Was just thinking today. Shag or very fine shredded tobacco seems to smoke better. Do people shred their tobacco to a finely shredded type? Is so, what do you use to do it?
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Does Anyone Shred Their Tobacco?
- Thread starter Zartoon
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Some folks go as far as to use a coffee grinder...I either rub it out well or cube cut.
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I have problems with extremely long ribbons going down and clogging the airway.
like, do some people just shove that pile of hay down the pipe?
like, do some people just shove that pile of hay down the pipe?
With Five Brothers I do. Just shove that mat of tobacco right in there. If its dry enough it helps it to burn right. I don't know what Frank would say about that. But hey, we don't even know who Frank is.
Way back in 1996, famed pipe and tobacco legend Michael Butera was the subject of an article in Pipes and Tobaccos Magazine. In it, he wrote that he used a one speed food processor to grind all of his tobacco. He said by doing so, it made the tobacco easier to load, pack evenly and keep lit, and eliminated "hot spots."He also said it mixed the variants in the tobacco more evenly which provided consistent taste sensations. Finally, he said DO NOT use a juicer or coffee grinder because the rpm speed would turn the tobacco into puree.
I've been using that method ever since with a Black and Decker one speed food processor (easily found on Amazon). I admit that I was so eager to try the method that before I got the processor, I used my wife's juicer the first time and she was quite unhappy to find shards of Latakia in her freshly made orange juice the next morning. I thought that I had cleaned out the juicer very well... but, I guess not. I got out of the house quickly and went to work early that day.
I've been using that method ever since with a Black and Decker one speed food processor (easily found on Amazon). I admit that I was so eager to try the method that before I got the processor, I used my wife's juicer the first time and she was quite unhappy to find shards of Latakia in her freshly made orange juice the next morning. I thought that I had cleaned out the juicer very well... but, I guess not. I got out of the house quickly and went to work early that day.
For flakes, I prefer cub cutting. It gives me all of the benefits of a flake, without all the fussiness that I can get with uneven burns and having to constantly fiddle with the bowl while smoking.
Purchased 2 of these of Amazon for under 20$. They do a nice job on medallions and plugs. The pyramid shaped teeth doesn't pulverize the tobacco. 1 or 2 twists and it's a broken flake. 3-4 twists and you have more of a ribbon. Works pretty well.
Other than plugs I pretty much just stuff it in. Amazing how forgiving tobacco is when it's dry enough and not packed too tight.
Shred sounds to me like elongated pieces of tobacco, which I would usually smoke as-is unless they were too thick. I have one of those little hand graters that does a nice job of breaking up flake/coin/plug/and rope if desired, but it is more grating than shredding (by my word choice). In many cases, just hand rubbing into a pottery bowl suffices. But yes, I sure rub out or grate blends, sometimes loose tobacco that is a little too irregular to smoke evenly. I'm happier when I do the prep in advance, so I'm not awaiting my pipe smoking while I fiddle around with it.
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