Anyone Have A Favourite Home Made Mix/Blend?

[mawnansmiff]

Ever since I have smoked a pipe I have played around with mixing various bought blends together...often with very surprising results. I would sometimes try to 'bury' a not so nice blend with one I liked and the end result was not surprisingly an unpleasant one.
Now I do it with much more thought behind it and the results thus far are very pleasing.
One example is Gawith & Hoggarth's Brown Bogie. I do so love the flavour but find it rather overpowering in the strength department so I mixed it with some Curly Cut, also by G&H. It took some experimentation but I concluded that a 60/40 mix of BB and CC gave me just what I wanted. The choice of using Curly Cut was made for me as it is essentially a cut rope so I was mixing like with like. This I take into consideration in all of my home mixes.
Another is Gawith & Hoggarth's Dark Flake, again I find it somewhat harsh despite loving the flavour. This I mix 50/50 with Sam Gawith's Full Virginia Flake to smooth things out some. I still get to taste that lovely dark fired leaf of DF but I also still get the malty sweetness of the FVF.
Finally St. James Flake, another great blend from Sam Gawith. This I really do like as it is but just occasionally I like to smoke something with less Perique so again I mix this 50/50 but with Sam Gawith's Golden Glow just to take the edge off. The peppery Perique is still there but muted by the citrusy grassy Virginia of the GG.
There are other home mixes that I like and I do occasionally knock up new mixes to try so I wondered if other forum members tinker with their off the shelf blends.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[ray47]

Lane Limited 1Q & BCA 50/50

Lane Limited RLP-6 & BCA 70/30

 

[zerohunter]

I've been meaning to mix FVF with Solani ABF. The premium VA/Bur. Could be too much, but I've always wanted to try it.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Zero, I have mixed Solani's ABF with Gawith & Hoggarth's Westmorland Slices (50/50) to great effect so I just might try it with FVF next time.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have a few that I love. First are the twists that I made from my own homegrown Virginias and dark virginias with a little rustica. I added some tinned perique to a few of these twists. They are not mind-blowing, but I think that a few years in the cellar will set back the harshness.
My almost everyday smoke is to take a flake of PS LTF and LNF and twist them together and stuff roughly into the bowl. These two work together to make a wonderful smoke. This is called the Cosmic Twist.
4oz PS Dark Fired Kentucky and a tin of Danske Mellow Orange and a half oz of GH&co Kendal Banana. I had meant to make it just for my morning aromatic, but it has been so good that I have been smoking it at other times of the day as well. Smokey and heavy mouth feel with a touch of orangey sweetness to it. BTW, the Kendal Banana does not taste or smell like bananas at all. It is just a mellow sweetness that compliments the orange flavors, IMO.
One tin of Molto Dolce with one oz of GH&co Coconut Twist, it has that wonderful flavor of Molto Dolce, but with some strength to it. Being a weak, gutless tobacco is what turns me off to most aromatics.
I once had to find a way to get through a tin of Firedance, so I added it to Newmister's Blackberry Brandy. It was a pleasant smoke and had a nice nic hit to it.
ODF and a flake of Solani Tropical Mango Flake twisted together and stuffed is a very pleasurable smoke. The ODF tones down the aromatic qualities of the Mango Flake, and the Mango Flake adds some sweetness and interest to the bland ODF. They go together IMO like peanut butter and chocolate.
McClelland's Dark Star ground up and and blended equally with Esoterica's Tillbury, adds sweetness to the earthy/dirt tasting Tillbury and makes the Dark Star burn better. Now, I just avoid buying any Tillbury, but it made finishing that bag of Tillbury much easier.
Oh, and at times I will add some whole leaf latakia to Red Cake to spice it up a tad.
There are a few others that I mix and match together here and there. I like to try new things, experiment. Just to keep things interesting. When you smoke twelve or so bowls a day, trying something new keeps my palate on its toes. ::

 

[pitchfork]

Those sound great, Jay. Will have to try those sometime.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

75% Mcclelland 5100

15% Mcclelland 5105

10% Newminster 403.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

McClelland's Dark Star ground up and and blended equally with Esoterica's Tillbury, adds sweetness to the earthy/dirt tasting Tillbury and makes the Dark Star burn better. Now, I just avoid buying any Tillbury, but it made finishing that bag of Tillbury much easier.

