Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make

[ProZachJ]

This is probably the best blend I've devised yet. It's become my go to in my churchwarden. It was inspired by some experimentation I did with the WLT sample of American Turkish Blend

Lemon Virginia 2.5
Red Virginia 2.5
Samsun 2.5
Izmir 2.5
Dark Air Cured 6

I mixed up two ounces of this and then split it in half. From this I made two @ChinaVoodoo style carottes. One in low case, one in high case. After a couple of months wrapped up I opened them up, rubbed them out and remixed them. It is definitely a strong smoke, but also so sweet and fragrant that I rarely pull myself away from a bowl before it's done.

 

[ProZachJ]

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?

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.

After 36 hours in the press, a bit more moisture is seen when opening (compared to the 12hr run). Breaking off a piece and rubbing the shred back out is also a bit more fraught. I would say if you want to have it rub out into a shred go for 12 hours. If you want want it to truly crumble or cut the plug 36+ will get it to that point. Also don't put all your strength into turning the noodle press handle, the top where the screw mounts is plastic and has its limits (which I luckily noticed before finding).

 

[DaleB]

Eagerly anticipating the arrival of 3-1/2 pounds of leaf from WLT (supposed to be delivered tomorrow), and a $6 noodle press from Amazon due in late this week.

 

[deluxestogie]

Eager is good.

Bob

 

[ProZachJ]

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Having a bowl now, it is simply delicious. Smooth and sweet, with all of the rough edges of the Latakia tamed. I cannot recommended this enough. I liked regular Pearl of Shibam...Bayou Dawn pressed is a revelation!

 

[DaleB]

I've been sampling each of the tobaccos I received, one at a time, straight. The Dark Air Cured almost put me into a coma; the rest have been well behaved if uninspiring (Lemon VA). I just finished a bit of Latakia and found it actually quite nice on its own, not overpowering.

In considering what I have planned for blending, I'm curious as to the difference between some or the Oriental strains. I have some Black Sea Samsun I grew in '23. I see some references to others like Izmir, Basma, and Yenidje, and have to wonder what the difference between them is -- is there a wide variance in the taste of these? I was thinking of ordering some Yenidje seed for this year's planting. For reference, I really liked a couple of the commercial blends like White Knight that have almost a slight floral or "soapy" note to them, almost like a hint of Sen-Sen once in a while. I have no idea which tobacco produced that but I'd love to find out.

 

[ShiniKoroshi]

I've been sampling each of the tobaccos I received, one at a time, straight. The Dark Air Cured almost put me into a coma; the rest have been well behaved if uninspiring (Lemon VA). I just finished a bit of Latakia and found it actually quite nice on its own, not overpowering.

In considering what I have planned for blending, I'm curious as to the difference between some or the Oriental strains. I have some Black Sea Samsun I grew in '23. I see some references to others like Izmir, Basma, and Yenidje, and have to wonder what the difference between them is -- is there a wide variance in the taste of these? I was thinking of ordering some Yenidje seed for this year's planting. For reference, I really liked a couple of the commercial blends like White Knight that have almost a slight floral or "soapy" note to them, almost like a hint of Sen-Sen once in a while. I have no idea which tobacco produced that but I'd love to find out.

Im in the middle of reading this whole section and simply can't get enough @istanbulin. Everything you want to know about orientals is there. Have fun!

Oriental or Turkish

 

[ProZachJ]

To my taste, the WLT Izmir is much more floral than the Samsun. When blending, I've been mixing them in either 1:1 or 3:1 ratio (depending on how floral forward I'm wanting) as the "oriental" component when any of @deluxestogie's blends calls for an unspecified oriental.

 

[KroBar]

3 Parts Toasted Dark Air Cured
2 Parts Virginia
1 Part Dark Fired
Sweet and a little Spicy. Nic Heavy. Well balanced for tongue bite.
It's a forgiving blend. Get it close, and you'll probably be happy, if you're looking for a strong, naturally sweet, HalfZware-ish smoke.
Plenty of room for tinkering, adjustment, and experimentation.
Would probably make a great cigarette.

 

[WillQuantrill]

My introduction to the "piper" side of this website. A couple years ago I started this hobby simply fascinated in the idea of growing cigar leaf. First 2 growing seasons were exclusively of the "cigar" or Dark Air varieties, and I started tinkering with smokeless enough to seeing the value in diversifying my grow selection. I added 2 strains of Burley and Small Stock Black Mammoth in 2024 along with the different cigar strains and sometime in 2024 my wife bought me a basic pipe starter kit. I was turned off by the many different commercial types I had tried. My palette kept screaming "why are you smoking potpourri?!". I let the pipe sit for quite awhile, but in pursuit of a more well-rounded knowledge in all things tobacco I ordered a Pipe sampler from WLT. I was very intrigued with the leaf that showed up, the range of aroma, colors and applications. Thinking the whole time... this doesn't even come close to resembling that crap I bought in tins. Pipe smoking/blending has scratched the itch for close to instant gratification that isn't found with my cigar manufacturing. And right now it's 11*F so my Nicotine addiction is not enough to hold me hostage in the cold garage for an hour and a half working my way through a Toro. So after much reading and lurking on this side I started making basic blends and enjoying the different attributes and notes of quality pipe tobaccos, I realize it has helped my palette in gauging nuance with cigar blending as well. I got caught up on the Toasted Dark Air Cured wave as of late and pressed my first blend I was proud enough to share with you fine gents. I have yet to put fire to it because the plug is still resting but I look forward to that tasting and tweaking. I will say this blend just started as a concept in my head and the blend just kind of fell into that idea. Bob's graphic design creativity inspired me to fumble my way through making a label, so I thought I would express my affinity for a comically extreme music genre I drift toward this time of year. Something about the bleakness of frozen tundra brings an authenticity to Nordic Black Metal.

