Blending with Cigar Leaf

I am in the minority in liking cigar leaf as a single-leaf smoke, and I think it can enhance various other blends or other blending tobacco when mixed. I think mindset is important, because smoking cigar leaf in a pipe, either by itself or with other tobaccos, is not like smoking a cigar. It becomes pipe tobacco with its own properties and flavor profile. But it's good. My suggestion is to go with just a dash at first, really using it as a condiment tobacco with other leaf, and see how it goes, and increase the proportions to taste. I think with mixes, you want it to harmonize and bring up the other flavors, not block them. But it is very good leaf, cigar leaf. Same treatment with Izmur and unflavored Cavendish, etc. Just forget the cigar experience and explore it as pipe tobacco.

The ratios will differ based on what cigar leaf you use and what tobacco you are blending it into.

Trial and error is best you can do.

I've gone as high as 1/3 cigar leaf with good results, but I'll have to agree with kanse, it's a question of experimentation in very small batches until you get the effect you're going for.

I tend to go with "Less is more". A small amount of cigar leaf will change the smoking properties such as adding volumes of smoke and a bit of strength without significantly changing the original flavor profile. This is what Russ did to improve H&H Virginia Spice, which I love.

You can always get some of Pipeworks/Wilke Churchill blend before Carole goes out of the tobacco business in a couple months.

If youve never sampled any of her fine tobaccos you should try some while you still can
http://vtpipes.com/tobacco.html
WILKE CHURCHILL

Mr. Churchill fancied his cigar. I believe he would have been pleased with the liberal amount of cigar leaf that is added the Virginias, Burley, Latakia and Perique that makes up this traditional English mixture. A robust tobacco and a special treat.

2oz. 10.40 4oz. 19.50 8oz. 37.75 16oz. 73.00

OK, I will share with you a recipe from a dear friend who is no longer with us, quite unfortunately. This is a blend that the late Sailorman Jack, our NY Pipe Club first president, shared with me and many of us long ago. He loved his cigar leaf blend and developed this recipe. Here it is in his own words:
2 ounces red virginia,

2 ounces lemon virginia,

11.5 ounces latakia,

0.5 ounces perique,

4 ounces shredded cigar leaf.

After blending, LEAVE IT ALONE for 10 to 14 days to allow the various

ingredients to "marry."

Lane used to have a Cuban tobacco called Vuelta Abajo, Down in the Valley. It was cigar tobacco. I never liked it in a pipe. This was before the Cuban revolution.

Lane used to have a Cuban tobacco called Vuelta Abajo

Click to expand...

I grow Vuelta Abajo.... it is one hell-of-a cigar.

Joined this forum a few months ago. I'm still trying to read through some of the older threads.
I've posted this recipe on some other thread, but I'll re-post it here, where it belongs.
Cigar-Leaf blend(S):
"PLEASANT MOMENTS"
1 0z. mild cigar leaf (Maduro) or, chop up a mild cigar

1 oz. Stokkebye Cube Cut Burley #41

1 oz. match-Elizabethan
Mix these tobaccos together to form the base.
To this cigar-leaf base .... add an equal (VOLUME MEASURE) of Lane Ltd "RLP-6" or "HGL" MIx well and age in jar at least 10-14 days. Just match the volume of the base with an equal volume of either HGL/RLP-6. If the cigar-leaf is too strong/prominent, just add a little more HGL/RLP-6... (e.g. 1 part base : 1-1/2 parts HGL/RLP-6).
Aromatic, sweet, but not cloying. Creamy-thick clouds of smoke, no bite, great aroma. Slightly earthy flavor from the cigar-leaf, and the slight amount of Latakia from the "HGL" adds an exotic, piney aroma. Both versions (RLP-6/HGL) make a very easy-to-smoke blend. Far more complex and nuanced flavors than either straight HGL or RLP-6. Easy/cheap to make from bulk.
Honestly, I prefer this cigar base mixed with HGL. I am not a Latakia lover at all, and find the aroma (read: stench) from burning Latakia-heavy blends repulsive. I also do not like strong/robust mixtures. The small amount of condimental Latakia from the HGL and a little dash of Perique from the Elizabethan", pushes "PLEASANT MOMENTS" into a special territory for both smokers and smellers.
BTW, I have gotten many compliments about the aroma of this pipe tobacco. Happy wife, happy life....just saying.
Frank

For the last few months, I have been exploring vanilla aromatics, just to appease an itch. And, I have found that there are several vanilla aros that really benefit from a good portion of cigar being added. Nicaraguan is a favorite, and it really strengthens the blends and adds a nice deeper flavor to the vanilla.

Besides the added flavor, there are two other benefits to adding cigar leaf to a blend. If the blend you're enhancing has a rather "thin" smoke, cigar leaf will boost the smoke volume, and it will also help a blend that requires frequent relights to burn better.
Russ

I smoke cigar leaf in a pipe. Lately I've been adding pipe tobacco to my cigar leaf instead of vise versa.

A good pinch of chopped cigar leaf added to a bowl of C&D's Big n Burley is quite tasty.

Thanks to the OP for this thread. I too have been experimenting haphazardly with less than desirable results and was resolved to leave my cigar leaf experiment by the wayside. The recipes especially have rekindled my interest.

Have never blended with cigar leaf but enjoy it in my pipe tobacco. Robert Lewis 123 is probably my favorite mixture containing it.

I came up with my own personal cigar-leaf mixture, and used some cigar "trimmings" that I bought from at a local cigar shop. The gentleman/owner, who rolls hand-made cigars, was thrilled to sell me some mild leaf after I told him what I was going to do with his tobacco trimmings. He loaded up a plastic bag with 4 ounces of shredded/chopped cigar trimmings. I imagine I got a mix of some filler, and wrapper tobaccos. I sniffed the bag and it smelled earthy, and did not stink as I expected. This, "mild cigar-leaf" then went into my mixture, along with other bulk tobacco selections. Thus, "Pleasant Moments" was born.
I would guess that cigar trimmings could be purchased, in small experimental amounts, from local shops that make hand-rolled cigars. Just ask. What do you have to lose? Make an experimental amount of a CL blend. Use some tobaccos that you have on hand. No scale to weight tobaccos? Use a shot glass, or a pill bottle, as a volume measure. Write down the amounts of the components. You will probably come up with a great, personal blend, of your own.
Have fun.
Frank

NYC
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BTW.... My final version of "Pleasant Moments": 1 measure of "Cigar-Leaf Base" to 1-1/2 measures of Lane's "HGL".

I used to dabble with home blend cigar leaf until I found country lawyer. I was hooked at first puff. I actually cellar it now.
https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipe-tobacco/briarworks/Country-Lawyer-2oz/product_id/204948

I've got country lawyer on my wishlist. I'll give it a go on my next order.