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This was my first cigar from tobacco that I grew myself. I was pretty good, though being the first cigar I've had in nearly two years it gave me a good kick in the rear.

Very cool! Comparable to any you have tried before?

MonsieurLabo wrote:Very cool! Comparable to any you have tried before?

Hmm? The flavor was actually really nice. I'd compare it to a CAO Brazilla or La Gloria Cubana Seriers R. Fairly stout flavor, but smooth.This cigar did make my head spin quite a bit by the end of it. I'm not sure if it was a strong nic-hit or just that I wasn't used to that long of a smoke as it went for about 1 hour and 15 minutes...and I haven't had a cigar since I left the States nearly two years ago. My method of rolling a lot of practice yet. The draw was nice and even for most of the smoke. However, towards the last 1/3 of cigar I noticed it getting some soft spots. Also, I want to figure out how to cultivate nice smooth leaves for wrappers like you get in production cigars. The veins of wrapper leaf of mine were more prominent than I'd like, but I'm not sure how to go about getting leaves that are big enough to use as wrappers, but have smaller size veins.

All in all, though, it was a very enjoyable smoke.

Very cool man!

JMG wrote:
I want to figure out how to cultivate nice smooth leaves for wrappers like you get in production cigars. The veins of wrapper leaf of mine were more prominent than I'd like, but I'm not sure how to go about getting leaves that are big enough to use as wrappers, but have smaller size veins.

I think they grown them in the shade JMG, there is a lot of info at this site if you havent already found it, good luck my friend
http://fairtradetobacco.com/forum.php

Very nice!

I tried my hand at rolling cigars once. Hard as hell. I ended up with two huge turds that smoked horribly. My husband did try to smoke them, but didn't make it long. Since he has about 5,000 cigars in his humidor I'll stick to making pipes.

Makes me want a cigar... very nice.

Dude, that's AWESOME! Talk about do-it-yourself!

TJ

Thanks for the compliments guys. Rolling the cigar was more difficult than I'd like, and replicating a good one just the same seemed to be even more challenging. However, I was sure fun to smoke something that I got to make literally from the ground up.

Being here in Papua New Guinea makes things a lot easier, I think, on the growing side. I read a lot of post about guys back in the States having to baby the new seedlings, transplant, keep careful watch, etc. Thankfully, with the climate here, all I had to do was sprinkle some seeds on freshly broken ground and then just build a little banis (woops fence) around the new sprouts to keep the chickens from walking on top of them. Other than that there wasn't much to it.

I hope I can get decent at the rolling process and put some back for aging. I'll also try out curing some leaves for pipe tobacco, but not sure this strain on leaf will do well for that. Anywho, we'll see.

That's awesome. Nice looking burn!

JMG wrote:Thanks for the compliments guys. Rolling the cigar was more difficult than I'd like, and replicating a good one just the same seemed to be even more challenging. However, I was sure fun to smoke something that I got to make literally from the ground up.

Being here in Papua New Guinea makes things a lot easier, I think, on the growing side. I read a lot of post about guys back in the States having to baby the new seedlings, transplant, keep careful watch, etc. Thankfully, with the climate here, all I had to do was sprinkle some seeds on freshly broken ground and then just build a little banis (woops fence) around the new sprouts to keep the chickens from walking on top of them. Other than that there wasn't much to it.

I hope I can get decent at the rolling process and put some back for aging. I'll also try out curing some leaves for pipe tobacco, but not sure this strain on leaf will do well for that. Anywho, we'll see.

Dude, I might have missed it, but what are you doing in Papua New Guinea? Are you a missionary, Peace Corps, what? This has nothing to do with pipes, I'm just extremely curious. Whatever it is, good on you! I'm sure it will pay huge dividends down the road, and I mean that in all sincerity. When you expose yourself to cultures drastically different than your own, you end up a better person. Period.

TJ

ToddJohnson wrote:When you expose yourself to cultures drastically different than your own, you end up a better person. Period.

TJ

When you say expose... are you promoting streaking?

The Smoking Yeti wrote:

ToddJohnson wrote:When you expose yourself to cultures drastically different than your own, you end up a better person. Period.

TJ

When you say expose... are you promoting streaking?

Crap, am I not supposed to do that?...they do.

The Smoking Yeti wrote:

ToddJohnson wrote:When you expose yourself to cultures drastically different than your own, you end up a better person. Period.

TJ

When you say expose... are you promoting streaking?

In no uncertain terms, yes, absolutely!

TJ

JMG, That's a great looking cigar for not being a professional roller. Great work. The cigars you said it tasted like are two of my absolute favorites, and I remember that La Gloria has QUITE a kick.

I got to watch a master roller, at a little cigar shop in Las Vegas called Don Pablo's. He started by pressing the leaves into a round mold (cigar shaped of course), and when they were ready he took out some very pretty leaves to roll them with, sealing them with what he called a "gel". This probably won't help much, but here are some pics I took while I was there.

These were the filler leaves.



Molds and presses



He rolled most of these just while I was there smoking my cigar.



Jose.



Brian.

i beileve the gel is vegetable gum/paste. after the filler is molded then he takes a couple leaves for the binder then uses the wrapper to finish it up. definitely a skill id love to learn one day. the brazilia is a nice cigar but i havent tried the gloria. from what i remeber it was really hay favoured and a touch of leathery sweetness. its pretty impressive that you rolled this considering you hadnt had a lot of practice as of recent. niceee job
evan

Thanks for the pictures and info, Brian. That's really helpful. Hopefully I will get plenty of more practice through the years in Hewa...as long as my tobacco continues to grow well. As far as that mix goes, I just just used a corn starch and water mix as a type of "glue." Oh, those two cigars are some of favorites as well. Definitely a go-to stick.