 

[ShiniKoroshi]

3 Parts Toasted Dark Air Cured
2 Parts Virginia
1 Part Dark Fired
Sweet and a little Spicy. Nic Heavy. Well balanced for tongue bite.
It's a forgiving blend. Get it close, and you'll probably be happy, if you're looking for a strong, naturally sweet, HalfZware-ish smoke.
Plenty of room for tinkering, adjustment, and experimentation.
Would probably make a great cigarette.

This one a little rough on the inhale, eh?

 

[KroBar]

This one a little rough on the inhale, eh?

Might be. it has a lot of similarities to the HalfZware I was smoking in my ciggies

 

[Hemlock]

My introduction to the "piper" side of this website. A couple years ago I started this hobby simply fascinated in the idea of growing cigar leaf. First 2 growing seasons were exclusively of the "cigar" or Dark Air varieties, and I started tinkering with smokeless enough to seeing the value in diversifying my grow selection. I added 2 strains of Burley and Small Stock Black Mammoth in 2024 along with the different cigar strains and sometime in 2024 my wife bought me a basic pipe starter kit. I was turned off by the many different commercial types I had tried. My palette kept screaming "why are you smoking potpourri?!". I let the pipe sit for quite awhile, but in pursuit of a more well-rounded knowledge in all things tobacco I ordered a Pipe sampler from WLT. I was very intrigued with the leaf that showed up, the range of aroma, colors and applications. Thinking the whole time... this doesn't even come close to resembling that crap I bought in tins. Pipe smoking/blending has scratched the itch for close to instant gratification that isn't found with my cigar manufacturing. And right now it's 11*F so my Nicotine addiction is not enough to hold me hostage in the cold garage for an hour and a half working my way through a Toro. So after much reading and lurking on this side I started making basic blends and enjoying the different attributes and notes of quality pipe tobaccos, I realize it has helped my palette in gauging nuance with cigar blending as well. I got caught up on the Toasted Dark Air Cured wave as of late and pressed my first blend I was proud enough to share with you fine gents. I have yet to put fire to it because the plug is still resting but I look forward to that tasting and tweaking. I will say this blend just started as a concept in my head and the blend just kind of fell into that idea. Bob's graphic design creativity inspired me to fumble my way through making a label, so I thought I would express my affinity for a comically extreme music genre I drift toward this time of year. Something about the bleakness of frozen tundra brings an authenticity to Nordic Black Metal.
View attachment 54569View attachment 54570View attachment 54572

Well done and congrats on the hobby progress!

 

[WillQuantrill]

Well done and congrats on the hobby progress!

Finally got to enjoy a bowl of this tonight and it's very enjoyable. Still a little higher case than I prefer which is fine because it will be fantastic. Being early in my blending adventures this is very close to my idea of good pipe tobacco. The VA's bring that bright Almost citrus note while the others melt into a dark chocolate acai berry. The cavendish adds the perfect subtle burley reminder that the intent is not full on dessert. Looking forward to pressing more to share.

 

[KroBar]

Burley Perique blend
4 or 5 pts Burley
1 pts Perique
Yum

 

[adamziegler]

My WLT pipe sampler came with Fire cured that I had not even opened to date. Decided to supplement some of the Latakia % with it and see what turned out:

3 Latakia
3 Fire Cured
4 Izmir (or other Oriental)
4 Bright Virginia
3 Ripe / Red Virginia
1-2 Dark Air

The oriental certainly comes through, and I honestly don't find the fire cured takes away from the overall aromatic quality. It's pleasant, the tinge of oak is less BBQ and more soft bourbon-ish.

 

[Controlled Chaos]

Figured I'd drop this one in here as well. Recently while chatting with someone getting into home blending I offered the cased Early Burley recipe since their goal was a strong blend with natural tobacco taste. They said they don't want to bother with casing or topping, keeping things as simple as possible. I told him I'd try it without and report back. Well, the result was good enough that I'm going to skip the casing on this next batch when I transfer a new bag of Samsun into a large jar later today.

Here's the corrected and slightly modified recipe, but the extra 5% pure pleasure is still in there:

55% burley
30% Samsun
15% perique

Pressed, sliced, cut and rubbed out. I still say this is the most cigar-like flavor I've ever had from a pipe

 

[KroBar]

Figured I'd drop this one in here as well. Recently while chatting with someone getting into home blending I offered the cased Early Burley recipe since their goal was a strong blend with natural tobacco taste. They said they don't want to bother with casing or topping, keeping things as simple as possible. I told him I'd try it without and report back. Well, the result was good enough that I'm going to skip the casing on this next batch when I transfer a new bag of Samsun into a large jar later today....

Very close to what I smoked last night. I took my 4:1 Burley : Perique and added some Samsun 2:1 BurPer : Samsun. It was good

 

[Juxtaposer-]

I’m pretty close to getting a Samson blend together. Right now I have it at Samson, Burley, and sweetened red tip cavendish in equal parts.

 

[Controlled Chaos]

Very close to what I smoked last night. I took my 4:1 Burley : Perique and added some Samsun 2:1 BurPer : Samsun. It was good

It's a good combination. A dash of Latakia might be a good addition too.

I’m pretty close to getting a Samson blend together. Right now I have it at Samson, Burley, and sweetened red tip cavendish in equal parts.

That sounds pretty good, I might have to make some cavendish and try a batch