Personal Blends

[NWTobacconist]

Hey everyone,
Have any of you guys dabbled in creating your own personal tobacco blends? If so, how did they turn out and was the process as fun for you as it is for me?

 

[cortezattic]

I've tried some basic blending, and the tweaking of existing blends, but the results have never been as good as commercially produced blends.
One daunting issue is the availabilty of leaf varieties. Who can afford to maintain a stock of so many different components?
Another frustration is in testing -- I wasted a lot of time (and exhausted more than a few taste buds) in sampling some pretty mediocre results.
I appreciate the motivation of the hobbyist, but when I consider the time and expense, I'd rather devote my resources to acquiring and enjoying many of the exquisite blends already on the market -- many of which I have yet to explore.

 

[writingraav]

I have long dabbled with making my own blends (a couple of which ended up as C&D Blends.) Since discovering the noodle press I've added plugs to my repertoire, which is a lot of fun.

 

[NWTobacconist]

I've tried some basic blending, and the tweaking of existing blends, but the results have never been as good as commercially produced blends.
One daunting issue is the availabilty of leaf varieties. Who can afford to maintain a stock of so many different components?
Another frustration is in testing -- I wasted a lot of time (and exhausted more than a few taste buds) in sampling some pretty mediocre results.
I appreciate the motivation of the hobbyist, but when I consider the time and expense, I'd rather devote my resources to acquiring and enjoying many of the exquisite blends already on the market -- many of which I have yet to explore.

Well put. Thank you. I myself have about 5 personal blends and if you'd be interested I'd like to possibly send them to you and get feedback. But only if you're interested.

 

[warren]

My B&M proprietor would often assist a customer in developing a blend. This was routine with many fair sized B&M's. Dunhill had an impressive directory/files of personal blends. The "My Mixtures" were private blends that were taken public as they became very popular.

The beauty of the the days of yore was your proprietor had all sorts blending tobaccos. I miss those days. Luckily, I have a few chosen commercial blends which totally satisfy my desires. No more chasing a good blend for me. I do understand some here are just tasting and not searching. Good for them.

 

[cshubhra]

Which ones have been commercialized by C&D?

I have long dabbled with making my own blends (a couple of which ended up as C&D Blends.) Since discovering the noodle press I've added plugs to my repertoire, which is a lot of fun.

 

[trouttimes]

Two of my go to blends are my own creation. Lat/Va combos that I can't find in commercial blends.

 

[stogie37]

I’ve never built a blend from the ground up with component tobaccos, but am a serial “adjuster” - using component tobaccos to shift the profile of existing blends or combining blends to achieve something altogether different (and hopefully better to me). I currently have two that I’ve pretty well stopped tinkering with;

Yale Dropout: 50% C&D Yale Mixture, 25% G.L. Pease Samarra and 25% Dunhill the Aperitif. Really nice light-mid English with +1 to the natural sweetness from the VA component in Yale Mixture

English Mash-Up 2012: G.L. Pease Odyssee with a hefty dose of both C&D bulk Bright Flake and Turkish Ismir. Somewhere along the way I recall tossing in a little McClelland 5100 Red Cake and the remains of a tin of Dunhill Nightcap. It was about a pound total and sat in the cellar til early this year. I won’t be able to recreate it, but I’ve labeled and broke it down into 2oz jars, so I’ll be able to “test” over the next decade. Very tasty VA forward with the Odyssey still flexing its considerable muscle.

However, a few others have resulted in Frankenstein blends - ugly and destined for the grave!

 

[krizzose]

I’ve been doing it for a while now, and it’s a lot of fun. Out of about 24 attempts, I’ve made 5 or 6 that I will mix up more of. With a couple of exceptions, my successes have all been tobacco forward aromatics. I’ve stopped trying to do a decent straight Virginia blend or VaPer: the results were nowhere near as good as commercial blends, especially the aged stuff in my cellar. And the noodle press has been a lot of fun experimenting with.

 

[Chasing Embers]

50/50 Black Twist XX and ODF

75/25 McClelland 40th Anniversary and straight Yenidje

50/50 Penzance and 1Q

 

[trubka2]

I fool around with mixing blends a bit. No real successes yet (the closest I've come is a bright VA-DFK-Lat mix that's OK with coffee), but it is fun. I suppose I do it mostly as part of educating my palate. Lately, I've been trying to find something that mixes well with GH Sweet Maple Twist. Don't ask why, but I can't seem to leave well enough alone.

 

[alaskanpiper]

50/50 Black Twist XX and ODF

Barf.

75/25 McClelland 40th Anniversary and straight Yenidje

I'm in.

50/50 Penzance and 1Q

Hahahahahaha.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Hahahahahaha

?

 

[alaskanpiper]

?

It's just funny, to think about how many ticker geeks would rage at the suggestion of defiling the legendary penzance with piddly little proletariat 1Q. I mix plum pudding and molto dolce on the reg and sometimes get the rage from people. It's actually pretty nice.

 

[Chasing Embers]

legendary penzance

I would never go that far, but at just shy of $4/ounce, it makes a perfect blender.

 

[elasmo]

I mix 8 oz Virginia, 4 oz Latakia, 2 oz Perique. Fantastic

 

[dino]

I'm lucky to have some out of production blending tobaccos on hand. Until I run out, my most successful blend is:
2 parts McClelland 5100, 2 parts Syrian Latakia, 1 part McClelland Oriental, and 1 part D&R Yenidje. Yum.

 

[krizzose]

Here’s one I noodle pressed that I call “Chocolate Kake”:

5 parts PS 702 Burley
2 parts Sutliff Red Virginia Ribbon
1 part Lane BLWB
2 parts C&D Dark Chocolate
1 part McClelland Vanilla Black Cavendish

 

[sumusfumus]

Very interesting postings from our forum members. Always interesting to read through the formulas/recipes, and processing rituals that go into making a great smoke.


My approach, is to add small amounts of some other tobaccos, (or even small percentages of another mixture) to a "base" of a professionally mixed, bulk-blend, those blends that're easily available, economical, and well established. Making your own "hybrid blend" is a lot easier than blending from scratch. Just start with a professionally mixed blend e.g. "SWR", "CH" or what ever you enjoy smoking.... then tweak it with some other condimental tobaccos like Perique, Latakia, Dark Fired Burley, Cigar-leaf, etc. Just add small amounts, and write down the recipe(s) in a small log book. Keep track of your triumphs and failures.

In no time at all, you'll have your own personal blend, and the satisfaction of smoking something unique.

Good luck, and happy blending.

 

[smokiespipesmoker123]

Just starting to get into this... I'm attempting a blend that I'm calling "Kintail English Cake".. its:

1 part Matured Red VA
1 part Bright VA
1/3rd part Smyrna
1/3rd part Turkish Blend
1/3rd part Latakia
Pinch of Perique.

I cased it with honey and stuck in a press. I'll let y'all know how it is in 2 weeks time. Since this is my first attempt at blending, I hope it doesn't turn out to be like smoking a septic tank. :D