Blending Experimentation

[Winterreise]

Today i made my first blending experiment and i really enjoyed it . I tried to do something similar to Golden day of yore (even i never tried it )
I mixed PS bulls eye with irish flake and a pinch of royal Yacht . I infused lots of christmasy spices with honey and a dash of Québec amaretto . When my mixture cooled off i mix it with vodka into a spray bottle and sprayed the baccy .
Do you have any advice in blending/topping/casing and do you have a good recipe to try ?

 

[F4RM3R]

Sounds good! I do alot of stoving and blending using whole leaf. As for casing and topping I keep it pretty simple these days, mostly mixing maple syrup or molasses in black spiced rum or bourbon. I like to soak ground up tonka beans in the bourbon for a week or so and then , spray that on the leaf. Spiced rum is nice(like amaretto) where it already has some flavour infused such as spices and vanilla which translates well to the tobacco.

I like to warm up my tobacco a bit and then spray the topping as it penetrates the leaf better and quicker than just spraying it on cold. Further heating(at around 200°f) in a sealed container(can just be a baking loaf tin with tin foil on the top) for 5-15 min also helps, then I remove the container and wait until it cools to open it up.

 

[chopper]

Sounds good! I do alot of stoving and blending using whole leaf. As for casing and topping I keep it pretty simple these days, mostly mixing maple syrup or molasses in black spiced rum or bourbon. I like to soak ground up tonka beans in the bourbon for a week or so and then , spray that on the leaf. Spiced rum is nice(like amaretto) where it already has some flavour infused such as spices and vanilla which translates well to the tobacco.

I like to warm up my tobacco a bit and then spray the topping as it penetrates the leaf better and quicker than just spraying it on cold. Further heating(at around 200°f) in a sealed container(can just be a baking loaf tin with tin foil on the top) for 5-15 min also helps, then I remove the container and wait until it cools to open it up.

Recipe?

 

[logs]

I've been working on an American/English style cake with a flavor profile similar to Adagio or Morley's Best.
I've found the following will make a nice 2oz crumble cake using a noodle press.

Mix:
35g Blender's Bench Red Virginia or other red VA ribbon
8g Blender's Bench Burley or other dark burley ribbon
10g McClelland's Blending Perique or Whole Leaf Tobacco St James Perique (shredded)
10g Whole Leaf Tobacco Latakia or blending latikia (shredded)

I use Blender's Bench for the red VA and the dark burley because it's good quality and has already been cased, so I don't need to worry about that step. C&D's versions would probably work fine too but I haven't tested them. McClelland's blending perique is easy to work with and I have a stash of it; however, it's expensive and probably too hard to come by for most people. Whole Leaf Tobacco's St James Perique will work well, you'll just need to shred it first. I don't recommend either Sutliff or C&D's perique--they won't have the same flavor.

Mix the leaf in a large bowl or tupperware container until it's well mixed, then spray with distilled water and mix some more. Seal it up airtight with a lid or plastic wrap and let it sit for a few days to absorb the water. I try to make sure the moisture content up quite a bit prior to pressing. After that, I load the noodle press and press for a week. Four weeks would be better but that's a long time to wait if you're testing and tweaking. After that jar it up and let it rest for a while before trying it. The cake will be moist and will need drying prior to smoking.