Noodle Press Tobacco

[craig61a]

There have been other threads over the years discussing this, and I’ve always wanted to try pressing.

I initially thought of going big. 4” 1/4” thick stainless, but it’s quite expensive. And a 20 ton China brand press isn’t cheap anymore either.

So I bought a cheap noodle press off Amazon…

I blended 23 grams of GH&Co Kendal Gold Vintage, 23 grams of C&D White Burley, 10 grams of C&D Granulated Perique. Shoved it in and screwed it down. Cranked it a few times over 36 hours.

It’s a hockey puck now… Overwhelming smell of the Granulated Perique. It’s slowly expanding a little bit. May be a crumble cake in the next few days.

It did get quite dark from the pressing. I guess I attribute that to Perique juices spreading out in the mix.

I give some time to rest and see how it compares to the near same mix I just tossed in a jar.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Looks good bro. I’d be curious to hear how it compares the the loose jar mixture. If you’re gonna make one again, I’d be interested in hearing whether you find a difference between a puck which is jarred for a few weeks vs one which was immediately vacuum sealed after pressing to maintain the pressure

 

[craig61a]

Hmmm... I'm not sure if vacuum sealing would maintain the pressure. Possibly to a degree.

I think in production manufacturers use metal plates to keep pressure on the pressed tobacco blocks which are arranged in a rack type press.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Hmmm... I'm not sure if vacuum sealing would maintain the pressure. Possibly to a degree.

I think in production manufacturers use metal plates to keep pressure on the pressed tobacco blocks which are arranged in a rack type press.

I could be wrong but I feel that a vacuum sealed bag could maintain the shape of a small plug which has been pressed under 4ton. I have zero evidence I can point to other than my own experiments

 

[craig61a]

If you go to the 11:00 minute point you’ll see what I was referring to.

I wouldn’t think that the rigidity would be there just vacuuming the cake…

I still have the smell of Perique in my nostrils… I love it.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Yeah that’s a beautiful sight to behold.

 

[karam]

It did get quite dark from the pressing. I guess I attribute that to Perique juices spreading out in the mix.

Looks good! I found that any pressed tobacco darkens and releases some oils/juices. What you can do is lightly mist the rubbed tobacco or tobacco leaves before pressing with water, this usually does the trick for making them stick a bit better, otherwise in some time (may be months) the puck will look like a spring as it slowly decompresses.

What can also be done to mimic to an extent the use of steam presses is - if you're using all-metal C clamps, metal tube and caps for pressing - is to put the whole assembly in the oven at say 70C for a couple of hours, this stoving will make it much darker and sweeter. Just make sure you use greaseproof paper (which I think you did use?) to line the tube and caps before pressing, otherwise it'd be a hell of a job to get that puck out.

 

[craig61a]

I could be wrong but I feel that a vacuum sealed bag could maintain the shape of a small plug which has been pressed under 4ton. I have zero evidence I can point to other than my own experiments

One thought that did occur to me after watching that MB video again was after pressing placing the pucks in a PVC pipe and then hold the pressure with a smaller piece of PVC with a cap on one end.

As Per mentioned, after the initial 6 hour pressing, the cakes are held under pressure so they hold their thickness, not any additional pressure.

Since the tobacco forms a pretty stable puck after 36 hours, I’d get better throughput by placing the pucks in a PVC pipe and holding them for 30 days or whatever amount of time…

 

[craig61a]

Looks good! I found that any pressed tobacco darkens and releases some oils/juices. What you can do is lightly mist the rubbed tobacco or tobacco leaves before pressing with water, this usually does the trick for making them stick a bit better, otherwise in some time (may be months) the puck will look like a spring as it slowly decompresses.

What can also be done to mimic to an extent the use of steam presses is - if you're using all-metal C clamps, metal tube and caps for pressing - is to put the whole assembly in the oven at say 70C for a couple of hours, this stoving will make it much darker and sweeter. Just make sure you use greaseproof paper (which I think you did use?) to line the tube and caps before pressing, otherwise it'd be a hell of a job to get that puck out.

I used parchment paper, two pieces on each end. Everything came apart quite easily.

