Home Blending - One Year Later

In July of 2012 I put up two blends that I pressed into crumble cake.



My tobacco press and vice are also shown.

From Left to right (from my notes):
VA/PER/BUR - 1/2 oz MacBaren London Blend

1/2 oz C&D Bayou Morning

Top and bottom of Butera Dark Stoved
Cigar Blend - 2 oz Harvest Moon

One mini Punch Gran Puro
I am going to smoke a bowl of the cigar blend this morning and the VA/PER/BUR maybe next week. I'll let everyone know what I think.

Sure, I wanted to mix some tobaccos together, but instead of just putting them in a jar I pressed them for a few months first to make a crumble cake. i thought it might help the favors meld a bit.
With the harvest moon, it was a bit too Latakia forward and too sharp for my taste, so I added cigar and I think a bit of London blend. It also seemed to die midway through the bowl. I'm smoking it now, and the Latakia is a bit tamer, probably mostly from time. This actually tuned out better than I expected. I can detect a bit of the cigar and the second half of the bowl is pleasant.

Thanks for your interest rothnh. I opened the va/per/bur, and the note in the jar is mostly dark stoved. You are right, I only put a few flakes on the top and bottom of the press. I will smoke this soon.

I had a bowl of the va/per/bur tonight in a stanwell.



The tobacco took on a waxy texture, I guess from sitting in with the dark stoved. You can kind of see it in the picture. Overall the blend was pleasant, and much more subtle and sweeter than the components would be alone. I attribute this again mostly to the dark stoved. It seemed to be very well mixed and the harshness of the C&D blend was gone. It was milder tasting than I thought it would be but still had a nice strength. The perique, which I hoped would blossom, was lost to me.
I'm not blown away, but will hit this from time to time when in the mood.

I wouldn't say disappointed. I learned a good deal from this.
My cigar cake turned out better than I expected. Initially the blend was too mild in strength and too sharp in latakia, time and some cigar/burley rounded it out nicely and provided a nice finish. It was too much treble and not enough bass. Its not Key Largo now, but it is more likable to me than before.
As far as the va/per/bur is concerned, it mellowed the bayou morning, which is a win. I knew I wasn't crazy about the dark stoved; I guess I don't understand it or I lack the palette to appreciate it's subtleties. One thing that did improve was the burn, it all stays lit where before the Butera kept going out on me. I think if I had pressed it with some extra blending perique it may have aged more to my liking.
I can't expect to mix two blends I don't like and get a golden nugget. On the plus side, it was fun to see the crumble cake form so that part worked really well. I might do this again if I think I have a combination that would benefit from a mix.

What is the box you used to press the cake? Can you talk about how you went about doing it?

Click to expand...

Sure. The box is a wood pencil holder, like the kind you would use on top of a desk. It is about 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 3 (l x w x h in inches). I don't remember where I got it initially, but I think any small sturdy wood box would work. I mixed together the tobacco in a bowl, about 2 ounces worth, and then stuffed it in the box. On top I put a piece of cardboard, and then used the vice to squeeze it down as hard as I could. I put the whole contraption in the drawer. The cake was well formed after about a month.
After some trial and error, I learned the following.
- The tobacco has to be slightly moist, at least not dry.

- I lined the box with wax paper to help keep the cake together and not stick to the sides of the box..

- before the wax paper goes in, I put in a few strands of dental floss and let them hang out the top. This provides strings to pull the cake out without un-crumbling it.
I was happy with the way the tobacco blended together, it seemed to really become one blend. I was also happy with how well formed the cake became. It is not a plug by any means, but does stick together until it is picked apart.