Those PA wrappers will really shine when stretched tight. Have you tried letting them set up longer. over night, 2 days. I like to use a spark plug socket to flatten those fat vanes. If you let your bunch dry you can get a higher cased leaf on without the thing being a mop. I also don't see any caps on your sticks.
Adventures in home rolling
- Thread starter BrewinHooligan
- Start date
I would if I had any home brew left! I really need to get busy with that and cigar rolling... Damn work and bills getting in the way.RDWHAHB?
Do you all make cigar molds?RDWHAHB?
I let the wrapper set at least overnight if not a few days. I haven't been capping my sticks lately because every time I have recently it makes the stick look worse than if I just finish with a pigtail. I do try to flatten the veins with empty beer bottles.
Something else is a nice smooth molding and don't forget your all important final rolling/flattening with your chaveta. trim the wrapper for the least amount of overlap. that thinner strip will yield higher conformity.
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I'm using a perfecto mold that was generously lent to me by a brother here. It is old but it is very nice. I don't have a traditional "chaveta" so I can't really roll the sticks with what I have. Sounds like a traditional chaveta is next on my equipment list
No, but it may be on my to do list at one point in the future. Depends on the material cost and what little time I can scrape together.
I had to ask. availability can be scarce.
It does 2 thing. you'll see rollers roll it under their fingers; it messages the filler leaves. the chaveta or, something flat on the stick against the board will give the wrapper a little extra flattening.
I used a rolling pin once, seemed to help out a lot. But it was a bit unwieldy. I have lots of 1" PVC chunks around. I think I'll grab a chunk, round off the edges and give that a shot. I guess my biggest concern would be it sticking to the leaf a lot. I've seen videos where people seem to use metal more than anything - do metal rollers stick less?
Thanks for posting up @Marc L Love reading about rolling. And welcome aboard!
Thanks for posting up @Marc L Love reading about rolling. And welcome aboard!
I have took that same path. I don't think it sticks any less but, less is more of what we want I think. ... There's a rounded roller with a handle out there I think that would work best though. (on my bucket list) The metal board allowing full wrapper adhesion is the trick though. I do not do this much. Timing is a thing though.
Here's a little scrap cigar I made today when I got home from work. It was far better than the random sampler cigar I had on the way home.
Holy crap, this thread was awesome! This is definitely something I want to try. @BrewinHooligan your cigars look delicious. As do @CaptainRon and @HIM* There is something about the allure of what you guys are blending that I want to give it a shot to experience the smoke more so than most premiums! The look so good. After my wedding hopefully can I start down this path.
Cigary43
Just Another Ashhole
Dude ...if your current job is ever in jeopardy you might have a future rolling cigars in some port of call.Home rolled numbers 3 through 6, from left to right. The little one was rolled by my 6 year old son, with a little help from DadHe was pretty excited to roll it and wanted me to smoke it right away!
Unfortunately, I made the filler a little too moist I think. I think it may be rolled *too* tight! We'll see what happens when it dries out.
The next one, the giant, was rolled with all dry filler. I got it tighter than yesterday's cigars, but it still felt a little loose.
The final two, I used a mix of wet and dry filler. They're definately tighter, and maybe too tight again. I'm going to give these at least a week, I think, to see what happens. I'll let them sit out overnight and put them in a small humidor tomorrow so I can monitor them. I'll probably hold off on making anymore until I can smoke a couple of these and see what's going on with my roll.
So without further ado, here they are! I hope they smoke half way decent because I'm very happy with how they look!
Nice job Captain !! in a few months your cigars will look as good as any bought cigar.
Tonight i fly home after a 6 week swing of work. I have 40-50 cigars waiting between 2 and 3 months old. I'll smoke half of them and the rest will rest for 3 more months. My goal is to let rest all my cigars 6 months.
Will report later.
Tonight i fly home after a 6 week swing of work. I have 40-50 cigars waiting between 2 and 3 months old. I'll smoke half of them and the rest will rest for 3 more months. My goal is to let rest all my cigars 6 months.
Will report later.
Rolled up a few more today. Very happy with how these turned out using that ridiculously thin CT shade wrapper. I won't be getting anymore of that stuff for quite some time - I need a lot more experience before using something so fragile, I think.
I said someplace that I planned on waiting a week before smoking one of these. 22 hours is close enough I think!
This was the first one I rolled yesterday and I used one less leaf on this one that the rest. The smoking end got pretty small on me but I just went with it. I figured this would be a good sacrifice since it wasn't quote like the others - I can justify anything! ahahah
Good draw, good burn, decent flavor - this homerolled cigar far surpassed my ride home cigar today, that's for sure. Anyway, here it is smoking. Super excited about this!
This was the first one I rolled yesterday and I used one less leaf on this one that the rest. The smoking end got pretty small on me but I just went with it. I figured this would be a good sacrifice since it wasn't quote like the others - I can justify anything! ahahah
Good draw, good burn, decent flavor - this homerolled cigar far surpassed my ride home cigar today, that's for sure. Anyway, here it is smoking. Super excited about this!
Got some more leaf in today from Whole Leaf Tobacco, plus a chaveta and a special "tuck cutter"
OK, so the tuck cutter is just a 70 ring gauge cigar cutter, but I wanted one just for cigar making.
The kits are the Terroso Profundo and Oscuro y Rico kits.
OK, so the tuck cutter is just a 70 ring gauge cigar cutter, but I wanted one just for cigar making.
The kits are the Terroso Profundo and Oscuro y Rico kits.
My first blend with 100 plus days of rest. Pa oscuro wrapper, Dom binder, Dom lig, Corojo seco and Corojo viso. White pepper, sweetness, coffee, earth. Lots of thick heavy smoke. Not bad for a first roll. Could use less pepper and more cocoa and coffee notes. 7 more blends still sleeping.
I have something similar that I replaced the corojo seco with Nica Habano seco to which tamed the pepper and added more cocoa and earth