Making your own flakes

[harkpuff]

I love smoking whole flakes and coins and have thought about the possibility of making some myself, and was wondering if anyone has actually tried this.
For small quantities I though about using my masive bench vice that is mounted to my shop workbench. I'm thinking it would create sufficient pressure to press tobacco with.
I was wondering though....in order to make the tobacco components stick or adhere to each other into a flake form, would a person slightly moisten the tobacco before putting it into the press? And what would be a good way to make a form for the flakes?
I've got some straight virginias, blending perique, and latakia and thought it would be fun to kind of play around with it a bit.
I look forward to your thoughts.
Harkpuff

 

[petes03]

I think it would be a fun experiment. The only thing you would really need is a form of some type. As far as the moisture content before pressing, I'm not sure. Let us know what you come up with.

 

[woodsroad]

A form could be made from wood, it just needs to withstand the pressure. Hickory or ash would be good. If you have a welder, then the answer is obvious. What is not obvious is that you have to provide a way to get the plug out of the mould! It can stick good and hard, so give that some thought. Either provide a way to take apart the mould, or use strong cloth between the tobacco and mould, that can be yanked on to dislodge the plug.
Most people who press plugs use a casing of some sort to wet the tobacco before pressing. I've seen formulas for some pretty sorrowful-sounding stuff, so use your imagination and good judgement. I've pressed plug by lightly dampening with either water or cognac, both worked ok. Take note that some of the better plug out there, like Gaslight, uses a combination of processed tobacco (like you already have) and whole leaf. Also remember that there is a lot of processed tobacco that already contains an (over)abundance of humectant. That alone may serve as a glue for your plug. Rub out a bit of whatever you are going to use and see how well (and fast) it dries. In a heated house in winter, it should dry out pretty quickly.
Report back!

 

[cortezattic]

If you are pressing whole leaf tobacco, the plug will slice into flakes.

If you are pressing cut tobacco(s), you will end up creating crumble cake.
This is fun from a hobby and DIY perspective, but you're not likely to improve

upon professionally produced flake blends. As for the massive bench vise, I don't

believe you (it) can generate the torque required for the job. Mac Baren's press

squeezes a 1600 cm² cake with a whopping 55 tons for 6 hrs., then holds that

degree of compression with clamps for a month.
If you want to improve on a store-bought product by making it yourself, I think

baking home made bread has more potential for success.

 

[misterlowercase]

Here's a few good threads on the topic that seemed to work well...
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/fresh-from-the-press-baron-samedi-midnight-plug
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/shawn622-best-brown-flake
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/home-blending-one-year-later
...and this thread is pretty epic

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/do-it-yourself-tobacco-press
I agree with everything that Cortez said,

and add that some of those massive Mac Baren presses are steam jacketed,

the heat further enhances flavor, darkens the leaf, helps hold it to form, and causes partial caramelization of the sugars --- a feat of industrial might that would be nearly impossible to accurately replicate at home...but it's always fun to experiment and play around, maybe you might strike it right and end up making some yummy stuff!
So give it a good go and see how it comes out,

we may be begging you for samples!

 

[dragonslayer]

You can find many videos on Utube showing different methods people have accomplished it. Some are very interesting and seem to work well without a huge expense. Some are blends and others are from raw leaf. I plan on trying it in a year or so, my plate is full at the moment. I also plan on going the raw leaf method to see what the blenders go through.
Craig

 

[harkpuff]

Thanks for the replys guys.

I have no intent on trying to improve on anything that the pro's have down to a science. I just thought it would be fun to try combining some basic virginia's that I have lying around with some lat or perique and see what happens just for grins.

You know......when guys are bored with winter and banging around the workbench looking for something to do.

I did find some awesome information on the MacBaren site that describes in detail how they produce flake tobacco.

Believe it or not they do not start out with tobacco in leaf form. It is ground before going into their presses.

 

[mso489]

When I mix tobacco in a bowl, I always differentiate. I'm not blending anything. I'm just mixing

tobaccos most of which have already been blended. But you are venturing into real blending.

I'll be glad to hold your coat! No, I really think it will be interesting, and it will make you feel

better about paying for the blends others have done for us, except maybe not the tobacco tax part,

so much.

 

[harkpuff]

Attached is a link to Photobucket showing seven photos of my first flake pressing attempt.
I must say that so far I am very pleased with the result.
I'm glad I built this little press with take-down screws in order to aid in the removal of the flake. Otherwise it would have been a bear cat to remove the flake without damaging it. Simply removing the take-down screws makes flake removal a sinch.
Upon opening the press and removing the flake I was greeted with a heavenly aroma of pressed sweet virginia and latakia.

I noticed the pressing process did squeeze out the internal moisture bringing it to the surface of the flake leaving a noticibly sticky residue that I assume is caused by the natural sugars within the tobacco. I assume this will dry within and on top of the flake as the flake proceeds through its curing and drying process, and that this stickiness will aid as a binder for the entire flake.
The flake is quite dark with bright golden flecks of virginia shining through. I believe the flake will lighten somewhat in color as it dries out even more leaving a beautiful contrast between the jet black latakia and golden virginias. I noticed that the tobacco components seemed to bind and unite into flake form very well creating a very very dense and ridgid well formed flake that I believe will become even more dense as it dries out.
For this flake I used H&H Anniversary Kake for the virginia and Latakia in an attempt to duplicate as closely as possible my favorite flake SG Navy Flake.
SG Navy flake contains no perique, and Annie Kake is a very sweet Virginia with such a small hint of perique in it that I cannot detect the perique at all. Plus the sweetness of Annie Kake is almost overpowering by itself to my taste so I went a little heavy on the latakia to help offset and take the edge off the sweetness a little bit. So eventhough SG Navy flake only contains 15% latakia, I bumped this flake up to contain about 30% latakia to offset Annies sweetness.
Like MacBaren does, I am now going to allow the flake to rest and dry some more under light pressure for the next 30 days.

