How to Adjust a Blend
-
Kevin Godbee - Jan 2, 2011
- 5 min read
By Russ Ouellette
Some people will say "That car is red." while others will say that it’s scarlet, maroon, candy-apple metallic. What’s this got to do with adjusting a tobacco blend? Well, one of the common requests I get is to make a blend sweeter. That helps, but not as much as you might believe. What kind of sweet does the person want? The stinging sweetness of a lemon Virginia? The warm, brown-sugar sweetness of a toasted black Cavendish? The candy-like sweetness of an aromatic? This is why the technical end of adjusting a blend can be difficult.
What I’ll try to do is to give you some basic ideas on how to work with your tobaccos to arrive at something closer to your wishes.
Let’s look at my Louisiana Red. It’s a Virginia/Perique blend made of two different red Virginias. One is pretty straight-forward, while the other is processed and matured to give it a sweet and sour tang and then it’s fortified with Perique.
The result is a medium-strength tobacco with a bit of fruitiness about it, and a little fig-like bass note.
If you want to accentuate the fruit-like aspect, yellow Virginia will give you a sharp and somewhat acidic sweetness.
If you’d like to mellow the blend while maintaining the sugariness, a toasted (unflavored) black Cavendish will do so nicely.
If you’d like a hint of chocolate or cherry along with additional sweetness, then the use of a flavored aromatic will do the job.
If you’d like to lighten the blend, more of the regular red Virginia will do that, or you could use some white Burley, but that will add a bit of nuttiness (like a walnut) as well.
Dark Burley will add a spicy note and maybe a touch of a cigar-like flavor along with an additional nicotine wallop.
More Perique will maintain the flavor, but will add more depth and will add some dried fruit to the mix. Latakia will add a smokiness and will slow the burn down a bit.
Orientals could make it sweeter, more floral or add a musty hint.
So, to recap–
- Virginias– Yellow will add a citrusy, acidic sweetness. Red will add a bread or yeast-like toastiness and brown adds a mildly sweet earthiness.
- Burley– White Burley is rather neutral will a little nutty note, while the darker strains are tangy, spicy and cigar-like and contain a fair amount of vitamin N.
- Orientals– These vary the most in terms of flavor. Some are sweet and floral or deep and musty. Due to their more pronounced flavor, in many cases, a little can go a long way.
- Latakia– Adds a smoky, leathery flavor and aroma while helping cool the smoke down a bit. Used lightly in the background, it can add depth.
- Perique– Has sweet elements (like dried fruit) and a hint of pepper, so it can add spice. Another remarkably cool-smoking tobacco, it can help slow down the burn rate of a blend.
- Aromatics– Flavored tobaccos will add whatever flavorings have been used, but sometimes these tobaccos, when combined with straight blending components, will produce unexpected results. I tried a vanilla-type flavor to top a Perique blend and it wound up smelling and tasting like cinnamon.
Beside using other tobaccos to change an existing blend, the following can have an impact on the smoking characteristics of a blend-
- Aging– Aging Virginia-based blends will help develop their natural sweetness, especially if kept in air-tight storage with a bit of air in the container. Latakia blends will benefit only if you find the flavor harsh or overpowering. Time has a way of mellowing the strength of Latakia.
- Pressure– Most people think that pressing tobacco is something that only a manufacturer can do, but the truth is, if you have access to a vacuum sealer, you can do a pretty good job of making a cake. Put the tobacco in a sealer bag and heat it for a minute or so in a microwave and then vacuum seal it while pressing down on the bag. Give it 24 hours or so before opening and slicing into strips. Pressure has the effect of marrying flavors more rapidly and completely while bringing out more depth, and in some cases, sweetness.
When talking about adjusting a blend, the keyword to me is light-handed. Always start by adding the smallest amount of the new tobacco that will have an impact, since you can always add more later on, but you can’t remove what you’ve already added.
