Dark air cured

[Ginsinjones]

Hello
I'm trying to understand a few things regarding the use of dark air cured in pipe blends.
I have been blending my own pipe blends for a few years with ordered tobacco leaves.
I have always used a small amount of aged burley, toasted burley or even cigar filler leaf varieties. I have been going through the thread on pure tobacco blends and see many recipes use dark air cured.
Should I be using dark air cured instead of say a maryland 609 or toasted burley?
Or is essentially achieving the same end goal of ballance?
Sorry for sounding naive on the use of dark air cured.
Cheers

 

[deluxestogie]

Dark air-cured leaf is sometimes easier to acquire than good burley or Maryland, though cigar leaf is nearly ubiquitous. Perique is an additional choice of an ingredient that will raise the smoke pH (make it less acidic). Your personal preferences should guide your blending choices. My goal is often to set a particular aroma profile with leaf choice, then adjust the blend to achieve a balance of smoke pH with regard to tongue bite. So just blend away, and go with the components that strike you as enjoyable.

Bob

 

[Davo]

I normally use dark air cured in equal quantities to any perique or dark fired in a blend, as I find it helps carry their flavour without making the blend overwhelming. Eg If I read a blend requires 10% of dark fired, I’ll try it with 5% dark air cured and 5% dark fired.

I’ve recommended dark air cured to a friend to blend with bright leaf in place of perique as he is allergic to the enzymes present in perique’s fermentation. Waiting to see how he finds this.

I could be wrong, but I think I once read that dark air cured is traditionally blended with pure st James perique to bulk it out, making the product known as “Arcadian perique”

 

[Ginsinjones]

Ok
I was hoping to make some of the blends posted in these threads and was wondering if there was something particularly special about the dark air cured sold on WLT.
I have never tasted it so i was thinking perhaps its just more neutral in flavor than burley or maryland.
Helps add body without bringing a different flavor profile to the blend?
I have been using a burley i bought about 4 years ago. It is very neutral in flavor but rich.
I blend often with it as is and found i had to toast it to bring any distinct flavor out of it.
Problem is I'm down to about half pound of it.
I'm putting an order together with WLT and wondering if I would be better served ordering dark air cured or some maryland 609? My order is already about max for my budget having to replenish all my tobacco varieties.
I'm also from Canada and up to 6 1/2 pounds on my order and worried about going over the 2 kg limit I have heard about.
Anyways sorry for all the questions. Just trying to make an educated decision for my order while still being able to make some of the blends I have been reading about.
Cheers

 

[Knucklehead]

A little dark air goes a long way for me. In my cigarette blend I use
45% Flue cured
20% Burley
20% Maryland
5% Dark Air
10% Oriental.
I was using 40% in the Flue Cured and 10% Dark Air but dialed it back and put 5% of the Dark Air into 5% Flue Cured. It’s a much milder blend now. When I want more hair on my chest I go back to the old blend for awhile. I would recommend at least trying it.
There are threads here on making your own Cavendish using the varieties you already have. That would also open up more blending opportunities. Flue Cured Cavendish, Burley Cavendish, Dark Air Cavendish. You will have plenty to play with and try some more of those Pure Tobacco Blend Recipes.

 

[Ginsinjones]

I might give it a shot on my order for sure. Wish they offered 1/4 pound amounts that would certainly help.
I have actually made a nice brown cavendish out of some flue cured brightleaf. I made a sort of bullseye flake with it. I made a tight roll in the center and wrapped a layer of some Nicaraguan long filler around followed by quite a few layers of bright leaf.
I rolled it up in greaseproof paper and wrapped that with a very tight layer of electrical tape.
I think I left it for about a week then unwrapped, cut into 1/8 coins and dried it.
It was wonderfully sweet and smooth with a slight earthy peppery undertone to it.
That was a few years ago
I should make something similar again