SAPiper
Member
Good morning Fellow Pipers,
I've been pressing tobacco for a few years now. And I thought I should share my observations.
I initially started pressing bulk tobacco in order to reduce the amount of space my ever growing stock of tobacco was taking up. And as everyone tends to do, I decided that if I'm going to press, I might as well do it properly.
Method:
My first test press, if you want to call it that, was a hardwood box, but I've subsequently switched to a metal setup.
I use a 300mm / 12" stainless tube 75mm / 3" diameter, with a 25mm/1" thick bottom plate and a 25mm /1" thick "piston" and spacers.
I line both the top and bottom with wax paper held in place with a drop of water.
Typically I use bulk ribbon with a moisture content of around 10-15% - I've also found that the higher the moisture content the more "Bovril" gets produced during the pressing. Brits will recognise the term Bovril, but for anyone else - imagine molasses oozing out the press.
My 6t bottle jack provides enough pressure to produce very hard plugs, and 1kg/2lb of ribbon gets reduced by roughly 80% in volume.
Time:
I typically allow for the pressing to continue for between 7-14 days, depending on the season. Although it must be said that in South Africa we have very mild winters,where a light jacket is usually enough protection from the cold. For dry(ish) tobacco I would recommend longer pressing times, whereas wet/moist tobacco tends to require less time and produces a harder or denser cake/plug.
Once I actually completed the pressing process, I noticed that the flavour of the tobacco had improved or changed substantially being much more homogeneous. This was all news to me as I had not done any worthwhile research into tobacco pressing, the sole reason being that I was just trying to reduce the volume. Locally (South Africa) our tobacco's are of decent quality and very cheap when compared to the EU and US. The problem is that very little care is taken in processing the tobacco, and storing it. Our tobacco is sold "young" and can be very harsh. However pressing tends to knock the edges off. Aging obviously also helps, but a man can only wait so long
I've produced somewhere in the region of 150 of these 100g/4oz plugs but I'm open to any further advice or suggestions!
Cheers from South Africa
I've been pressing tobacco for a few years now. And I thought I should share my observations.
I initially started pressing bulk tobacco in order to reduce the amount of space my ever growing stock of tobacco was taking up. And as everyone tends to do, I decided that if I'm going to press, I might as well do it properly.
Method:
My first test press, if you want to call it that, was a hardwood box, but I've subsequently switched to a metal setup.
I use a 300mm / 12" stainless tube 75mm / 3" diameter, with a 25mm/1" thick bottom plate and a 25mm /1" thick "piston" and spacers.
I line both the top and bottom with wax paper held in place with a drop of water.
Typically I use bulk ribbon with a moisture content of around 10-15% - I've also found that the higher the moisture content the more "Bovril" gets produced during the pressing. Brits will recognise the term Bovril, but for anyone else - imagine molasses oozing out the press.
My 6t bottle jack provides enough pressure to produce very hard plugs, and 1kg/2lb of ribbon gets reduced by roughly 80% in volume.
Time:
I typically allow for the pressing to continue for between 7-14 days, depending on the season. Although it must be said that in South Africa we have very mild winters,where a light jacket is usually enough protection from the cold. For dry(ish) tobacco I would recommend longer pressing times, whereas wet/moist tobacco tends to require less time and produces a harder or denser cake/plug.
Once I actually completed the pressing process, I noticed that the flavour of the tobacco had improved or changed substantially being much more homogeneous. This was all news to me as I had not done any worthwhile research into tobacco pressing, the sole reason being that I was just trying to reduce the volume. Locally (South Africa) our tobacco's are of decent quality and very cheap when compared to the EU and US. The problem is that very little care is taken in processing the tobacco, and storing it. Our tobacco is sold "young" and can be very harsh. However pressing tends to knock the edges off. Aging obviously also helps, but a man can only wait so long
I've produced somewhere in the region of 150 of these 100g/4oz plugs but I'm open to any further advice or suggestions!
Cheers from South Africa