The one thing that amazes me the most is the amount of tobacco needed to press this flake. The press chamber measures 1-1/2" wide, 4" long, and 1/2" deep. When loading the press, I dumped quite a pile of Annie out onto a piece of copy paper and then roughly poured out a pile of Latakia next to the Annie that appeared to be 1/3 the amout of the Annie. I then hand mixed the two together. Upon viewing the blended pile of tobacco, my thought was that there is no way I'm going to get all of this into the mold. But to my surprise I kept stuffing and hand pressing the mixed tobacco into the press with my fingers making sure that all corners and the bottom were equally dense with packed tobacco, and to my surprise I was able to stuff the entire pile into the press and level with the top of the chamber. I then inserted the plunger block, which had a tight fit anyway and then hand pressed the plunger block into place before moving the press to my bench vice.
I'm estimating that I was able to pack the equivelent of 6 to 8 medium sized bowls of tobacco into the press chamber. Which means that a lot of tobacco goes into the pressing of one single flake. I'm wondering if this fact may have something to do with the difference in smoking experience with a flake vs hand-packed loose cut tobacco. There is a lot of flavor packed into one single flake.
I can't wait for the 30 days to end so I can give this flake the ultimate test.
http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/harkbucket/slideshow/Flake%20Make
Harkpuff

 

[damnyak]

looks good Harkpuff! Top Notch! I am actually doing the same thing right now, however in a lexan cylinder...making crumble cake.. I will take some pictures tonight of the "unveiling". The tobacco I used was all the little bits I had left from blends.."sweepin's" I call it. the end result should be a mild English, with a hit of Black Cav.
I will say though, you need to get yourself some Robertson screws. Invented in My hometown they are by far teh best screws in the world. I cannot believe they have not caught on in the States.

 

[harkpuff]

looks good Harkpuff! Top Notch! I am actually doing the same thing right now, however in a lexan cylinder...making crumble cake.. I will take some pictures tonight of the "unveiling". The tobacco I used was all the little bits I had left from blends.."sweepin's" I call it. the end result should be a mild English, with a hit of Black Cav.
I will say though, you need to get yourself some Robertson screws. Invented in My hometown they are by far teh best screws in the world. I cannot believe they have not caught on in the States.
Looking forward to pictures of your press results. Also, throw in some pictures of the Robertson screws. You've got my curiosity peaked.

 

[woodsroad]

Looks good.

I have to ask: Is that pressure treated pine?

 

[bigboi]

Wow pretty good job! I just may have to try this process!!!

 

[gtclark]

I have to ask: Is that pressure treated pine?

I didn't think of that while looking at the photos - depending on the process used to treat the wood, you might not want to smoke that...

 

[cortezattic]

 

[damnyak]

@harkpuff and gang, so here are the results of my pressing trial. I have yet to cut it or "crumble" it to see. To be honest I am wondering the next step...let it dry out more? I might take a bit to try now so I can compare later.

This is the tobacco of about a 500ml mason jar loose filled in this 2" tube compressed to about 3/4".

I dremeled a split in order to make taking it out easy...and it did work wonderfully!

This is the finished "crumble cake" puck...very hard, and slightly sticky.....(that's what she said...no comment)

This bad boy is dense..I mean it plunks and makes a noise when dropped in a mason jar.

The tobacco before pressing was a tan colour mixed again with some Black cav. You can see how the juices really tied this one together in a uniform type, colour and hopefully flavor.
As for the Robertson. It looks like this.

It stays on the driver in a a vertical and horizontal position, very difficult to strip even when rusted, deep socket makes it drive in easier. They best by far! and again invented and manufactured about a 3 minute drive from my house!

 

[sallow]

That tobacco puck is way cool!

 

[harkpuff]

Looks good.

I have to ask: Is that pressure treated pine?
No, it is not pressure treated pine. I made sure I was not using any kind of treated material for the press.

However, this is one reasons I line the tobacco chamber with wax paper in order to keep the tobacco from contacting the wood itself and for the purpose of assisting in the removal of the flake from the press.

Since the tobacco does not come in contact with the wood there is no way for the wood to impart any of its characteristics to the tobacco itself.

 

[harkpuff]

Great looking puck. Let us know what your smoking experience is like with this after it dries a bit.
Regarding the Robertson screws....

We do have similar screws here in the States that have a hex or square slotted head and they are known as deck screws since they are commonly used for building decks. They come in several lengths. Deck screws are typically straight. I don't recall ever seeing any tapered screws with a hex or square slotted head though.

 

[harkpuff]

@harkpuff and gang, so here are the results of my pressing trial. I have yet to cut it or "crumble" it to see. To be honest I am wondering the next step...let it dry out more? I might take a bit to try now so I can compare later.
Damnyak,

Just wondering if you are letting this puck dry out some more. Have you tried to cut or crumble the puck, or have you tried smoking any of it yet?