Increasing a Blend's Nicotine Content Without Altering the Flavor?

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Some recent posts in the TAD Pick-Ups thread got me wondering, is there a particular tobacco that would be a good mixer to increase a blend's nicotine content without altering the flavor?

For my specific use case I really love the flavor Cult Blood Red Moon, but I am admittedly a nicotine addict and often like to smoke a pipe as a replacement for cigarettes; and unfortunately I find Blood Red Moon to be completely devoid of nicotine to the point that I'm practically tearing my hair out jonesing for a cigarette by the time I finish a pipe of it.

It doesn't much nicotine to make me happy, even blends on the lighter side of medium like Mac Baren Vanilla Cream and Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening do the trick for me, I'd just like to find something to add to Blood Red Moon to boost the Vitamin N content a bit without altering the flavor too much.

I was thinking some Burley blending varietal from Cornell & Diehl like White Burley or Cube Cut Burley might be the ticket, but I could definitely use some recommendations!

 

[MattRVA]

Autumn Evening is actually pretty strong… the leaf used in Autumn Evening is the Red Virginia Cavendish and I’d recommend mixing that in, also white burley, Maryland or 5 Brothers to add strength without much flavor.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

If you’re not averse to adding vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol to your tobacco, there is liquid nicotine made for vaping you could use as an additive.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

Larger bowl or a nic patch wont change the flavor 1 bit. But kidding aside, you could try to do a deep dive to see what the main component is of said blend, in this case (CBRM), I'm pretty sure it's burley and cavendish, so you could try small portions of C&D cube cut burley and see how that treats you. You could try other types like Haunted Bookshop or Old Joe Krantz just to see if the added perique adds a nice sweet and spicy to your bowl.

All that said, it might be quite fun toying with different blends to see if you find a REAL winner. I would try adding blends that you already have before you go buying new ones just to try for this experiment. Also, I might suggest smoking your mixes in a smaller bowl, just in case it's a 1 puff "NOPE!".

 

[MattRVA]

I edited my reply but in case you miss it, I think C&D Red Virginia Cavendish might be the ticket.

 

[Mrs. Pickles]

I’ve never tried this, but some people swear by parfait packing the top 1/2 - 2/3 of the bowl with Five Brothers on top of whatever you want your main tobacco flavor to be.

 

[canucklehead]

I use dark air cured for that exact purpose, it doesn't take very much.

Dark Air Cured Tobacco, 1lb.

This is a high nicotine Dark Air variety. It is a thick, gummy leaf that has a multitude of uses including cigarettes, pipe and smokeless.

wholeleaftobacco.com

 

[Ghosted Tamper]

Not sure adding an additional, more potent tobacco wouldn't change the flavor at least a little bit. I'll piggyback @TheIronMonkey's suggestion and opt for liquid nicotine in the strength of your preference. But, who knows; perhaps adding another tobacco will be a happy accident and alter the flavors in your favor, thus creating a more enjoyable smoke in both strength and flavor?

 

[anotherbob]

mix in some five bros. Though anything you add will change the flavor but if it's appreciable is the question.

 

[Bbailey324]

I've found that smoking low nicotine blends with a fat pinch of Copenhagen in my mouth corrects any perceived nicotine deficit. I think that doesn't well answer the posed question, however.

 

[bullet08]

Warning about liquid nicotine. Know what you are doing and specific in how you dilute that stuff. At concentrated level, it's poisonous.

 

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I'm no chemist and I'm not a fan of having propylene glycol on my pipe tobaccos so I think I'll pass on the liquid nicotine route, but I will try picking up some samples of blending components on my next SmokingPipes order! I already know that Red Virginia Cavendish tends to be pretty irritating on my throat so I'll try Cornell & Diehl's White Burley and Cube Cut Burley as well as a pouch of 5 Brothers and see if any of them blend well with Blood Red Moon. They're not expensive to try so I think it'll be worth a go.

 

[anotherbob]

Warning about liquid nicotine. Know what you are doing and specific in how you dilute that stuff. At concentrated level, it's poisonous.

on that statement. The ways we ingest nicotine are super horribly inefficient the percentage we get from a cigarette is a tiny shaving of what's in the tobacco. It's a very strong substance and the difference between a blend that feels nothing and head spinning is pretty tiny.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I'm no chemist and I'm not a fan of having propylene glycol on my pipe tobaccos so I think I'll pass on the liquid nicotine route, but I will try picking up some samples of blending components on my next SmokingPipes order! I already know that Red Virginia Cavendish tends to be pretty irritating on my throat so I'll try Cornell & Diehl's White Burley and Cube Cut Burley as well as a pouch of 5 Brothers and see if any of them blend well with Blood Red Moon. They're not expensive to try so I think it'll be worth a go.

Five Bros will definitely get you there. But take care mixing. It's a very stringy shag cut, so mixing it together will well take a minute to get right.

 

[kcghost]

This might be a question for Jeremy Reeves to answer. Or you could call the makers of CBRM and see what they say.

 

[yanoJL]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I'm no chemist and I'm not a fan of having propylene glycol on my pipe tobaccos so I think I'll pass on the liquid nicotine route, but I will try picking up some samples of blending components on my next SmokingPipes order! I already know that Red Virginia Cavendish tends to be pretty irritating on my throat so I'll try Cornell & Diehl's White Burley and Cube Cut Burley as well as a pouch of 5 Brothers and see if any of them blend well with Blood Red Moon. They're not expensive to try so I think it'll be worth a go.

I also think mixing in a blending burley would be the way to go. Burley is useful to blenders as it not only adds nicotine/ strength to a blend, but it also absorbs flavors from casings and toppings very well. So, if it were up to me, I would create a mix of CBRM and blending burley and press it, giving it a few weeks to meld together, allowing the burley to soak up some of the aromatic flavor.
The first time I tried CBRM I found the flavor to be a little too strong for my taste. So I did just this, mixed it with other tobaccos to dilute the flavor a bit. And I found that the flavor is strong enough that it doesn't dilute easily. So I think, even after mixing, you should still get enough of the CBRM taste you enjoy.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Try not eating for while beforehand?

 

[mso489]

I'll echo the recommendation on Five Brothers. It won't change the flavor that much, and it will deliver a nicotine hit. It's all-purpose and inexpensive.

 

[badbriar]

I like to add just a touch of GH or SG Brown Rope to a mild blend.
That does not change the taste much at all and adds a lot of body.

 

[LeafErikson]

I prefer to just smoke blends as they come. If I don’t want a big nicotine hit I’ll smoke something lighter. If I want something with more nicotine I might light up a stronger burley or va/per. My go-to blend is Pegasus because of the taste and its medium-level nicotine content. I generally don’t smoke blends with no nicotine and that might be something you end up doing in the long run. There’s nothing wrong with adding five brothers or c&d burley bulks to raise the nicotine content of a blend you enjoy though.