I'm not a big fan of taking different blends of tobacco and mixing them together to create Frankenstein blends. I know a lot of you guys do it because you're after a specific taste/aroma (or because you have nothing better to do.) My sentiment is that the professionals have worked hard, or at least smoked a lot of tobacco, to get the blends to taste a specific way and it's not my place to say, "Meh! It's okay but I can do it better."
That being said, I have upon occasion come across a blend which I don't particularly care for, or it bites the heck out of me. And, I have added other tobaccos to it to make it more smokeable. In my mind, that's not the same as creating a new blend from perfectly good ones.
That being said, Mayan Imports, the cigar and pipe shop we hold the New Orleans Pipe Club meetings still had a modest selection of McClelland bulks and various McClelland tins (about 20 assorted tins when I got there last night). I picked up 3 oz. of McClelland McTruffle and 3 oz. of McRaspberry. (Cleaned them out of the McRaspberry and left a few ounces of McTruffle for others). This morning I jarred 2 ounces of each and on a lark mixed the remainder of the two blends together to form McRaspberry Truffle.
So, there. I have crossed over to the dark side of blending at home. I'll let you guys know how it comes out.
For the record, I have two private blends that are made for me by Jon David Cole at the Country Squire. They are both blends I developed and worked with Jon David to "polish" into good smokes.
I meld things to get flavor profiles, a sense of what things can taste like with different types of tobaccos until I can get my own leaves to shred. It’s not that I have nothing to do or want to create a “Frankenstein” blend. I just want to build something unique that doesn’t exist in my city.
<<I was recently emailing back and forth with one of your fellow First Responders members regarding my use of a one speed food processor to grind my tobacco before I smoke it. He subsequently purchased one and I am hoping he finds the results to be as good as I did. In a year 1996 issue of Pipes & Tobaccos Magazine, there was a story on famous American pipe maker Michael Butera. In the article, Butera said he used a one speed food processor to chop up all of his tobacco as it aided in mixing all the components evenly which made packing easier and presented a more even burn for a cooler smoke. It also enable the smoker to relight less frequently since there were fewer gaps between tobacco and air. So, I purchased one of those gizmo's and was an immediate believer. Just make sure that you purchase a one speed food processor and not a mixer that has a much higher resolution speed or all you'll get is tobacco puree'.
* Please Note - Make sure the food processor is your own! Before mine arrived I was eager to start the process and snuck the blender that my wife used to make her morning orange juice/banana drink. Due to the high resolution speed of the blender, my tobacco was almost soup. I thought I had cleaned the mess up pretty well, but she was none too pleased the next morning when, while drinking her concoction, she found shards of Latakia mixed in with her drink. I'm not sure that I'm out of the doghouse yet for that one!>>
Hey, TPL brethren -- What do you think of this? Sounds pretty weird to me, but I'm an old fuddy-duddy.......
Gentlemen Relative to "blending" ( and yes I know this is not "real" blending) I have copied a section of my personal "cellar matrix". I also know I have OCD, but at my age I hardly remember where I live half of the time.
At any rate I have a complete list of my tobaccos, where I purchased them, a brief description, a personal rating, and a composite list of those tobaccos 'cellared" (yes once again I know, OCD). I am Irish and German, and the German requires me to be highly organized while the damn Irish tries to screw it up by making me drink Irish Whiskey. Quite the delema
try Crème Brulee and Chocolate Mousse (50/50) recommended online comp. to Molto Dolce
Lane BCA and Lane Dark Red (50/50) 3.15,17 PWK…..excellent
Lane BCA and Lane 1Q (50/50) 3.17.17 PWK…..excellent ***
3.20.17 try crème brulee and McClelland darkest chocolate
3.30.17 try Carter Hall and Lane 1-Q (50/50) recommended online
3.31.17 McClelland 403 darkest choc. And Carter Hall (50/50)…..VERY good, nuts & choc notes 4.15.17 very good, dottle
4.2.17 Carter Hall and Paladin Black Cherry (50/50) (in packed pipe overnight)…..good
try Lane 1Q/Molto Dolce (2:1)
try Lane 1Q / Dark Red (50/50)….or 1Q and Palladin or Cult BRM
try Stanwell Melange / Carter Hall (50/50) recommended online
5.10.17 Paladin Black Cherry and Lane 1Q (50/50)….. so so, nothing spectacular
Carter Hall and Sutliff Vanilla Custard……4.11.17, 1st half little bite, 2nd half better……good
Carter Hall and Lane Dark Red 50/50…..4.12.17…..ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
Lane Dark Red and Sutliff Van Custard 50/50 (dried 1 day)……excellent
try Lane BCA and Sutliff Vanilla Custard
try Lane Vanilla Black Cavendish and Sutliff Vanilla Custard
try BCA, Vanilla Custard and Nougat
