Huck Finn and His Corn Silk in a Cob
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I would especially agree with you about Moby Dick. Back when I thought of tackling that book way back when I was 16, I anticipated I would put it aside after a few pages. Was so captivated I read it across a week. I have read it through at least 5 more times and I get more out of it each time.
You've inspired me to re-read it. The first few chapters of 'Moby Dick' had the same affect on me as the beginning of 'Treasure Island' did when I was a child: I was magically moved into the author's setting.
I hope no one minds me resurrecting this old thread; it was the only thread on this site with "corn silk" in the title and you never know when someone might be searching a topic here. I've been doing a fair bit of experimenting with corn silk and thought I'd post my notes here for the future Huck Finns of the smoking world:
Latest Experiments with Corn Silk (June 2025):
Silk stripped from cob, rinsed and refrigerated in a sealed plastic container in the refrigerator for 10 days.
Dried in the same container with lid ajar for a week. The hope was to increase the sugars in the silk by a long, damp, cool storage.
Oven dried at low heat for an hour.
Mixed with topping (cooked down rum, cherry liquor, a pinch of sugar, star anise seed and a big pinch of pipe Tobacco).
The result was a sticky tobacco-colored mess. It was jarred for a week but stayed sticky.
The sticky silk was finely chopped/cube cut and mixed 50/50 with Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. It was very difficult to tell it’s 50% corn silk visually. Smells a bit like old Mixture 79.
First smoke – very mild, no corn taste or smell from burning mixture (some corn hints from the jar). Smell was very nice but the taste was quite mild, maybe too mild. The 50/50 mixture would be a good neutral filler for other tobaccos. The mixture burned into hard black chunks, almost like chunks of coal. I suspect this is from the sugar added as well as the sugar in the rum and cherry liqueur. It needed a lot of re-lights during the final third of the bowl. Much more drying is needed.
Sep 2025 update: Three months later stored in a sealed jar it’s still sticky, but looks just like normal tobacco. With a through drying it is a great neutral filler for any tobacco; I don’t smoke it straight often. For future batches I’ll use no sugar and possibly a bit less cooked down rum/cherry liquids (to prevent the long term stickiness. When smoked as a filler to other tobacco, the dryer silk still leaves some dark residue after combustion, but not the hard chunks observed originally.
This process might be a viable option to extend tobacco in countries with excessive taxes on tobacco exist.
Latest Experiments with Corn Silk (June 2025):
Silk stripped from cob, rinsed and refrigerated in a sealed plastic container in the refrigerator for 10 days.
Dried in the same container with lid ajar for a week. The hope was to increase the sugars in the silk by a long, damp, cool storage.
Oven dried at low heat for an hour.
Mixed with topping (cooked down rum, cherry liquor, a pinch of sugar, star anise seed and a big pinch of pipe Tobacco).
The result was a sticky tobacco-colored mess. It was jarred for a week but stayed sticky.
The sticky silk was finely chopped/cube cut and mixed 50/50 with Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. It was very difficult to tell it’s 50% corn silk visually. Smells a bit like old Mixture 79.
First smoke – very mild, no corn taste or smell from burning mixture (some corn hints from the jar). Smell was very nice but the taste was quite mild, maybe too mild. The 50/50 mixture would be a good neutral filler for other tobaccos. The mixture burned into hard black chunks, almost like chunks of coal. I suspect this is from the sugar added as well as the sugar in the rum and cherry liqueur. It needed a lot of re-lights during the final third of the bowl. Much more drying is needed.
Sep 2025 update: Three months later stored in a sealed jar it’s still sticky, but looks just like normal tobacco. With a through drying it is a great neutral filler for any tobacco; I don’t smoke it straight often. For future batches I’ll use no sugar and possibly a bit less cooked down rum/cherry liquids (to prevent the long term stickiness. When smoked as a filler to other tobacco, the dryer silk still leaves some dark residue after combustion, but not the hard chunks observed originally.
This process might be a viable option to extend tobacco in countries with excessive taxes on tobacco exist.
wild lettuce is an effective drug, however it's not really any more recreational then tylenol. But smoking it is an effective pain killer. Also known as prickly lettuce. Probably already said this but....here I go again.
Never tried corn silk, but when I was a kid, we used to collect cattails from the bogs and light them at the gas stove.
The idea was to keep mosquitos at bay. I doubt it did much good as a bug repellent, but I loved the scent and thought maybe pipe smoking would be similarly pleasant.
The idea was to keep mosquitos at bay. I doubt it did much good as a bug repellent, but I loved the scent and thought maybe pipe smoking would be similarly pleasant.
I still remember that unique smell. I always thought they did a good job at repelling mosquitoes, no one seemed to like the smell though.