Adding Cinnamon To A Blend

[Chasing Embers]

Still lamenting the discontinued announcement of Angler's Dream, I noticed similar flavor notes in C&D's Pegasus. I am thinking of steeping some cinnamon sticks in a jar of Everclear for a few weeks, then lightly misting Pegasus with the decanted solution to add a bit of cinnamon. Any other methods of flavoring with cinnamon that anyone knows of? Feel free to chime in Russ, I am looking in your direction anyway. :nana:

 

[prairiedruid]

There is cinnamon oil but it is very powerful stuff and would have to be diluted to use on tobacco.

 

[perdurabo]

Embers try this. Bring a cup of water to a boil. Steep the cinnamon sticks for a few hours. Then add some sugar and reduce, spray on the tobacco when the liquid reaches room temp. Of course you will have to eyeball and trial and error this recipe. It may be a more rewarding smoke, than the alcohol tincture.

 

[ltstone]

You could add some Sutlif Cinnamon delight or Black spice both of which are a black cavendish. But that may add some unwanted sweetness.

 

[agnosticpipe]

Hopefully you'll find a process that works Duane. I like the flavor of cinnamon and bought some PS Cinnamon blend a few months ago, but I didn't get the flavor I wanted. It seemed to be a fairly generic aro that had only a slight cinnamon flavor to it.

So keep us posted please and if you find one that works the best, I'll give it whirl. (I know, I'm just being lazy) :wink:

 

[okiebrad]

Maybe a trick like Frog Morton Cellar does with the stave? Drop a cinnamon stick in your tobacco jar let it age for bit?

 

[Chasing Embers]

All excellent ideas my friends. May have a few control groups just to see which works best. Any more ideas though, fire away. I'm all ears!

 

[ray47]

I'm a huge fan of C&D's Pegasus. I never got the cinnamon taste in Pegasus. Of course I was never looking for it. If I'm correct, Russ said shortly after Anglers Dream was discontinued, that he may bring it back in pouch form in the future. I sure hope so because AD is a fine blend.

 

[Chasing Embers]

No cinnamon in Pegasus, but I found enough similarity in Pegasus to try to replicate AD by adding cinnamon to it.

 

[shutterbugg]

Maybe pop a red-hot in your mouth or chew a stick of Dentyne original while you're smoking?

 

[beastinview]

I just threw together a homebrew blend last night with cinnamon as one of the players. It sounds like you want a subtle cinnamon taste, so I'd advise just going to the store and picking up some cinnamon oil, a spray bottle, and mixing with Everclear to dilute. It sprays on easily, though I find I have to let it sit in a jar for a while for the cinnamon flavor to really bind to the tobacco and become a part of it.
I wanted a more powerful cinnamon flavor for the blend I was working on last night, and what I ended up using this time around Lorann Oils Cinnamon Oil that I ordered frmo Amazon. It is powerful stuff--I believe 10-20x as concentrated as your general store-bought flavorings. I still had to dilute it, but I prefer a more pure flavoring diluted in just alcohol that mostly evaporates away, as opposed to the more diluted, syrupy flavors.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Sounds like some powerful stuff! Have you smoked any of it yet?

 

[pylorns]

Yeah I'd look at essential oils - the cinnamon they've extracted what you need but you need to cook it into a sauce - like sugar water and then add the essential oil. That said I think House of Calaash who does his own blends may actually put the spices themselves into the blends - I could be wrong. Like Grandfathers own has cinnamon and nutmeg, I'm not sure how he accomplishes this.

 

[beastinview]

I haven't. I think I'm going to let it sit until Christmas and see what it tastes like.
When I was a child, at Christmas my mother used to always help us push clove buds into oranges and leave them in a big wooden bowl to give the house a nice orange/clove Christmas scent. I also love the smell of smoke on the air as people light their fireplaces as it gets cold--something that comes quite late in the year down in the south. I wanted to make a blend that reproduced that essence, so I ended up blending some bright Virginia, Cavendish, and Latakia as the base of the blend. I diluted clove oil, cinnamon oil, a tiny bit of anise, and orange oil together and sprayed it down. I'll let it sit for four months and see what I get. I've nicknamed the blend "Father Christmas." I'm sure the result will be something potent and probably polarizing to most people... in the realm of Ennerdale, My Mixture 79, etc.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I like Ennerdale, and Mixture 79, so sounds good to me!

 

[beastinview]

One note: if you do get some of those Lorann Oils or similarly concentrated blends, be careful not to spill the oil directly on your hands. It will burn like a strong liniment, so best to use gloves while mixing. I think it was mostly the cloves that did this in my blend, and I expect they'll mellow out over time so I won't burn my mouth to bits!

 

[beastinview]

Update: the Lorann Oils cinnamon flavoring is extremely effective on tobacco. I smoked a bowl for a preview.
The McCormick cinnamon extract you buy at the store works OK, but is diluted in propylene glycol and alcohol. I'd guess it might work better for your purposes, since you just want a hint of cinnamon. To achieve that with the Lorann Oils you'd have to dilute it quite a bit.

 

[tmb152]

Duane, one of the questions is the solubility of cinnamon bark essence in either water or alcohol, the other is which penetrates the tobacco best. According to my herbal pharmacopeia, it is available in both a water and tincture form. Once you find the optimum solution, I would spray it on, layer the tobacco and press the tobacco together tightly for a few days for even distribution. I have made a form that holds the tobacco with a square plug that fits tightly into the opening that clamped together, does a very good job of pressing tobacco tightly into a cube much like you get in many tins (a crumble cake or plug of about a couple ounces). Good luck with the experiments--- you might also want to investigate cloves as a possibly related flavoring.

 

[beastinview]

you might also want to investigate cloves as a possibly related flavoring.

Cloves seem to impart the flavor much more successfully than cinnamon from my experiences, and blending the two together is the best IMO.
It seems that smoking takes the "edge" off of the cinnamon, so that it lacks the spiciness that one finds when it is used in food. One is left with the undertones of cinnamon without the spiciness. Clove oil gives a similar edge that does not dissipate in the smoking, so when combined with cinnamon, to my palate it produces a flavor a little closer to what cinnamon tastes like in edible products.

 

[mso489]

The professional cinnamon flavored blends I've tried imparted a serious chemical burn on my mouth that did not enhance my holiday spirit as intended, so I'll leave cinnamon alone.