try Sutliff Vanilla Custard and McClelland Creme Caramel……tried 4.24.17, blah, slightly bitey, I think Crème Caramel drowned out the Vanilla Custard
Carter Hall with a Pinch of Sutliff Vanilla Custard….absolutely delicious….10+…….smoked 5.1.17 Jarl Briar, Yellowbole Briar
10.1.17 3 parts Sutliff Vanilla Custard, 2 parts Sutliff Chocolate Mousse, 1 part Sutliff Crème Brulee, and a pinch of Sutliff Irish Crème (optional). Recommended by GhostofPompei on this pipe life online……name of Blend "Mrs. Hudsons 221B Bakery Blend"….recommended by Motie2 on "this Pipe Life"......Good but not outstandin g....8
try: 60% 1Q, 20% Carter Hall, 20% BCA
6.26.17 tried Sutliff Barbados Plantation and Sutliff Vanilla Custard 50/50….okay but nthing spectacular….maybe an 8+ or so
7.30.17 tried C arter Hall, Sutliff Vanilla Custard, and Lane Dark Red 33/33/33…….very, very, very good…..a definate 10+
9.18.17 tried McClelland Darkest Chocolate. And Sutliff Vanilla Custard approx. 60%/40%.....maybe an 8, slight bite, fast smoke, some dottle
9.29.17 Sutliff Chocolate Mousse with Lane Dark Red (50/50)…..good (8.5)……chocolate is predominent flavor @ 50/50 mixture
try Sutliff Chocolate Mousse with Palladin Black Cherry or Captain Black Cherry
try Sutliff Chocolate Mousse with Sutliff Vanilla Custard
try Sutliff Chocolate Mousse with Sutliff Vanilla Custard and Carter hall
9.23.17 Sutliff Choc Mousse and Sutliff Barbados Plantation 50/50……OK, nothing great 2/3 CM and 1/3 BP much better
9.1.17 tried Sutliff Vanilla Custard and Lane Dark Red…very good, 2 favorable room note opinions, very good to taste especially the 2nd half of the bowl 9.5
try 1 part 1Q, 1 part BCA, 1/2 part Sutliff Vanilla Custard…….online called"Old Time Vanilla"
10.8.17 & 10.11.17 Sutliff Chocolate Mousse and Carter Hall 50/50……ABSOLUTELY DELISIOUS……10+++++
In my haste to post this, it is probably obvious, but anything that has a prefix "try" and no notations of an "experience" I just did not get around to trying it yet.
Anything that has no notation as to percentages (either 2 or 3 ingredients) is equal amounts. Otherwise the approximate comparable percentages are noted. Not having a scale (all this cataloged information, you would think I would get a damn scale)
My computer spreadsheet is "color coded" but did not come out so when I posted it.
Three primo blends individually.......wow, that must have been awesome. Vanilla Valhalla. Next time throw a liitle Vanilla Custard in for good luck. Now, RLP-6 is supposed to be Captain Black White, correct?
A SimplySmart Guide To Pipe Tobacco Blending -This is the best 99 cents you will spend if you are a pipe smoker. A pipe smoker for over fifty years Steve shares with you how he blends tobacco. He tells you about the types of tobacco and their characteristics. You will learn what you need to know about pipe tobacco blending. He gives you dozens of blends and the basic concepts so you can blend with the tobacco you have available. People always tell you to keep it simple, but rarely show you how. In any of Steve Rosenthal’s SimplySmart books, Steve shows you exactly how to do it! He shares with you some stories and tips in making pipe smoking more enjoyable. This book is also a guide for pipe smoking in general. Steve reviews pipes, accessories and the basics of how to smoke a pipe. For any new pipe smoker, this portion of the book will be invaluable. https://www.amazon.com/SimplySmart-Guide-Pipe-Tobacco-Blending-ebook/dp/B01LHVMB8O
<<To add some fun to your pipe smoking; why not don your baker's cap and cook up a blend of your own? At the recent NASPC Show, while out on the back patio of the hotel, Dr. Fred Hanna (inventor of the famous McClelland's Wilderness and Legends blends), shared with a few of us an absolutely wonderful concoction that he made from four different McClelland's blends. I don't recall the exact proportions, but he took some McClelland's 40th Anniversary, Stave Aged Virginia, Red & Black and maybe another McClelland's Virginia that I'm not able to recall, and blended them all together. Deeply rich and tartly sweet, I thought Fred had turned that little herd into one of the finest Virginia blends that I have ever smoked!>>
I mixed some PS Norwegian & PS Black Latakia together and I’ letting them marry to see what I come up with, I want to come up with my own Blend & call it Pastmaster’s Blend.
This evening, I blended my remaining (approx. one ounce) of Frog Morton's Cellar with about an ounce of the Sutliff Eastfarthing. I'll try the mixture tomorrow. I'm expecting transcendence.
Comments
https://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/know-your-pipe-tobacco-blending-components
Came up with about 10 blends to experiment with. Still tinkering with some things though. Gonna let them sit at least until my birthday in April.
I'm not a big fan of taking different blends of tobacco and mixing them together to create Frankenstein blends. I know a lot of you guys do it because you're after a specific taste/aroma (or because you have nothing better to do.) My sentiment is that the professionals have worked hard, or at least smoked a lot of tobacco, to get the blends to taste a specific way and it's not my place to say, "Meh! It's okay but I can do it better."
