I Think I Finally Perfected My "Black English" Home Blend...

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S

ScienceSmoker

Guest
I've been making my home blend, "Black English", for quite a while. I fiddled with the "recipe" over time... starting out with about 30% Sutliff Red Virginia, 30% Sutliff Stoved Virginia, 20% blending Latakia, and 20% Sutliff's blended Turkish. I tried using Solani's 633 in place of the first Virginia component for a while. Then I finally got a scale and a noodle press and settled on a very simple 25% Sutliff's Virginia Slices, 25% Sutliff's Stoved Virginia, 25% Stokkebye's 310 Black Latakia, and 25% blending Smyrna from PipesandCigars... and then pressing it for about a week. And I love it. It's really one of my favorite English blends now. It's sweet and smooth and it smokes nice and cool.

Any more experienced guys have any thoughts, ideas, ways to improve?
 

F4RM3R

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 28, 2019
567
2,512
38
Canada
Sounds tasty! I’ve done many a test of various English style blends. Just adjust to your preferences. I like around 20-25% latakia but my orientals usually sit around 10-15%. Unless I really want them to stand out.

sometimes I’ll wrap the plug in foil and stove it @200F for some or many hours. A blend like yours might benefit from a couple hours of stoving to meld things a bit. I’ve really “black stoved” some Kentucky Latakia Virginia blends for many hours (12-16) until they were actually black(almost) and they are thick and smooth, but the Latakia changes quite a bit and is much softer.

one of the blends I’m smoking now is an American English style:
-50% kentucky
-25% latakia
-25% red Virginia
- basma oriental(around 5% or so. Didn’t want to do the math)

pressed noodle press overnight and stoved 2 hr at 200f
 

LotusEater

Lifer
Apr 16, 2021
4,084
55,928
Kansas City Missouri
That’s awesome!
I’ve been mixing and pressing my own English blends recently with Turkish Ribbon, Macedonian Prelip, blending and stoved Virginia and Latakia. I’ve come up with some decent mixes but I need to take better notes so I can replicate with consistency. Glad to hear you’ve found the ratios that work for you.
 
S

ScienceSmoker

Guest
Sounds tasty! I’ve done many a test of various English style blends. Just adjust to your preferences. I like around 20-25% latakia but my orientals usually sit around 10-15%. Unless I really want them to stand out.

sometimes I’ll wrap the plug in foil and stove it @200F for some or many hours. A blend like yours might benefit from a couple hours of stoving to meld things a bit. I’ve really “black stoved” some Kentucky Latakia Virginia blends for many hours (12-16) until they were actually black(almost) and they are thick and smooth, but the Latakia changes quite a bit and is much softer.

one of the blends I’m smoking now is an American English style:
-50% kentucky
-25% latakia
-25% red Virginia
- basma oriental(around 5% or so. Didn’t want to do the math)

pressed noodle press overnight and stoved 2 hr at 200f
"A blend like yours might benefit from a couple hours of stoving to meld things a bit."
I never even thought of that... it sounds like a great idea. thanks!
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Sounds good. I'd play around with tweaking the proportions, since I think you have plenty of flavorful leaf to work with. Doubling this and reducing that can make major differences for the better or not.
 

dctune

Part of the Furniture Now
I've been making my home blend, "Black English", for quite a while. I fiddled with the "recipe" over time... starting out with about 30% Sutliff Red Virginia, 30% Sutliff Stoved Virginia, 20% blending Latakia, and 20% Sutliff's blended Turkish. I tried using Solani's 633 in place of the first Virginia component for a while. Then I finally got a scale and a noodle press and settled on a very simple 25% Sutliff's Virginia Slices, 25% Sutliff's Stoved Virginia, 25% Stokkebye's 310 Black Latakia, and 25% blending Smyrna from PipesandCigars... and then pressing it for about a week. And I love it. It's really one of my favorite English blends now. It's sweet and smooth and it smokes nice and cool.

Any more experienced guys have any thoughts, ideas, ways to improve?
I mean, if you need a second opinion, I’d be more than happy to partake of a few bowls and report back! ?
 
  • Haha
Reactions: ScienceSmoker

CherokeeBilly

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 31, 2014
240
20
53
Granbury, TX
Sounds tasty! I’ve done many a test of various English style blends. Just adjust to your preferences. I like around 20-25% latakia but my orientals usually sit around 10-15%. Unless I really want them to stand out.

sometimes I’ll wrap the plug in foil and stove it @200F for some or many hours. A blend like yours might benefit from a couple hours of stoving to meld things a bit. I’ve really “black stoved” some Kentucky Latakia Virginia blends for many hours (12-16) until they were actually black(almost) and they are thick and smooth, but the Latakia changes quite a bit and is much softer.

one of the blends I’m smoking now is an American English style:
-50% kentucky
-25% latakia
-25% red Virginia
- basma oriental(around 5% or so. Didn’t want to do the math)

pressed noodle press overnight and stoved 2 hr at 200f
What does the room note smell like while stoving? Wanna know if I should pre plan my funeral
 
  • Like
Reactions: LotusEater

Jimmy_Jack

Can't Leave
Jun 24, 2021
420
1,493
That’s awesome!
I’ve been mixing and pressing my own English blends recently with Turkish Ribbon, Macedonian Prelip, blending and stoved Virginia and Latakia. I’ve come up with some decent mixes but I need to take better notes so I can replicate with consistency. Glad to hear you’ve found the ratios that work for you.
Where are you finding prelip?
 

Dr. Van Loafer

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 3, 2022
227
1,149
Indiana
Agreed with others this seems like a good blend. I blended an english that is similar to the first recipe with Sutliff 515, Bright Reds, Lighter Reds, Stoved Virginia, Izmar, and Latakia. I used a kitchen scale and made about 1 oz. It has been sitting in a mason jar for 6 months “melding.” So not sure what it tastes like yet! I am wondering and thinking about getting some of P&C’s Turkey that has a blend of oriental to add depth if it seems flat.