I'll hafta try this.

 

[mso489]

One that always works for me, impromptu with whatever is at hand, is equal parts of Virginia and burley -- McClellands 5100 Red Va and Big 'n Burley, for example, and a hefty pinch of black Cavedish, unflavored if possible. Right now, PC/Russ' Log Cabin is filling this need, but otherwise this is usually a winner.
In other instances, though not a specific recipe, a dusting of Izmur or cigar leaf is a nice touch to vary a blend or buck up the last of a jar or pouch. These are useful for bucking up an English blend where the Lat has gone flat.

 

[toobfreak]

Jay, everything I'm smoking right now is a homemade blend and they are ALL good, but I don't have any formulas to give.

 

[aimlesswanderer]

I have got a batch jarred away which is a bit of a "reject" blend. There's some 1792 in there, as I found the tonquin overwhelming, several mixed dregs from the bottom of pouches when there wasn't enough for a proper bowl full. There's also some twist, #7 broken flake, and dried out Commonwealth Mixture and Squadron Leader all thrown in the same batch. It works. It's smokeable, and it makes use of tobaccos that I either didn't like or went past their best.
Aside from that, I have used ribbon and shag cuts to top off a bowl of flake, effectively as tinder to help them get going. I've also added Pigtail to a couple of tamer tobaccos to give them a bit more oomph.
I've also layered tobaccos, with a lighter aro on top and a lat blend beneath, which has stopped me being both underwhelmed with the back end of the aro, and overwhelmed with the back end of the lat blend.
It's fun to experiment.

 

[bryguysc]

I often enjoy a mix of 3/4 McClelland 5110 and 1/4 Peter Stockebye Black Latakia.

 

[Chasing Embers]

50% Old Dark Fired and 50% Black XX Twist

 

[drrock]

@Cosmic writes: "One tin of Molto Dolce with one oz of GH&co Coconut Twist, it has that wonderful flavor of Molto Dolce, but with some strength to it."
That one sounds really interesting - an aro with cajones! Now I have to get some of the Sweet Coconut Twist. Damn TAD...

 

[kimbiker]

Not mixed for years but I used to smoke 2 parts B & H Mellow Virginia to 1 part Gold Block...lovely aroma and good smoke.

 

[jitterbugdude]

I'm working on a substitute for a Lakeland blend. So far I've combined 50% Mixture 79 with 50% urinal cake. I've pressed this into a block. The blend is currently being aged in my Grandmothers dresser so it'll be awhile until I know the results.

 

[mortonbriar]

Every time Cosmic brings up the coconut twist I look for, and find it out of stock everywhere. It's an elusive tease of a blend!
I have mixed quite a few things along the way. One thing that has stayed constant is mcclellands bulk turkish ribbon blend, this is my favourite of all of their oriental leaf offerings, and I find it very well balanced for mixing with aromatics or virginias.
My everyday smoke for the last month or so has been a jar made up by taking a bunch of newminster flakes no.400, rubbing them right out and mixing them with the turkish ribbon, almost 50/50, slightly more flake. Sweet and sour I call it.
The go to aromatic for family walks over the years has been RLP-6, which I also cut 50/50 with the turkish ribbon.
Isaac

 

[cosmicfolklore]

and find it out of stock everywhere. It's an elusive tease of a blend!

I'm sorry, but if I mention it before I stock up, I'd never be able to find it. ::

 

[jerwynn]

Between my son and I, we came up with the tin-bottoms of Dunhill My Mixture 965, Nat Sherman 536(I think... a light English anyway), Hearth and Home Cerberus and Magnum Opus, Boswell's North Woods, and maybe a smattering of several consistent-with-the-basic-theme others. The resulting hodgepodge was en elysian blend unlike any other! We named it Rampant Lion! We've even talked about buying tins of all those again and mixing them up in hopes of getting the same result. By now, we also had a jar of this that sat for two years which we just recently got into... it was a sublime and awe-filled smoke!

 

[skraps]

2 part C&D Cubed Burley

1 part Stokkebye Vanilla Black Cav

1 part Sutliff Spiced Rum
Hefty pinch of Perique

Hefty pinch of C&D Burley Ribbon Cut
I run the Cav and Spiced Rum through a couple pulses in the food processor so that it blends better. Mix it all together, let sit for a few days and voila!