As for the tobacco, the Kendal Gold and the Perique had a bit of moisture and stickyness, and puck was quite hard. I’ll see what happens over the next few days. I sealed it in Mylar for the time being.

 

[krizzose]

I’ve used the Amazon noodle press several times, with good results. I usually leave it under pressure for a week, cranking it down as tight as I can initially, and then whatever more I can do every day. I always use rounds of aluminum foil at each end. To get the puck out, I remove the cap and just use the screw to push it out. The pucks are rock hard, but usually relax a bit over time.

 

[renfield]

What I’ve found useful is a brief microwaving of the tobacco, like 10-15 seconds on high, until it’s just slightly warm before loading the press. The pucks so treated expand less after they’re removed from the press. It seems to free up the moisture in the leaf so no extra needs to be added.

 

[craig61a]

Today I pressed a mix of Classic Burley Kake (15 g), White Burley (25 g), Black Cav (5 g), Kendal Gold (11 g). Moistened it with a few sprays of dark rum. Should be interesting.

 

[solideogloria86]

I leave mine in for two weeks, tightening every day and end up with a very dense Puck that I can slice decent flakes from that actually hold together pretty well.

 

[tfdickson]

@renfield is right on, adding heat plus the pressure is a game changer. I do 20 seconds, mix it up, then another 15 seconds (this is for 2 ounce batches). The tobacco will be slightly steaming at this point, so shoving it into the noodle press requires some deft moves, at least with bare hands. Here is what 8 ounces looks like with this method, no expansion:

 

[craig61a]

@renfield is right on, adding heat plus the pressure is a game changer. I do 20 seconds, mix it up, then another 15 seconds (this is for 2 ounce batches). The tobacco will be slightly steaming at this point, so shoving it into the noodle press requires some deft moves, at least with bare hands. Here is what 8 ounces looks like with this method, no expansion:

View attachment 175113

I’ll have to try that next time around…

 

[Franco Pipenbeans]

There have been other threads over the years discussing this, and I’ve always wanted to try pressing.

I initially thought of going big. 4” 1/4” thick stainless, but it’s quite expensive. And a 20 ton China brand press isn’t cheap anymore either.

So I bought a cheap noodle press off Amazon…

I blended 23 grams of GH&Co Kendal Gold Vintage, 23 grams of C&D White Burley, 10 grams of C&D Granulated Perique. Shoved it in and screwed it down. Cranked it a few times over 36 hours.

It’s a hockey puck now… Overwhelming smell of the Granulated Perique. It’s slowly expanding a little bit. May be a crumble cake in the next few days.

It did get quite dark from the pressing. I guess I attribute that to Perique juices spreading out in the mix.

I give some time to rest and see how it compares to the near same mix I just tossed in a jar.

View attachment 174923View attachment 174924

I’ve done a few of these now and each press does get better with age. It should be pointed out that the age of mine is in months not years because I’ve only been doing the presses for a few months.

 

[Franco Pipenbeans]

I’ve used the Amazon noodle press several times, with good results. I usually leave it under pressure for a week, cranking it down as tight as I can initially, and then whatever more I can do every day. I always use rounds of aluminum foil at each end. To get the puck out, I remove the cap and just use the screw to push it out. The pucks are rock hard, but usually relax a bit over time.

I found that the top of a Pringles can, cut to size, works to stop the baccy gluing itself to the face of the press.

 

[craig61a]

The rum/burley/Va was left in the press for 30 hours. I took it out and cut a chunk off because I was anxious to try it. The pucks were sealed in Mylar and placed in my Jorgensen Pony vise snugged down to hold them under pressure. I’ll probably leave those for a month.

The chunk I cut off was rubbed out and left under desk lamp for about 15-20 minutes to dry.

I loaded it into a Charatan 490 Belvedere. Excellent smoke. Smooth and has a cocoa flavor.

 

[bullet08]

Always thought about doing it, but don't smoke enough. There's a guy on Instagram that does it all the time. Looks really neat. I think he does ropes too.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

Always thought about doing it, but don't smoke enough. There's a guy on Instagram that does it all the time. Looks really neat. I think he does ropes too.

I've got the noodle press but haven't gotten around to making a puck yet.

How does he make ropes? What equipment is used?