Slow Cooking Tobacco in Oven for Flavor Enhancement

[Sloopjohnbee]

Russ Oulette Firestorm Review on CI - "

Sep 26, 2020
Has been a fav for awhile. I also like it slow cooked in an oven overnight. On Low say 200/225 about 6 hours. Brings out all the flavors and adds the perique sweetness. One great blend.
"
How is this done?
What's your experience with different blends -

 

[sablebrush52]

Russ Oulette Firestorm Review on CI - "

Sep 26, 2020
Has been a fav for awhile. I also like it slow cooked in an oven overnight. On Low say 200/225 about 6 hours. Brings out all the flavors and adds the perique sweetness. One great blend.
"
How is this done?
What's your experience with different blends -

In the tin. Slow bake.

Slow baking one's tinned tobacco has been a popular activity among smokers who like the effect. They think is speeds up the aging process.

 

[sablebrush52]

Has been a fav for awhile. I also like it slow cooked in an oven overnight. On Low say 200/225 about 6 hours. Brings out all the flavors and adds the perique sweetness. One great blend.

Firestorm can certainly use the help.

 

[SpookedPiper]

I have been slow baking a tin of Erinmore in my car's glove box for the past 3 years...it's in there as an emergency smoke along with a cob.

I hope it's well aged and melted into a single plug!!

 

[BarrelProof]

In the tin. Slow bake.

Slow baking one's tinned tobacco has been a popular activity among smokers who like the effect. They think is speeds up the aging process.

My opinion is that it’s different than aging. The aged blends I’ve tried seem to be a bit mellower where all of the flavors have kinda melded together. In my experience, and only mine - not speaking on behalf of anyone else’s results, stoving the tobacco seems to make the flavors slightly bolder and more pronounced.

I’ll often stove vs. age, but I definitely don’t expect similar results. Impatience is usually the driver of my stoving efforts. I feel it enhances a blend, albeit differently than aging it, with much faster results.

Not to say that one is any better than the other, because I have some that are set aside to age. Just different, quicker results.

I do feel that there are some blends that don’t benefit as much as others from stoving, however.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

My opinion is that it’s different than aging. The aged blends I’ve tried seem to be a bit mellower where all of the flavors have kinda melded together. In my experience, and only mine - not speaking on behalf of anyone else’s results, stoving the tobacco seems to make the flavors slightly bolder and more pronounced.

I’ll often stove vs. age, but I definitely don’t expect similar results. Impatience is usually the driver of my stoving efforts. I feel it enhances a blend, albeit differently than aging it, with much faster results.

Not to say that one is any better than the other, because I have some that are set aside to age. Just different, quicker results.

I do feel that there are some blends that don’t benefit as much as others from stoving, however.

I agree. It especially seems to bring the natural sugars to the front.

 

[sablebrush52]

My opinion is that it’s different than aging. The aged blends I’ve tried seem to be a bit mellower where all of the flavors have kinda melded together. In my experience, and only mine - not speaking on behalf of anyone else’s results, stoving the tobacco seems to make the flavors slightly bolder and more pronounced.

Yep, a thing on its own and not a replacement to aging. Just some of its proponents confuse the two. Different end results.

Anything that would punch up Firestorm would be good. I find Firestorm more like warm drizzle through the latter part of the bowl.

 

[tatter]

i have had great luck stoveing PS Luxury Bullseye Flake. Be warned, if you are stoving a sealed tin. go very low heat and not too long, explosions can happen!!!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Conventional wisdom: Do not stove sealed tins!

 

[brian64]

You might want to remove the plastic lid first as well.

 

[Charlie718]

You might want to remove the plastic lid first as well.

Ahh I thought PCBs enhanced the natural flavors ?

 

[kcghost]

I tried this once with five tins of Escudo. It blew off the lid of one of the tins and I didn't think much of it at the time. Ruined that tin for sure. Thought the whole thing was a waste of time and returned to aging the tins.

 

[anotherbob]

My guts have said if this is as great as people say it is, wouldn't it be something blenders already do before packaging and selling the tins.

 

[Ethan]

My guts have said if this is as great as people say it is, wouldn't it be something blenders already do before packaging and selling the tins.

probably won't stop me from trying it at some point....for science of course

 

[anotherbob]

probably won't stop me from trying it at some point....for science of course

Hey if I lived alone I'd have already tried it. Not worth the effort of convincing the girlfriend that it won't ruin anything. Including ghosting the oven.

 

[sablebrush52]

My guts have said if this is as great as people say it is, wouldn't it be something blenders already do before packaging and selling the tins.

Blenders do this and much much more before packaging and selling, which is why some of them think all this aging fascination is complete nonsense. I like how some blends age. Others not so much.

 

[JKoD]

Looks like something to try out. Have some flake I don’t care for that much.

 

[F4RM3R]

I've done alot of the stoving technique you've described with whole leaf tobacco to make my blends. I do it all the time to virginia tobaccos, I pretty much don't smoke unstoved Virginia. The time in the oven does wonders to wake up and sweeten them. But alot of blenders already do this before packaging a blend or achieve similar results with long aging under various conditions. I personally wouldn't do this to many commercial blends, but the overall effect leads to a sweeter, softer and darker taste, but the bright sort of flavours, nuance and complexity can get lost with too much stoving.

That being said, give it a shot if you are interested. Although 6 hours of stoving is a fair bit and will give a sort of brown Cavendish to Virginia blends, which can be nice. Kentucky will loose some of the earthy, chocolate floral qualities and become more BBQ and oily. Perique doesn't change too much with stoving. Maybe break the seal on the tin and wrap it in tin foil though to prevent explosions or a mess. I put mine in a baking loaf pan with some tin foil sealing the top and a spritz of water so it doesn't dry out.

 

[logs]

Some guys talk about using a crockpot rather than the oven

 

[BarrelProof]

Looks like something to try out. Have some flake I don’t care for that much.

I think it’s definitely worth a shot at least once. You’ll change the flavor profile, more than likely. However, if it benefits the blend is for you, alone, to decide.

And, for what it’s worth (likely nothing), I typically dump the contents of the tin into a jar and cover with aluminum foil, applying light pressure to the ring of the jar to seal it. Not that using a tin is bad, and I don’t have any comparative analysis to know that one method is better than the other, but I just like the idea of it being in a jar and done when I finish. Plus, I think it removes the potential for any grenades. I have a gas oven and typically don’t monitor the process very closely, so the idea of a tobacco grenade in there is a bit scary for me. No sense in inviting @ashdigger over for his professional abilities. I’d like to think our initial meeting would be more along the lines of a bowl, some bourbon, and a hockey game, so no unnecessary risks are taken on my part.