From the time we were children, there have been authority figures in our lives who have said to us, "If you don’t know, ask." If you’re not sure what move to make, there’s a wealth of information in books, magazines and online to refer to. And don’t forget one of your best resources- your tobacconist. Whether you’re dealing with your local B&M proprietor or with an e-tailer, you have the right to expect assistance from them when you’re trying to tweak your blend. After all, they’re probably going to be the ones selling you the components, so asking for some input is reasonable.
I routinely field a couple of dozen phone calls and double that number of emails each week asking for this kind of help. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I like answering these questions as it gives me a chance to stretch my problem-solving chops. If you can’t seem to find a solution, use the contact info at the end of this article to get in touch with me, and I’ll be glad to see what I can do. I may not have all the answers, but I have a good idea of who might know, and I’ll track down the info, if possible.
Also, work in the smallest batches you realistically can. This way you waste a bare minimum of tobacco if the batch turns out to be a disappointment.
Whatever you do, have fun with it. And, remember that the only person you have to satisfy is yourself.
|
Russ Ouellette is the blender/creator of the Hearth & Home series of tobaccos for Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe and www.pipesandcigars.com in Albany, NY. He has been a pipe smoker and blender for over 30 years, and enjoys feedback from the pipe smoking public. You can reach Russ at russo@pipesandcigars.com or by calling 1-800-494-9144 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm and Friday from 1 pm to 5 pm. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
6 Responses
Smokingpipes.com Updates
12 Fresh Estate Pipes |
6 Fresh Savinelli Autograph Pipes |
24 Fresh Brulor Pipes |
132 Fresh Peterson Pipes |
24 Fresh Rossi Pipes |
Recent Posts
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 636. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.
There’s a pipe in my collection that I cannot bring myself to smoke, though I’ve had it for more years than I care to recall. It’s old, or shall I say, well experienced; that experience, that oldness came to it long before it was in my possession. The pipe is an old Comoy’s Grand Slam from the 1940s. The shape (#93), a slightly canted, stack billiard (sometimes referred to as a Belgian) is right up my alley, and it’s a beautiful example of it. It came to me with some wear and tear; nothing unusual for an old pipe, but more the signs of one that has been well loved, smoked a lot, treated as a favorite tool, cherished, in a sense, by frequent use. It’s the pipe equivalent of a vintage car that’s been driven a lot, enjoyed fully and maintained adequately, rather than one kept in a spotless garage, dusted and detailed weekly, brought out only for leisurely Sunday drives, or to be ogled behind the ropes at the next Concours d’Elegance. When it arrived, those uncounted years ago, it wanted a little restoration. Nothing dramatic needed to be done to it, but the stem was oxidized, the finish a little dingy. The cake was even and fairly thin, and the airway was relatively clean, both signs that its previous owner cared for it, but the bowl’s surface was a little drab and dull. It took little effort to reveal its beauty, to show the lovely contrasted stain and interesting grain beneath the old wax. I often think I should do before and after photos of pipes that I work on, but those thoughts always come after the work’s been done. This one would have been a great illustration of how years of handling that can sometimes make a pipe more beautiful, can other times make it just look grungy. Once I’d cleaned up the externals, it was time to address the inside bits. I approach this a little bassackwards, I realize. It would be more sensible to take care of the inside before addressing the outside, but it’s how I roll. If an old pipe isn’t pretty to look at, it’s unlikely that I’ll care much about it, and cleaning is usually the hardest part, or at least the most boring part of any restoration for me. Alcohol and pipe cleaners. Lots of pipe cleaners. That’s why I leave it for last. Sometimes, I’ll even give a pipe a test smoke before a deep cleaning, just for a point of reference. I gave it a sniff to get an idea of what I was up against, and it stopped me cold. There in that bowl was an aroma that I had not smelled in decades. My head was instantly filled with memories of being in the back room of a fabled Berkeley tobacconist’s shop where I stumbled upon a few jars of long discontinued