Blending with Cigar Leaf

[molach95]

I've heard good things about trying cigar leaf in a 1/3 ratio, as you would perique. I hear it's another condiment tobacco. I admit though I have a cherrywood pipe dedicated to cigar butts and caps. I usually collect my stubbed out Hamlet cigars from my ashtray, crumble them up and smoke them. It just tastes like smoking a bowl of Hamlets to me, just mild, cheap Javanese/Brazilian tobacco, not harsh or stale in taste (smell was another story) even after up to a week of sitting.

 

[daveinlax]

I tried replicating Compton's Cuban Style by blending PSBS 5:1 with cigar heads. I never got Cuban Style but it's still pretty good. I mixed the tobacco's gave them a very light spritz of water and Worcestershire sauce and let it sit for a few hours. I pressed the mixture in a cedar lined can with a big C-clamp for a week. I broke up the puck and jarred it with with a few cedar spills. It might be better if I cut back on the PSBS and added 1 part 5100 to the mix. 8O

 

[sumusfumus]

I'm thinking that the cigar-leaf does act, or should act, as a condimental component when mixed into other tobaccos, as molach95 noted.
When I mixed up an experimental batch of "Pleasant Moments" I never wanted or expected the cigar-leaf to dominate. My goal was to fortify and create a more complex "HGL", so I deliberately kept the portion of cigar-leaf on the low side. I could always increase the amount of cigar-leaf if and when. At this point, I'm happy with the results, so far.
Just ordered a sample size amount of J. Patton's "Storm Front" and "Dark and Stormy" for some comparisons. Exited about smoking a few bowlfuls for a taste test.
The plot thickens....
Frank

NYC

 

[davek]

I smoke whole leaf in a pipe. Usually cigar tobacco, been smoking some bright leaf, burley, and etc. too. Dominican, and some other cigar tobaccos, are definitely condiment. Dominican is delicious and I want it in everything, but 10% in a blend is a lot.

 

[deathmetal]

Keep it under 5% and you will not get that "roasted stagnant bog" taste influencing your blend.

 

[sumusfumus]

My samples of John Patton's "Storm Front" and "Dark and Stormy" pipe tobaccos arrived late this afternoon. A severe cold, and clogged nose arrived early this morning. I'm so congested that I could sniff Ammonia without flinching. I sniffed the tobacco samples when they arrived, and smelled zero, zip, nada. So, any comparison smoking of different blends... put on "hold".
My timing is perfect, as always.
Frank

NYC

 

[cigrmaster]

I have a bag of plugged Cuban cigars that have been sitting in my closet for years. Cigars like RyJ Churchills, Partagas Lonsdales and Serie Du Conn 1's. They are all from 1999 and 2000. I wonder what it would taste like if I added a little to a Vaper like Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls? How much do you think I should add?

 

[Chasing Embers]

I like cutting coins from Oliva Maduros and mixing them with ODF. Three thin coins to one flake, and all cube cut.

 

[cigrmaster]

chasing, sounds tasty, I love ODF.

 

[davek]

I've been known to fill a bowl 1/2 to 2/3 full of tobacco and then cut an inch or so off a cigar and stick it on top, sticking out of the bowl. It's a nice parfait and it's also good to get a longer smoke from a small bowl like a MM Legend.

 

[deathmetal]

Some of the blends that I make for myself utilize Cigar Leaf to give the blend that Semois-style almond flavor. It mixes exceptionally well with Burley, but you want something else to harmonize with the flavor unless you just want it to taste like a cigar, which I personally enjoy as well. I can smoke straight Cigar Leaf or mix it with a dark/white Burley mix at 1:3 for a power smoke.

 

[mso489]

It's always time to remind people of the surprising fact (the first time you hear it) that Connecticut is a big state for growing cigar leaf, since it's usually not associated with tobacco as a crop.

 

[npod]

As posted above, the Country Lawyer kinda changed things for me for the better, it's now one my go-to blends.
However, I still do blend my own. IMHO well aged Dominican cigars work best. My favorite is a 3-4 year old Fuente Short Story, I have lots in the humidor and they are like a Swiss Army Knife for pipe blends. Nicaraguan is just too earthy for the pipe (again my opinion).
Like chasingembers I slice the cigar into coins and then rub out and blend typically with 1) Solani Aged Burley Flake, YUM, or 2) Fribourg & Treyer: Special Brown.

 

[mso489]

Recycling cigars as pipe tobacco condiment seems expensive, since the leaf is available in bulk without the expense of having it rolled into a cigar and sold at a good mark-up. But now and then, that might be a treat. A good cigar can cost as much as a tin of premium tobacco, alas.

 

[npod]

Recycling cigars as pipe tobacco condiment seems expensive, since the leaf is available in bulk without the expense of having it rolled into a cigar and sold at a good mark-up. But now and then, that might be a treat. A good cigar can cost as much as a tin of premium tobacco, alas.

100% agree. And to clarify from at least my end I do this to cigars that bad wrappers or are plugged/defective. It breaks your heart to pull out a well aged stick that can't be smoked. Those are the ones I smoke in the pipe.

 

[perdurabo]

Purple Cow and Billy Budd, need I say more?

 

[sumusfumus]

After a terrible month of fighting sinus infections and allergies, I was finally able to smoke a few bowlfuls of John Patton's "Storm Front" and compare this blend to the cigar-leaf blend that I call "Pleasant Moments". I will re-post the final recipe, below.
Well, to be honest "Storm Front" smokes slightly sweeter than PM, it's just as mild, and if I didn't know that cigar leaf was used, I would not be able to single it out. It is too subtle for my palate to pick up. Storm Front comes closest to the original version PM that was made using Lane Ltd RLP-6 instead of "HGL" as a major component. SF is very mild, and well balanced. I had no problems smoking this "aromatic" and will continue to smoke this great mixture. However, it lacks the slightly piney-smokey taste and exotic fragrance that HGL brings to PM with its small addition of Latakia. In addition, I think PM has a more noticeable amount of cigar-leaf in both flavor and aroma. No dizziness, no queasy stomach, no nic buzz.
I could live with either of these blends and be very happy smoking them for years to come.
**************************************************************************
PLEASANT MOMENTS Cigar-Leaf Blend
Base:
2 ounces: Cigar-Leaf (Maduro) I used cigar "trimmings" from hand-rolled cigars.

2 ounces: match "Elizabethan" (Sutliff)

2 ounces: Cube-Cut Burley (Stokkebye)

________________________________________
Add to this base: 10 ounces of Lane Ltd "HGL" or "RLP-6" + additional 1-2 ounces of Lane's "BCA". Mix well and lightly press into a crumble-cake/store 1 month to blend tobacco flavors.
With: "HGL"....more nuanced flavors and more exotic, piney aromas.

With: "RLP-6"....very close to a "match" of "STORM FRONT" ...but with a little more cigar-leaf flavor-IMO.
Frank

NYC

 

[joeg]

Wow..thanks for sharing. Some very interesting information here, Frank. I like blending at home too and I will try what you suggest. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again; have a great weekend, Joe G., Danbury, CT