Your Own Private Blend

[Casual]

Do you rub out the cube cut or leave it whole?

I leave it whole. It smokes slower that way.

 

[gamzultovah]

50/50 Sutliff Crumble Kake Virginia and Crumble Kake Virginia/Perique. A very satisfying home brew and my go-to VaPer.

 

[northernpipeshed]

I realized when I got home, that I don’t use recipes. But, maybe this will help you guys who are growing or growing curious.

After you’ve waited for a few years, the ammonias have been driven off, and it’s ready to blend
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I started off casing with honey and experimented with calcium proportionate to inhibit mold, but now I may spritz the leaf with some mead, but mostly I just use steam. Casings and mold inhibitors are more of a corporate thing. If you’re cooking from scratch you don’t want to use the same preservative crap youre trying to get away from. Besides, you can more easily avoid mold by drying your blends before storing for age.

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Before I do anything I add some steam or a spritz of mead. The leaf is stored bone dry. The reason I laugh at guys who think that a blend is ruined when it dries out, is because the leaf is dead bone dry several times before it’s tinned, so what’s the big deal?

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Once it’s pliable, either shred it for blending or roll yourself a twist.sometimes I just smoke a single crop for a while.
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I don’t stick to a regimen or recipe. Some twist have a fire cured center, some have perique, some I might mix some of my homegrown orientals of a C&D latakia. I like surprises. Screw a bunch of predictability. Allow yourself to be surprised.
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the twists are sopping wet after squeezing the juices making the twists. So, I let them dry for a few months in open air. Then jar them. After a year or two, I use mu cigar cutter to make them into loose coins that I pack into jars to stow away for a few more years. I usually forget what is in the twist by then, so I enjoy figuring out what was in the blend when I smoke it. I can usually place the year of the bright leafs and the orientals by taste. It keeps my taste buds exercised.
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This video helped me with my first twists.

I have more pics and more I can post about other blends and things I’ve done with my homegrown. But, I’ll have to add those later. Is this stuff worth posting? Interesting?

Yes.....very interesting!......and very enjoyable to read/look at!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yes.....very interesting!......and very enjoyable to read/look at!

Good, since it was different than just mixing two commercial blends together, I was afraid that mine would be too off topic. And, I never know when I am going to bore folks. It's much easier to tell when I've pissed them off, ha ha.

 

[mso489]

I often mix some black Cavendish, cigar leaf, or burley to other blends, or do the standard mix of burley, Virginia, and Cavendish in various proportions. I've never settled on a recipe. It is always just inspirational, and often delicious. I never just dump any dregs in one jar, since that gets muddy tasting and harsh. If you give it a little thought, you can often make a dreg mixed with something else taste delicious.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeh, I keep a lot of Stokkebye's Dark Fired Kentucky on hand to mix with some aromatics. I love it with Holger Danse's Mango and a few other aromatics. It kicks up the nic a notch... nic-notch, I am curiously amused by that.
I will also add some latakia to some aros also.

And, of course twisting flakes of LTF and LNF together is a staple in my cellar.

mmmmm.... most of the time when I blend some commercial stuff, I just do it on the fly. Just use some intuition, mix it and see. As I've said before, I rarely mix and match something and am disappointed. There's not a whole lot of rocket surgery to any of this. However, I do my best to avoid making something close to Mixture 79.

 

[gervais]

Many smokers look down on aromatics

Aro smokers might as well just Vape. ?

 

[anotherbob]

at first I thought this was a thread about a screen play. A remake of My Own Private Idaho but with pipe smoking instead of what happened in that movie.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

at first I thought this was a thread about a screen play. A remake of My Own Private Idaho but with pipe smoking instead of what happened in that movie.

It is obvious that you do not smoke a pipe the same way I smoke a pipe.

 

[Dublin Old Man]

I almost never smoke a commercial blend as is. I like to mix various blends. I've found a few good combinations.

 

[anotherbob]

It is obvious that you do not smoke a pipe the same way I smoke a pipe.

that's gross. Nothing will make a pipe go sour faster then putting it in the wrong end.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I'd have no idea where to start and like so many of the shelf blend, I have felt no desire to reinvent the wheel.

 

[romaso]

I leave it whole. It smokes slower that way.

Just curious, but does the semois burn up first then, since the little cubes burn so slow?
Can you taste the semois at the end of the bowl also?

 

[Casual]

Just curious, but does the semois burn up first then, since the little cubes burn so slow?
Can you taste the semois at the end of the bowl also?

You’ve got to crumble the semois and mix it in thoroughly. I put them both in a little leather valet and toss them together like a salad before gravity filling the pipe.

And yes, adjust the proportion. I used more semois today, about 2:1 in favour of cube cut, and it was great if a little strong for me.

 

[telescopes]

Aro smokers might as well just Vape. ?

I like my coffee strong and black, just like the many loves of my life. I ain't no stinking vapor,,, LOL.

 

[telescopes]

I have found that Sutliff 515 makes a great volumizer when mixed with other tobaccos.