blends. One of them, a blend called Forty and Eight, had the most engaging and unusual scent of any tobacco I’d stuck my schnoz into. It was sweet, but not in a candy store way. There were none of the usual vanilla, cherry, berry or anise notes of typical aromatics, nothing that could be compared to aftershave or deodorant soap, but something almost musky, a little earthy, something exotic. The shop’s owner couldn’t tell me what was in it, how, or where it had been produced. The old blend had been retired before he’d bought the place. The printed catalogue gave no clues, either, other than being overprinted with the word “DISCONTINUED” in bold, rubber-stamp type. (And, I don’t recall it as being “highly aromatic” as the description indicates.) There was still quite a bit in the jar. Being, at that point, an intrepid explorer of all kinds of tobaccos, whether I thought I’d like them or not, I had to give it a try. It was burly based, but also comprised a good measure of virginia leaf, and maybe some other varieties; I didn’t have enough experience at the time to really pick it apart. But, that aroma was unlike anything I’d experienced before or since. It was something now completely lost to time. Until it wasn’t. Memories are powerful things, and there is no sense more tightly bound to memory than our sense of smell. One whiff was all it took to carry me back in time, conjuring a vivid recollection of something long submerged in the inky depths of a subconscious mind. Look, I know as well as anyone that pipes are meant to be smoked, and that many feel it almost sacrilegious to have a pipe and not set it to its intended task. In this case, I simply can’t. I won’t. Ever. Rationally, I am fairly certain this pipe would probably be a great smoke. It was too well loved by its previous caretaker to be anything less than that. My choice not to smoke it is an emotional one, not something rational. Of the thousands of pipes that have passed through my hands over the years, this is the only one to create such a singular and vivid, almost Proustian recollection of temps perdu, of lost time. It revivified a long dormant memory that is mine, and mine alone, and that’s enough. I keep it in a drawer with other old English pipes. In some ways, it’s nothing special, just a nice old pipe. I don’t lavish it with any particular care that arguably befits the hidden treasure that it holds. It’s not in a special box, or displayed preciously in a glass cabinet. Every once in a while, I take it out, point my nose bowlwards, and every time, those memories return just as powerfully as they did the first time. I have no idea how long it’s been since its last owner smoked it, but in the years I’ve had it, there seems to have been very little degradation of the aroma, and that’s […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Russ, I recently infused some of your fantastic Egg Nog with 18 year old Flor de Cana rum. I just left a small bowl of this rum which has a pervasively sweet aroma inside a container with the tobacco for two or three days, with the lid on of course. Then I transferred the tobacco to a mason jar and left it there for about five days or more. The result is incredible. It seems the more aged the rum the better this type of minimalist infusion works. This process was suggested by my good friend Rob who, like me, is a great fan of your H&H blends.
This i a great example of what can be done at home with minimal equipment. This method of flavoring is often referred to as infusing. If you want, do the same thing with the rum heated up a bit, or with the container in a warm place. It helps release the fumes.
Thanks for the nice comments about H&H, and we’ll have some interesting news to announce soon!
Russ
Thanks for the insight into the various characteristics of component tobaccos. I’m sure this article will be a boon to the DIY’ers in our hobby. I may try a little tweaking myself, just as soon as I’ve sampled all the professionally blended tobaccos already available. 🙂
You’re very welcome on the comments; just a statement of objective reality facts really. And thank you for the warm rum tip. Will be attentive to developments in the interesting news department. Best regards to you Russ.
Very enlightening Russ. Particularly enjoyed the nuances by the tobaccos in the same catagories, lemon Va, etc. My tweaking is usually adding PA to lighten up a blend. have had great results adding PA to Palladin Black cherry, Wine berry, etc. Don’t want to mess up my “good” blends.
Russ, I’ve been trying a 50-50 mix of your Anniversary Kake and Trout Stream. The result is a more sweet and sour version of Luxury Bullseye or Davidoff Flake. I’ve found that both of these benefit from being quite “fresh” the less dried out, the better.