigun]

My regular sticks are typically in that ball park. Luckily there is a shop in my city that is owned and operated by a family in the DR that farms and produces their own brand. A bulk of their lines are in the $3-8.

Nice. Have you asked him about a tobacco hookup?

 

[yo1dog]

it wasn't till after the excitement died down a little that I remembered to do things like test draw, and bunching and wrapping in the same direction

Yup. Same here. First was lots of excitement and forgetting lots of the smaller details. Focusing on the big things. Then once you get the big things down you can start focusing on the smaller things.

My go to is a local Bobalu Super Fuerte. ~$7.50/stick for singles but only $4/stick for churchills when I buy bundles of 25 and with my 10% discount. "The filler is a combination of superior aged Nicaraguan Viso, Honduran Lijero and Criollo 98 which is beautifully wrapped in a dark Criollo wrapper."
DON'T CLICKhttps://www.bobalu.com/super-fuerte-criollo-orange-label.html

 

[waikikigun]

Yup. Same here. First was lots of excitement and forgetting lots of the smaller details. Focusing on the big things. Then once you get the big things down you can start focusing on the smaller things.

My go to is a local Bobalu Super Fuerte. ~$7.50/stick for singles but only $4/stick for churchills when I buy bundles of 25 and with my 10% discount. "The filler is a combination of superior aged Nicaraguan Viso, Honduran Lijero and Criollo 98 which is beautifully wrapped in a dark Criollo wrapper."
DON'T CLICKhttps://www.bobalu.com/super-fuerte-criollo-orange-label.html

Next time you're there ask Jeff if he has any idea what variety those Nica and Honduran leaves are. He probably won't know but it's worth a shot.

 

[Mathaious12]

Nice. Have you asked him about a tobacco hookup?

They roll them in the DR but I had planned on asking about the tobacco situatio next time I went in.

Yup. Same here. First was lots of excitement and forgetting lots of the smaller details. Focusing on the big things. Then once you get the big things down you can start focusing on the smaller things.

My go to is a local Bobalu Super Fuerte. ~$7.50/stick for singles but only $4/stick for churchills when I buy bundles of 25 and with my 10% discount. "The filler is a combination of superior aged Nicaraguan Viso, Honduran Lijero and Criollo 98 which is beautifully wrapped in a dark Criollo wrapper."
DON'T CLICKhttps://www.bobalu.com/super-fuerte-criollo-orange-label.html

Yeah, it's convenient having a place like that local. That is another place I was going to see about tobacco, I've seen them unloading some of their bales on a few of the FB groups.