Help with uncased pipe blends

[hockeydudde]

Got the WLT pipe sampler +Latakia and perique for Christmas. Been flowing these two threads:

Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

Does Latakia age after being smoked/processed ? I found it ;) I'm such an amature :sneaky: With my home-fired Latakia, I noticed a significant change after kilning and resting for a little over a year. In Cyprus, the Latakia is baled and warehoused for varying periods of time. I believe...

fairtradetobacco.com

Blend Recommendations for WLT Sampler + Latakia

Lay it on me. My first WLT sampler plus a lb of Latakia arrives tomorrow, what blends should I try first? For context: I'm currently enjoying early morning pipe every morning and switching between C&D engine 99 and Awakened Elder in the evening. EMP I've really enjoyed from the moment I opened...

fairtradetobacco.com

Also downloaded @deluxestogie pipe tobacco blends book.
But started with a few out of Grow Your Own Cigars.
Black Frog, Va/Pr and approximated Curiosity. Definitely still working on proper moisture level and cut evenness.
But so far, there send to be pros and cons to me. Main are:
Pro:
Flavor is nice, can definitely pick out the perique, Latakia and Maryland 609 in each bland. Gone is the nasty bitter sweet chemical taste and soaking wet dottle. I can smoke a bowl to the bottom without having to use pipe cleaners to mop out the stem. No nasty gurgling or that stuff getting in my mouth.
Con:
The smoke has a more harsh character to it. The smoke burns my eyes and nose like a cigar. Also has a mild bite across my entire tongue and feels like it gets stuck in the back of my throat. Retro-hale is out of the question.

Is the harsher smoke the trade off I'm accepting by smoking uncased, unflavored tobacco or is it something I should be working to correct with blending, moisture and ageing? I'm also open to casing, not would prefer not to.
Thanks !

 

[deluxestogie]

Black Frog is a potent Latakia blend. I think you can find happiness by exploring some milder blends. Start at the bottom of either of these two matrices (Bayou Dawn or Smyrna Bright), and then work your way upward. Bite is usually a pH adjustment question.

Another issue is that the propylene glycol [PG] in commercial blends produces dense clouds of visible vapor. [That is why it is the base of most vaping products.] It can be tempting, while smoking pure tobacco, to replicate the smoke volume of PG by puffing too aggressively.

Bob

 

[hockeydudde]

The Latakia wasn't too strong, intense, but still enjoyable. And I got the same experience with the Skee (Va/Pr). I think you probably nailed it with the smoke volume. Suspect I'm smoking to aggressively. I'll try taking it slower and see how that goes.
Thanks!

 

[ProZachJ]

Black Frog is a potent Latakia blend. I think you can find happiness by exploring some milder blends. Start at the bottom of either of these two matrices (Bayou Dawn or Smyrna Bright), and then work your way upward. Bite is usually a pH adjustment question.

Another issue is that the propylene glycol [PG] in commercial blends produces dense clouds of visible vapor. [That is why it is the base of most vaping products.] It can be tempting, while smoking pure tobacco, to replicate the smoke volume of PG by puffing too aggressively.

Bob

@deluxestogie are you sneaking new ones in on us? I don't see Bayou Dawn anywhere else on the forum or in the books!

 

[ProZachJ]

Is the harsher smoke the trade off I'm accepting by smoking uncased, unflavored tobacco or is it something I should be working to correct with blending, moisture and ageing?

You can absolutely make a blend with WLT components that is far less harsh than any commercial blend. The biggest barrier for me in achieving this has been patience. Almost every blend I've made only gets better and more smooth the longer I let it sit. @ChinaVoodoo 's Carotte technique has been an incredible ally in said pursuit. Low case for just letting a blend meld or high case for fermentation.

Something I've used successfully on multiple blends to really take the smoothness and flavor up a notch is to make the blend, then wrap up 1/2 in a dry carotte and 1/2 in a wet carotte and then wait as absolutely long as I can manage before unwrapping both and recombining them. I have no idea why that consistently tastes better to me than either one alone, but it's becoming my go to.

