Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Once you've grown and harvested your tobacco, what do you do with it? Talk about it here.
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pierredekat

Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by pierredekat »

Well, I finally stumbled into a process to turn a cured tobacco into a respectable aromatic, and I definitely wanted to share it.

I'm starting with an air cured Burley, but any good, robust tobacco should work, just so long as it's reasonably smokable to begin with.

You will notice from the pictures that I'm using a substantial amount of stem material because it adds a lot of bulk to the tobacco, slows down the burning process, and adds a little bit of tannin to the flavor, which I really like. (FWIW, tannins are antioxidants.)

One nice thing about pipes is that you can smoke dang near anything that fits down inside the tobacco chamber, so why not make good use of that fact, right?... waste not, want not.

What you will need:
  • * Some sort of heat source that allows you to cook your tobacco outdoors (gas grill, camp stove, etc. I am fortunate to have a stove on our patio that we cook on in the summer months.)
    * An old pot or pan to cook your tobacco in (no lid, just the pot)
    * 4 cups of cured tobacco (3.88 ounces or 110 grams)
    * Measuring cup or scale to measure your tobacco with
    * 4-5 tablespoons (75 cc) of vanilla extract (real vanilla extract, not the imitation stuff, and preferably one that's more water than alcohol, I think)
    * Tablespoon or other liquid measuring device
    * Bigger spoon to stir with
    * Resealable container to store your tobacco in when you're done
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I am working with 4-cup batches of tobacco because that works for me, but you can use whatever amount works for you. Because of all of the air present in a "cup" of tobacco, I thought it was a good idea to also measure 4 cups of tobacco by weight, for scientific purposes, and 4 cups of my Burley weighs 3.88 ounces (110 grams).

Here you can see some of the stems in my tobacco. I used to remove these things, but now I keep them. They are pretty twiggy at this stage, but after roasting and before re-moistening, they will be bone-dry and you could easily crush them all the way down to powder if you wanted to.

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Start off with just the tobacco, put 4 cups of it in the pot, nothing else, turn on the burner, and start roasting your tobacco. You want to be right there stirring with your spoon from the very beginning, because this part of the process goes pretty fast-and-furious, and it's completed in less than 10 minutes. So don't wander off, or you will come back to find a nice rolling blaze and/or ashes where your tobacco used to be.

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You will start to see the first wisps of smoke within a minute.

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And once it really starts smoking, you want to slide the pot away from your heat source and continue stirring until the smoke dies back down. This smoke smells a lot like burning popcorn with some other more astringent stuff mixed in. I would say that if you're going to be doing very much of this, it probably wouldn't hurt to wear a respirator for this step of the process.

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Evaluate how roasted your tobacco has become and slide the pot back on your heat source if you decide you want your tobacco a little more roasted. I usually do this 2-3 times until I am satisfied with the degree of roasting.

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Back off again.

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This is looking pretty good to me. Time to turn off the heat.

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Okay, now those pieces of stem. Because they are more buoyant in the mix, they "float" to the top if you shake your pan around a bit, and that makes them fairly easy to dig out.

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Give them a little pinching action.

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And they will look like this.

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Go through and break up the bigger pieces, and you should wind up with something like this.

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Now it's time to get out our vanilla and tablespoon.

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This particular brand of vanilla is mostly water, and it's not the strongest vanilla extract I have ever tasted. For better or for worse, it has some sort of preservative ... and a tiny bit of artificial color, for reasons I can't even imagine. But this is what I have in my kitchen right now, so this is what I'm using.

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Because this is not terribly strong vanilla extract, I found that 5 tablespoons of this particular vanilla extract (75 cc) for 4 cups (110 grams) of tobacco worked well, but your mileage may vary.

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If you have stronger vanilla extract, you might want to try 3 tablespoons of vanilla extract and 1 or 2 tablespoons of water, or whatever. You will have to play around a bit until you really hit your mark. But 5 tablespoons of vanilla extract per 4 cups of tobacco worked for me.

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Stir it around.

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And you should end up with something like this. If you smoke aromatics like I do, this should look pretty familiar, huh?

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Put your tobacco into a resealable container, and about all that's left is giving that vanilla extract, burnt popcorn smell, and inherent tobacco aroma a day or two to "marry". This is where the magic occurs.

