How do you press tobacco at home? What do you need to make a press? What does one look like? Last question- How will it change the tobacco? Thank you.
Tobacco press ?
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Hydronic press. I use a Bonny Doom for metalsmiths. Well, I have used it, but it's just not worth it unless you can get hold of whole leaf tobacco, IMO. Otherwise, your just making a crumble cake. Pressing it melds the flavors and slows the burn rate. But, with crumble cake the burn rate isn't a big deal, because the combustion breaks apart the cake bits as you smoke it.
I use a hydraulik 6 ton bench press and a stainless steel tube with brass dowels. For not getting crumble cake but a plug you need to press the tobacco at least two weeks. This worked for me at least....
Cosmic, I dont know if you have ever seen the Australian film, 'The Castle', but every time I see one of those Bonny Doon presses I think of this bonny doon scene
Isaac
Isaac
A simple homemade press I use. Two ounces fills the 6" of 2" PVC to the top. It is compressed between 1/2" thick by 2" diameter wooden dowels to the result shown of 1 1/4". Waxed paper keeps the cake from sticking to the wooden dowels.
Put tobacco in and tighten. After one day it can be compressed another 1/2 inch or so. Two or three days in the press gives good results. The crumble cake can then be removed and jarred for aging or broken up, slightly dried and smoked. Ideally pressing until the oils barely ooze out.
Put tobacco in and tighten. After one day it can be compressed another 1/2 inch or so. Two or three days in the press gives good results. The crumble cake can then be removed and jarred for aging or broken up, slightly dried and smoked. Ideally pressing until the oils barely ooze out.
I found a small hardwood box and cut another 1/4 inch thick piece of hardwood for a lid. I lined the box with parchment paper, loaded 1 oz. tobacco and folded the parchment over it. Put the lid on it and pressed it with a 3 inch C clamp. I've tightened it daily for almost two weeks. Don't know the results yet.
hawke-- that is a press I can operate! What is the longest time you have left this pressed? Beyond the three days?
Ive left it in the press for 3 or 4 days is all. After watching several YouTube videos on the subject, I decided its not the time left that makes the cake, but the amount of pressure. 1 day is often enough to make a nice crumble cake, however a little more time will help marry the flavors. Personally with what Ive done with shag cut tobaccos highly compacted plugs are not feasible. Plugs would be to make flakes to me which as stated somewhere by others should be done with the full leaf. My current press is fine for my needs but far from the what a person with a shop could do with just a little more effort.
My First Press:
My Second Press:
Results of 1 oz in the Previously Posted Press:
I think this would be a great DIY press for home use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X2S0FlG794
My First Press:
My Second Press:
Results of 1 oz in the Previously Posted Press:
I think this would be a great DIY press for home use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X2S0FlG794
hawke - How would you describe the tobacco taste between the loose blend you pressed and the after press of the same tobacco? Thank you.
Coffinmaker, Well the flavors are more mixed for one. The moisture between the types of tobacco is evened out. Those two I'm sure of.
I think maybe its more mellow overall. A friend told me once of a blend which had a little tongue bite to me, that if he pressed it the bite was less so that kinda supports the mellowing out deal. I'm no expert tobacconist by any stretch, I just enjoy playing around. There are a few things we can do to try and copy what mother nature does in aging a tobacco, but there really is no substitute for the real thing. ...time.
Meatballj, I'm not sure but Id venture to say mixing and pressing a moist condiment like perique with a dry tobacco like Five Brothers or Daughters & Ryan Three Sails would make a better smoke to me. In fact I think I'll try some Five Brothers(which is coming in my next order) pressed with some perique might maker a strong nicotine smoke, yet not quite as harsh as the dry Five Brothers alone.
NOTE: The biggest issue is getting the Cake out of the press. My 1st and second made that difficult. Think of how you can press the cake out afterwards. I tore up a few cakes digging it out until I made the PVC version.
I think maybe its more mellow overall. A friend told me once of a blend which had a little tongue bite to me, that if he pressed it the bite was less so that kinda supports the mellowing out deal. I'm no expert tobacconist by any stretch, I just enjoy playing around. There are a few things we can do to try and copy what mother nature does in aging a tobacco, but there really is no substitute for the real thing. ...time.
Meatballj, I'm not sure but Id venture to say mixing and pressing a moist condiment like perique with a dry tobacco like Five Brothers or Daughters & Ryan Three Sails would make a better smoke to me. In fact I think I'll try some Five Brothers(which is coming in my next order) pressed with some perique might maker a strong nicotine smoke, yet not quite as harsh as the dry Five Brothers alone.
NOTE: The biggest issue is getting the Cake out of the press. My 1st and second made that difficult. Think of how you can press the cake out afterwards. I tore up a few cakes digging it out until I made the PVC version.
It's pressure calculated by pounds per square inch/feet. If you are using manual screw type clamps, the smaller the diameter, the better the results. The tin can that Hawke posted, seems to have yielded great results.
Here's my experiment which was actually before the original post in this thread.
I found a small box at a craft store, cut a piece of wood for the lid and used a C clamp.
I wrapped about 1/2 ounce of a blend that I had made for me in parchment paper and inserted it into the box, put the lid on it and applied the C clamp. I tighten it down as far as I could get it and let it sit overnight. The next morning I tightened the clamp another half turn or so. I repeated this every day for 2 weeks. I took it out this morning.
It came out as a fairly solid cake. I also still have about an ounce in a jar so I'll smoke some this afternoon and let everyone know if there is a difference in taste between the loose and the cake.
I found a small box at a craft store, cut a piece of wood for the lid and used a C clamp.
I wrapped about 1/2 ounce of a blend that I had made for me in parchment paper and inserted it into the box, put the lid on it and applied the C clamp. I tighten it down as far as I could get it and let it sit overnight. The next morning I tightened the clamp another half turn or so. I repeated this every day for 2 weeks. I took it out this morning.
It came out as a fairly solid cake. I also still have about an ounce in a jar so I'll smoke some this afternoon and let everyone know if there is a difference in taste between the loose and the cake.
I found that even 6 tons are the lower limit for a proper plug. The tobacco manufacturers use up to 50 tons!
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