 

[deluxestogie]

are you sneaking new ones in on us? I don't see Bayou Dawn anywhere else on the forum

Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

WLT Basma Pastry Party--blending notes This is part of my continuing effort to explore pipe blends made without Latakia. My initial thought was to create a blend that was at least half WLT Basma, and seasoned with flue-cured (mostly red) and a good dose of St. James Parish Perique. WLT...

fairtradetobacco.com

posted March 2018.

Bob

 

[ProZachJ]

Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

WLT Basma Pastry Party--blending notes This is part of my continuing effort to explore pipe blends made without Latakia. My initial thought was to create a blend that was at least half WLT Basma, and seasoned with flue-cured (mostly red) and a good dose of St. James Parish Perique. WLT...

fairtradetobacco.com

posted March 2018.

Bob

Sometimes it seems the depth of this forum approaches infinity

 

[deluxestogie]

Sometimes it seems the depth of this forum approaches infinity

Or convoluted. I originally named the image you see in my avatar, "Bayou Dawn". [It reminded me of the view I saw each morning when I was living in Fort Walton Beach, and driving daily to Eglin AFB.] But then I used it as a back cover image for one of my fantasy novels, in which a boat load of faeries sail toward the human coastal town of Shibam. So I renamed the image, "Sailing to Shibam". This image was then used as the label graphic of my pipe blend called "Pearl of Shibam". So...Bayou Dawn is the very same blend as Pearl of Shibam.

Bob

 

[hockeydudde]

Some more investigation suggests I didn't like perique, I added way to much, its cut to course, or needs aging.
I made another blend from the left over ingredients (which did not include perique).
It was great. Smooth and tasty despite being nearly 50% Latakia.
I then tried some ripe flue cured straight, it was pretty smooth, just a tad of tongue bite.
I added a bunch of the ripe flue cured to the screen, probably doubled the total flue cured in the blend. Still a little harsh. Next step is to press some for aging. I have an odd aversion to plastics, so still trying to sort out how I want to press/age.

 

[ProZachJ]

Some more investigation suggests I didn't like perique, I added way to much, its cut to course, or needs aging

Feel free to just ship it all to me

 

[johnny108]

Some more investigation suggests I didn't like perique, I added way to much, its cut to course, or needs aging.
I made another blend from the left over ingredients (which did not include perique).
It was great. Smooth and tasty despite being nearly 50% Latakia.
I then tried some ripe flue cured straight, it was pretty smooth, just a tad of tongue bite.
I added a bunch of the ripe flue cured to the screen, probably doubled the total flue cured in the blend. Still a little harsh. Next step is to press some for aging. I have an odd aversion to plastics, so still trying to sort out how I want to press/age.

Stainless steel noodle presses are cheap and easy to buy online…
Or steel tubing and bar stock, if you want to fabricate something.

 

[ProZachJ]

Or convoluted. I originally named the image you see in my avatar, "Bayou Dawn". [It reminded me of the view I saw each morning when I was living in Fort Walton Beach, and driving daily to Eglin AFB.] But then I used it as a back cover image for one of my fantasy novels, in which a boat load of faeries sail toward the human coastal town of Shibam. So I renamed the image, "Sailing to Shibam". This image was then used as the label graphic of my pipe blend called "Pearl of Shibam". So...Bayou Dawn is the very same blend as Pearl of Shibam.

Bob

I just put two ounces of this doubly named blend into the noodle press. Any experience on pressing time for it? Any chance you've got a label image running around with the alter-ego?

 

[deluxestogie]

I don't recall ever having pressed that blend. Here is a label that I just created:

Download Bayou Dawn 3½" blend label as pdf.

Bob

 

[ProZachJ]

Thank you.l! Once it's out of the press and jarred I will share a pic of the label in use and the result.

 

[ProZachJ]

I don't recall ever having pressed that blend. Here is a label that I just created:

Download Bayou Dawn 3½" blend label as pdf.

Bob

This morning I walked outside and somehow saw a strange sympatico with this image