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During the first 24 hours, you will be able to easily distinguish the aromas of vanilla and burnt popcorn ... oookkkaaayyy ... but after a day or two, you will stick your nose into that container and smell ... wow ... aromatic tobacco ... wow ... that's like ... the real deal.

And your tobacco will seem terribly damp to the touch, at first, but as that vanilla extract soaks into the bigger chunks, it will start to feel more and more like any aromatic that you are used to.

I am really amazed at how close this stuff tastes to my all-time favorite tobacco: Lane RLP-6. Yeah, it turned out pretty respectably, I must say. And it has a really nice room note, you know. Don't be a bit surprised if your family and friends actually ask you to smoke around them.

Seriously.

Addendum: I have a couple updates to the original discussion that I wanted to pass along.

First, the vanilla extract that I originally used in this recipe had a little bit of sugar in it, which seemed to work out very well.

However, after I used up the last of that vanilla extract, I decided to try a different vanilla extract that had a stronger vanilla flavor but didn't have any sugar, and the resulting tobacco ended up being a little on the bitter side, compared to the tobacco made with the first vanilla extract.

But I tossed some unrefined sugar -- just plain old granulated sugar -- into the mix at the same time I was adding the vanilla extract, and it really worked out well. It tilted the flavor away from being somewhat bitter to being much more balanced, and it seemed to improve the burning quality of the tobacco. Think "casing".

So the recipe I'm working with now is:
  • * 4 cups of tobacco (110 grams)
    * 5 tablespoons of vanilla extract (the kind with no added sugar), and
    * 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
I know it sounds crazy, just plain old sugar being tossed into the mix, but try it, you'll like it. Think "old fashioned vanilla ice cream topped with roasted marshmallows".

The second thing I wanted to mention is that the moisture level on this aromatic tobacco seems to work out well for long-term storage, but it can be a little bit on the damp side in the short-term.

But I figured out that if you take a good handful -- maybe a quarter cup -- put it on a coffee filter or paper towel, and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds (YMMV), it releases just enough moisture to make it smoke flawlessly.

I am still trying to decide, but it might even improve the flavor just a bit. It certainly doesn't lose anything, anyway.

I think this works much better than leaving tobacco lying around in open air to dry for an extended period of time because: A) dust doesn't have time to settle on the tobacco if you just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds; and B) less of the vanilla flavor has time to oxidize, evaporate, or whatever.

Buen provecho. :wink:

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Keywords: recipe tutorial how-to toasted Cavendish pictures photo essay processing homemade Captain Black bulk do it yourself tabaco tobak tabac
Last edited by pierredekat on Sun Feb 12, 2012 5:59 am, edited 6 times in total.
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taharris
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Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by taharris »

I'm not much of an aromatic guy, but that looks like a fun summer project.

I may just give it a shot.

Thanks for posting.

Todd
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JonBood
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Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by JonBood »

Looks like I will have a go at that!
pierredekat

Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by pierredekat »

Hello, I am Robert. I like aromatics, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. :D

Yeah, being able to grow my own tobacco and turn it into something I would actually pay money for has been a dream of mine for a long time.

I almost feel like I've found the Holy Grail. :notworthy:

:lol:
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SchmidtN
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Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by SchmidtN »

Hello, I'm #1312.
That's a really big number.
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Leus
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Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by Leus »

I don't like aromatics because I end up with my tongue fried. How's the bite in this tobacco?
pierredekat

Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by pierredekat »

SchmidtN wrote:This might be of some help.
http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/forum/v ... f=26&t=595
Thanks. Yeah, I downloaded "Tobacco Without Tears", and it was really a cool old publication about tobacco.
Leus wrote:I don't like aromatics because I end up with my tongue fried. How's the bite in this tobacco?
There's two kinds of tongue bite.

One is about certain chemicals landing on our tongues, particularly ones we aren't used to.

For me, I find this tobacco well balanced, without any of that type of bite, but somebody else might think this tobacco bites like hell. So I guess it has a lot to do with what you are used to.

The other type of tongue bite is a steam burn. And if a person hasn't spent a little time learning how to smoke an aromatic, steam burns are going to be the norm, rather than the exception.