That being said, I have upon occasion come across a blend which I don't particularly care for, or it bites the heck out of me. And, I have added other tobaccos to it to make it more smokeable. In my mind, that's not the same as creating a new blend from perfectly good ones.
That being said, Mayan Imports, the cigar and pipe shop we hold the New Orleans Pipe Club meetings still had a modest selection of McClelland bulks and various McClelland tins (about 20 assorted tins when I got there last night). I picked up 3 oz. of McClelland McTruffle and 3 oz. of McRaspberry. (Cleaned them out of the McRaspberry and left a few ounces of McTruffle for others). This morning I jarred 2 ounces of each and on a lark mixed the remainder of the two blends together to form McRaspberry Truffle.
So, there. I have crossed over to the dark side of blending at home.
I'll let you guys know how it comes out.
For the record, I have two private blends that are made for me by Jon David Cole at the Country Squire. They are both blends I developed and worked with Jon David to "polish" into good smokes.
Pipe Smoking Tip For Today from Pipestud's Consignment Shop <steve@pipestud.com>
<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.pipestud.com/">https://www.pipestud.com/</a><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=pipestud&_sop=1https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=pipestud&_sop=1">https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=pipestud&_sop=1</a><<I was recently emailing back and forth with one of your fellow First Responders members regarding my use of a one speed food processor to grind my tobacco before I smoke it. He subsequently purchased one and I am hoping he finds the results to be as good as I did. In a year 1996 issue of Pipes & Tobaccos Magazine, there was a story on famous American pipe maker Michael Butera. In the article, Butera said he used a one speed food processor to chop up all of his tobacco as it aided in mixing all the components evenly which made packing easier and presented a more even burn for a cooler smoke. It also enable the smoker to relight less frequently since there were fewer gaps between tobacco and air. So, I purchased one of those gizmo's and was an immediate believer. Just make sure that you purchase a one speed food processor and not a mixer that has a much higher resolution speed or all you'll get is tobacco puree'.
* Please Note - Make sure the food processor is your own! Before mine arrived I was eager to start the process and snuck the blender that my wife used to make her morning orange juice/banana drink. Due to the high resolution speed of the blender, my tobacco was almost soup. I thought I had cleaned the mess up pretty well, but she was none too pleased the next morning when, while drinking her concoction, she found shards of Latakia mixed in with her drink. I'm not sure that I'm out of the doghouse yet for that one!>>
Hey, TPL brethren -- What do you think of this? Sounds pretty weird to me, but I'm an old fuddy-duddy.......
Relative to "blending" ( and yes I know this is not "real" blending) I have copied a section of my personal "cellar matrix". I also know I have OCD, but at my age I hardly remember where I live half of the time.
At any rate I have a complete list of my tobaccos, where I purchased them, a brief description, a personal rating, and a composite list of those tobaccos 'cellared" (yes once again I know, OCD). I am Irish and German, and the German requires me to be highly organized while the damn Irish tries to screw it up by making me drink Irish Whiskey. Quite the delema
try Crème Brulee and Chocolate Mousse (50/50) recommended online comp. to Molto Dolce
In my haste to post this, it is probably obvious, but anything that has a prefix "try" and no notations of an "experience" I just did not get around to trying it yet.
Anything that has no notation as to percentages (either 2 or 3 ingredients) is equal amounts. Otherwise the approximate comparable percentages are noted. Not having a scale (all this cataloged information, you would think I would get a damn scale)
My computer spreadsheet is "color coded" but did not come out so when I posted it.
Turned out delicious.......
Three primo blends individually.......wow, that must have been awesome. Vanilla Valhalla. Next time throw a liitle Vanilla Custard in for good luck. Now, RLP-6 is supposed to be Captain Black White, correct?
I enjoy the one, but not the other. Of course, that's just my opinion; I could be wrong.
(God knows SWMBO tells me that I'm wrong often enough.....)
And yes, the BCA/RLP-6/VBC mixture is Vanilla Valhalla.
BTW, and for what it's worth (nothing), I find VBC vastly superior to VC. Just sayin'........
........or Heaven.
But now that I think about it:
......or Hell.
https://www.amazon.com/SimplySmart-Guide-Pipe-Tobacco-Blending-ebook/dp/B01LHVMB8O
<<To add some fun to your pipe smoking; why not don your baker's cap and cook up a blend of your own? At the recent NASPC Show, while out on the back patio of the hotel, Dr. Fred Hanna (inventor of the famous McClelland's Wilderness and Legends blends), shared with a few of us an absolutely wonderful concoction that he made from four different McClelland's blends. I don't recall the exact proportions, but he took some McClelland's 40th Anniversary, Stave Aged Virginia, Red & Black and maybe another McClelland's Virginia that I'm not able to recall, and blended them all together. Deeply rich and tartly sweet, I thought Fred had turned that little herd into one of the finest Virginia blends that I have ever smoked!>>
I'll try the mixture tomorrow.
I'm expecting transcendence.