What's the % of Dark Fired in Old Gowrie?
- Thread starter irishearl
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My memory of smoking it says there is very little dk.
20 percent dk takes over most blends
20 percent dk takes over most blends
I'd bet it's just a condiment - less than 1%.
The one time I played around with ODF I used 100% and it took over my blood pressure.
Came in today and whipped up a blend. As I don't have a scale, just eye-balled it and probably ended up with 7-8% dark fired. Had a notable dark fired presence. Actually reminded me of ODF with a heavy dose of perique added. So, in other words, a good blend.
Are we all 100% sure that it has Kentucky Dark Fired, or could it be the more tame Dark Fired Virginias, as used by the European blenders like GH and HU?
I don’t get the same Kentuckiness in the Rattray blends as in US blenders that worked with the Kentucky Dark Fires. It’s deeper, more like the GH and HU blends to me.
So often we all just immediately jump to Kentucky Dark Fired when we read that a blend says Dark Fired, but there are other dark fires, mostly used by European blenders.
I don’t get the same Kentuckiness in the Rattray blends as in US blenders that worked with the Kentucky Dark Fires. It’s deeper, more like the GH and HU blends to me.
So often we all just immediately jump to Kentucky Dark Fired when we read that a blend says Dark Fired, but there are other dark fires, mostly used by European blenders.
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Yes exactly.
I never try to recreate a blend but shoot for a genre and get ideas from current blends I like.
I use whole leaf as I have more control over what is going in, how aged the leaf is etc.
OP - congrats on getting some tobacco mixed together that you enjoy. That can be very fun.
Hear hear.Well, for 1, this is cheaper.
I’ve got a couple mixes that are “inspired” by favorites that the whole intent was to scratch the same itch with more readily available and/or less expensive ingredients.
It’s not like geopolitical, economic, and social climate changes can affect availability
Some things to keep in mind...
We don't know exactly which "dark fired" tobaccos are used, unless you can find somewhere that it is for certain Kentucky DF. If it is a DF Viginia, (Dark Virginia) as I suspect, you will have a hard time finding whole leaf to blend with of this varietal.
Next, which Virginias are used? There are a couple (at least) of different types of Reds, and a few different yellow/golds that I know of for certain. We all just assume that there is only one type of red, yellow, gold, etc... but, there are a plethera of varietals that could make this a challenge.
Now, assuming that your tastes aren't going to be that fine tuned... you will also have to play with periques and percentages. Many are already cut with Kentucky leaf...
It would be a huge endeaver for an experienced blender to make heads or tails of what to blend to make something close to OG, but you might stumble upon something that you like. It is easier to make a blend "inspired" by OG, than to try to get something close.
I am not even mentioning casings, because then it all gets really complicated for the home blender.
But, I applaud your attempts. Just hope for making something that you can enjoy and roll with it.
I wish you much luck.
We don't know exactly which "dark fired" tobaccos are used, unless you can find somewhere that it is for certain Kentucky DF. If it is a DF Viginia, (Dark Virginia) as I suspect, you will have a hard time finding whole leaf to blend with of this varietal.
Next, which Virginias are used? There are a couple (at least) of different types of Reds, and a few different yellow/golds that I know of for certain. We all just assume that there is only one type of red, yellow, gold, etc... but, there are a plethera of varietals that could make this a challenge.
Now, assuming that your tastes aren't going to be that fine tuned... you will also have to play with periques and percentages. Many are already cut with Kentucky leaf...
It would be a huge endeaver for an experienced blender to make heads or tails of what to blend to make something close to OG, but you might stumble upon something that you like. It is easier to make a blend "inspired" by OG, than to try to get something close.
I am not even mentioning casings, because then it all gets really complicated for the home blender.
But, I applaud your attempts. Just hope for making something that you can enjoy and roll with it.
I wish you much luck.
Last I saw on Pipes smoking with Mr. Johnson on YouTube that the dark fire content was about 807%. That might be off a little bit. It is a YouTube channel so take it with a grain of salt.
I was having a hankering for dark fired and I almost always smoke a blend with perique in it. So, it seemed a natural to try to tweak Bayou Morning by adding some DF to it and that worked well.
Based on my experimenting, I assume you meant a tad over 8%. That would be in the range I used.
I always get an indoor, chlorine pool flavor from OG. I think it’s how my brain is interpreting the grassier virginias.