There is an art to smoking aromatics, and the more you develop certain skills, the more enjoyment you get from an aromatic.

First and foremost is not smoking too hot. If you puff too big and too quickly, you are going to get a steam-burned tongue, no doubt about it.

Enjoying aromatics is about developing a rhythm that ties together the size of your draw, how often you draw, how often you tamp, and so on.

When you are "in the zone" so to speak, aromatics are absolutely magical.

For me, it's kindof a "sipping" deal. I will sip this tobacco all day long, and my tongue has no problem whatsoever.

But if a person's in a hurry, puffing to relieve stress, or whatever, yes, his aromatic experience will be much less than optimal.

Even those of us who smoke aromatics on a regular basis will get our tongues a little steam-burned if we are smoking while we're busy and/or stressed.

I figure that's a good sign that it's time to slow down, pace myself, enjoy the ride...
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Frank
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Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by Frank »

pierredekat wrote:Hello, I am Robert. I like aromatics, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. :D
Same here!

Leus wrote:I don't like aromatics because I end up with my tongue fried. How's the bite in this tobacco?
I think tongue-bite has more to do with the tobacco than the aromatics. I smoke 'Butternut Burley' exclusively and it never bites (literally or figuratively). I do, however, allow it to dry a little, since it is a bit on the wet side for my liking when it arrives fresh from the tobacconist.
Regards,
Frank.
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Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by Archer »

Thats really cool!
pierredekat

Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by pierredekat »

Frank wrote:I think tongue-bite has more to do with the tobacco than the aromatics. I smoke 'Butternut Burley' exclusively and it never bites (literally or figuratively). I do, however, allow it to dry a little, since it is a bit on the wet side for my liking when it arrives fresh from the tobacconist.
It's funny you mention Butternut Burley, because I have been trying to develop my own version. I still don't have a recipe worth sharing, but once I do, I will definitely pass it along to everybody.
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JonBood
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Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by JonBood »

How long do you think it would be appropriate to store this aromatic before it approaches the perfect moisture level? I guess it depends on how well sealed the container is but if you have any experience from your own blends it would be appreciated :D

I did some pipe tobacco from a raw-tobacco kit a while back, moisturized it with the aroma-liquid that came along. Was not too pleased with the result I must say.. Don't know what was wrong (the tobacco seemed fine) but the flavor turned out quite bad and it also had some bitter taste like you were describing..looking forward to try out this one! Maybe the caramelizing of the sugar will help to prevent the bitter taste..

Thank you for a nice description!
Jon
pierredekat

Re: Turning Cured Tobacco into a Respectable Aromatic (Pics)

Post by pierredekat »

JonBood wrote:How long do you think it would be appropriate to store this aromatic before it approaches the perfect moisture level? I guess it depends on how well sealed the container is but if you have any experience from your own blends it would be appreciated :D

I did some pipe tobacco from a raw-tobacco kit a while back, moisturized it with the aroma-liquid that came along. Was not too pleased with the result I must say.. Don't know what was wrong (the tobacco seemed fine) but the flavor turned out quite bad and it also had some bitter taste like you were describing..looking forward to try out this one! Maybe the caramelizing of the sugar will help to prevent the bitter taste..

Thank you for a nice description!
Jon
Yes, it's going to depend a lot on how air-tight the container is.

And you can go many different ways with it.

If your goal is to smoke fairly soon, I think the best way to store this tobacco would be in a plastic bag, which is more permeable and would release excess moisture at a fairly fast pace.

Then, once you reach your target moisture content, you would probably want to transfer your tobacco to a glass jar or other less-permeable container.

On the other hand, if your goal is to age this tobacco and see where that gets you, flavor-wise, then you would want to start right off in the glass jar.

Speaking of storage, one thing I want to mention is that you want to store this tobacco at room-temperature or below, and out of the sun.

So far, my tobacco has been storing quite nicely at room temperature, and out of the sun, but I had a little bit sitting in a coffee can on a windowsill for a few days, and it molded quite horribly.

I guess that's one of the downsides to using water, rather than propylene glycol: water supports various life forms, and PG doesn't.

On the upside, I would much rather be smoking water than propylene glycol, any day. :D
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