Custom Blends at Home

[rsshreck32]

For those of you who get creative with your purchases and are willing to share:
What are some good custom blends you've come up with that have readily available components?

 

[AcesAndEights]

Pegasus was just kinda meh for me, and Blood Red Moon was WAY too sweet. I mixed them and it actually made a pretty nice smoke.

 

[rsshreck32]

Pegasus was just kinda meh for me, and Blood Red Moon was WAY too sweet. I mixed them and it actually made a pretty nice smoke.

I haven't tried BRM yet, but that is one blend that I see a lot of people mixing with something else because it is too sweet.

 

[mso489]

The simplest recipe that can be done with a wide variety of tobaccos is a Virginia or burley base, with the other of those as a condiment, and a pinch of unflavored or flavored black Cavendish. You can adjust proportions to get a surprising variety of different blends that can adjusted from day to day to suit your fancy. These can be mixed up a bowl or three at a time.

After you have explored that, you can add in a pinch of Turkish or another Oriental, or cigar leaf, for a change-up.

Change the proportions and you get an entirely different flavor profile. You will surprise yourself at how good these smokes can be, mainly because you can tweak them to suit your mood.

 

[Servant King]

Two parts Ashton Gold Rush, one part Lane BCA. Formerly used Sutliff Black Swan, but that's gone now.

 

[vosBghos]

Sutliff TS-24 Sutliff TS-19 C&D Izmir in equal 3rds makes for a great Oriental only smoke

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I mainly smoke c&d dark burley straight. But occasionally for variety I’ll blend it with

A pinch of Latakia (for a smoke better than “billy budd” in my opinion)

Pinches of perique, Izmir, and Latakia (I like my proportions better than Big n Burley)

I sometimes do about 70% dark burley with 30% Izmir for a butterscotch-y note

I sometimes blend about 60 % c&d white burley with 15% dark burley and 25% Izmir. This makes the oriental more pronounced

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

I tried this once. I had some gh bright cr flake, a non-entity of a tobacco as far as I am concerned. Hot air. I put some gh american vanilla in with it, a sugar bomb blend. I was hoping a sprinkle of sugar would wake it up. It didn't, because the base tobacco was so dead, the sugar completely took over. Hot air became sweet hot air. Yet I am sure that people who blend for a living would be able to make something out of such a useless tobacco. Alas, I am not one of those people. Moral of the story, leave the blending to the experts.

 

[Scottmi]

Bayou Veermaster - 2 oz Bayou Morning and 50g Hamborger Veermaster (or 60% 40% by weight). My favorite morning VaPer.

Blackadder - Peretti English 50% and Peretti Ebony 50%. Yum!

 

[Sobrbiker]

 

[Buckeyestime]

2/3 1Q with 1/3 English (I use a PS Luxury English).

 

[Dave760]

90% D&R Windsail + 10% blending Perique (adjust to taste).

 

[MidTNPiper]

Im very new at trying my hand at this, but am currently exploring mixing otc with various degrees of dark fired ky. As of right now, my best blend has been equal parts Granger and ODF (HH series). I just mixed up some 40% Bold Ky with 60% Granger and dont find it as good.

Two things:
Let it sit for 2-4 weeks shaking the jar every few days before smoking.

And if going down the HH ODF or BK route, microwave the flakes for 15/20 seconds before weighing out. I made the mistake once of rubing out and measuring right away. The blend was too moist for quite some time.

I think my next stop is going to be using OJK - blue with ODF. Possibly the granger just doesnt blend as well due to to PG - i dunno.

Final though: i love SWR regular. Even in the pouch it says for blending…dont know why, but that seems like not as good of a choice to blend with vs granger. The pointer is more “pure burley” to my taste buds…

 

[MidTNPiper]

Oh and ive been looking at a pasta press too for making pucks. Not sure that will accomplish a better tasting blend though,Anyone care to comment? It just seems like a convenient way to store tobacco for spacial reason. Again, no expert here, but i hear it makes a cake, i would want to make a true plug.

 

[yanoJL]

Oh and ive been looking at a pasta press too for making pucks. Not sure that will accomplish a better tasting blend though,Anyone care to comment? It just seems like a convenient way to store tobacco for spacial reason. Again, no expert here, but i hear it makes a cake, i would want to make a true plug.

I do it. With the noodle press. It works well, but...
It's a cake. It can get hard as a hockey puck. A decent knife or plug cutter is required to carve off a piece. But unless you're laying out whole leaf, I think you're technically pressing a cake.
I usually put just over 2 ounces in the press. I feel like you could probably get closer to three ounces comfortably. But I typically store the pressed puck in 4 ounce jelly jars (2-piece lids). And about 2.2 ounces fills the little jars perfectly.

(Below left: pressed for 7 days, tightening every day. Below right: pressed for 2 days without tightening every day. The puck wanted to expand after removing it from the press. Too tall for a 4oz jar. But it was easier to cut)

 

[Scottmi]

New custom blend I'm calling "1781"
It's a 50/50 mix of John Patton's Storm Front and C&D Yorktown. Been enjoying this so much I will mix this up with the rest of my Storm Front. In trying to figure out a name, searched up storms that have hit Yorktown, Va. Turns out a famous one on Oct. 16, 1781 turned back the british army in the Battle of Yorktown, resulting in Lord Cornwallis' surrender on Oct. 19, 1781. This event marked a turning point in the American Revolution, leading to the eventual recognition of the United States as an independent nation.

The surrender was depicted in an oil painting (below) by John Trumbull, completed in 1820, which now hangs in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC.

Go figure. Serendipity!

 

[supdog]

Here's a place to start

https://www.bettercodger.com/images/Blend%20Your%20Own_FREE.pdf

https://www.bettercodger.com/images/Ninety%20More%20Pipe%20Blends%2011%20FINAL_FREE.pdf

Yoy can also go to Pipe Smokers Den, they have a sub-forum dedicated to home blending.