This harks back to 2017, when I dried some of this batch, and sealed the remainder in a container in my fridge. In the post below, I mention that event. Scrolling upward will reveal its entire saga.
Today—6 years later, I unpacked the refrigerated container. [It had been in there so long that even the refrigerator itself has been replaced in the interim.] It was cold and soggy. Some of it looked icky, and was cut off the pressed stacks with scissors. The leaf was tediously teased apart, and spread on a 1020 tray, atop a seedling heat mat, to fully dry.
The aroma is that of perique: slightly barnyard and somewhat fruity. I expect it to be similar to the first portion of the batch that I reported on in the above cited thread. I will post a photo of it after it dries, test this newly liberated perique over the next week, and post a follow-up in this thread.
Bob
That batch finished several of weeks ago, and I've had the opportunity to smoke some of it. It is distinctly mustier than my other, fruity batches, but it does not smell like cigar. It's nicotine load is potent. So, to answer your primary question, using a cigar variety (or four) to make Perique gives you Perique--hefty Perique. So it is simply used in a lower ratio in pipe blending.
I've smoke a couple of bowls of it straight. Yowzah! But...but...St. James Parish Perique is even rougher when smoked straight.
As far as stemming the leaf ahead of time, it doesn't matter with the pressure process at all. However, I've found it something of a nuisance to remove the really thick portions of the stem after it's done processing. So, I suggest a quick froglegging of the leaf on its way into the press container, or just stemming it entirely. I guess that if I owned a beast of a shredder--one that could easily handle thick stems, then I would leave the stems in for ease of manipulation.
For this large, mixed batch, I tossed most of the still soggy Perique into a 3 pound plastic cheese box (that seals!), and stored it in the fridge uncut. Whenever I have the energy to fuss with it, I peel out a wet slab, and slice it like a plug. Then I rub it out, and dry it on a cookie sheet that rests on a seedling heat mat.
Even in the fridge, the Pichia anomala yeast continues to grow--very slowly. So this evening, when opening the cheese box, it actually had a nicer, fruitier aroma than when I put it in.
Perique is really strange stuff.
Bob
EDIT: To obtain a similar cheese box, go to a Middle-Eastern grocer or Yuppie cheese boutique, and look for Genuine Bulgarian Sheep's Milk Cheese in a 3 pound box (~$12). It used to be called Feta, until Greece threw a tantrum.
Today—6 years later, I unpacked the refrigerated container. [It had been in there so long that even the refrigerator itself has been replaced in the interim.] It was cold and soggy. Some of it looked icky, and was cut off the pressed stacks with scissors. The leaf was tediously teased apart, and spread on a 1020 tray, atop a seedling heat mat, to fully dry.
The aroma is that of perique: slightly barnyard and somewhat fruity. I expect it to be similar to the first portion of the batch that I reported on in the above cited thread. I will post a photo of it after it dries, test this newly liberated perique over the next week, and post a follow-up in this thread.
Bob
