Great inspiration Dale, thanks! Since this thread is about Swedish snus, I would not like to hijack the thread, but very interested in exploring deeper what you wrote about.
Can you point out a single forum thread that specifically discusses turning fresh raw tobacco into cured, good tasting pipe tobacco? Right now I am not interested in blends, because have only one type of tobacco. Only the process of improving the pipe tobacco quality is my focus now.
The pipe smoker forum has a number of good threads.
https://fairtradetobacco.com/forums/pipe-smokers-forum.49/ You'll find some discussion about pressing, stoving, and so on.
Also, if you look at the "Key Forum Threads" (
link above), there are a couple of good books published by our own beloved
@deluxestogie that cover many aspects of blending your own pipe tobacco. Lots of nice blend recipes, and some pointers for processing. Of course there's a ton of other really good information there as well.
It's more art than science. I try new things out with small test batches. I have a little gram scale and will typically mix up a little 16 gram batch. That's enough to get a few bowls and see if it's a blend I like, and it's easy to press or whatever. If it's terrible I can toss it without wasting a lot of leaf. Honestly, I think I've only ever tossed one little batch, and that was because I accidentally grabbed a little spritzer bottle that I thought was water - it was mineral spirits. Oops. I have it prominently labeled now.
And I agree, it's better to just start a new thread in the Pipe Smokers Forum. It might even be possible to move these posts to that new thread, I don't know.