This is true. Even then with all the expenses it's hard for me to wrap my simple mind around
Adventures in home rolling
- Thread starter BrewinHooligan
- Start date
Except of course for these cats who grow their own.
Yesterday I processed a bunch of leaf. Split and de-stemmed my wrapper and binder and took the stems out of any filler leaf that wasn't frog-legged already.
Today I rolled. And it went much faster because of all the processing I did yesterday. I've noticed that the heads of my cigars have been a little soft sometimes, so I focused on that area more today. Of course then I lost focus on the rest of the cigar. Some of these ended up with smaller feet or slightly hour-glass bodies. I think they'll smoke ok, but we'll see.
The two on the right are just a couple of scrap-gars I tossed together. I used some of the paper-thin sumatra binder I have to wrap them.
Edit to add:
This blend is:
1/2 leaf Corojo Seco
1 leaf Dominican Seco
1/2 leaf Nicaraguan Seco
1/2 leaf Criolo 98 Ligero
Dominican Binder
Ecuador Maduro Wrapper
The third cigar from the right, I upped the Corojo seco to a full leaf because I ran out of the Nic. Habano Seco. I turned my cap leaf around so I wouldn't lose track of it.
There's something that's greatly satisfying about smoking something you made from stuff that might otherwise be thrown away.
Today I rolled. And it went much faster because of all the processing I did yesterday. I've noticed that the heads of my cigars have been a little soft sometimes, so I focused on that area more today. Of course then I lost focus on the rest of the cigar. Some of these ended up with smaller feet or slightly hour-glass bodies. I think they'll smoke ok, but we'll see.
The two on the right are just a couple of scrap-gars I tossed together. I used some of the paper-thin sumatra binder I have to wrap them.
Edit to add:
This blend is:
1/2 leaf Corojo Seco
1 leaf Dominican Seco
1/2 leaf Nicaraguan Seco
1/2 leaf Criolo 98 Ligero
Dominican Binder
Ecuador Maduro Wrapper
The third cigar from the right, I upped the Corojo seco to a full leaf because I ran out of the Nic. Habano Seco. I turned my cap leaf around so I wouldn't lose track of it.
There's something that's greatly satisfying about smoking something you made from stuff that might otherwise be thrown away.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2015
- Messages
- 10
All you self rollers up in here: how would you rate your work? in comparison to cigars on the market.
I know it's not just about how good it is to enjoy, I get that the process in itself can make it worthwhile - I'm just curious is all.
Cheers
I know it's not just about how good it is to enjoy, I get that the process in itself can make it worthwhile - I'm just curious is all.
Cheers
My first couple batches.... 1
Now.... 2-3
That's for looks.
For constructuon, I'm often times happier with mine than what the pros put out. For example, the Tat Veracu I had last night was so tight I probably should have just pitched it. But I hated to do it with something so epensive.
Flavor wise I haven't made anything really horrible. I'd have to reserve judgment on what can be done with flavor until I can roll enough to let them rest a while.
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When I first started my blends were so-so. Decent but not what I would call great. I have never rolled anything that wouldn't smoke and 9 times out of 10 mine have a perfect burn anymore. Now that I am getting the hang of blending I am producing sticks that I can compare to commercially produced sticks upwards of $10/ea, at least flavor wise. Construction is still great but making them as pretty as the premiums isn't easy.
My buddy Rob had told me "so is he going to sell those, because I would them." You've got a winning formula in your blends!Pretty comparable as far as how they smoke and taste but maybe not in terms of hitting all the minor details I expect from a commercially rolled cigar. Theres a lot of experimenting and tweaking though so not every cigar or blend I put together turns out good. Ive put together some blends that were just terrible but without actually trying them I wouldn't know how those tobaccos smoke together. You just have to try it and decide how to go about moving forward. But the blend I roll the most of tastes to me like a lot of the cigars I pay $8-10 for.
Took me about a year to hit on my fave blend: Brazilian mata fina and piloto Cubano, bound and wrapped in habano 2000. I roll them in perfectos, and age them three or four months before I crack into them. Getting ready to start a new batch for Spring right now. Uppowoc Perfecto Matalotos. Waiting on a new batch of cigar bands coming in the mail.
Are they as beautiful as Perdomo or Torano might make? Absolutely not. Never will be. The gals making commercial sticks learned their art at the foot of the master, and they roll more in a month than I will make before I die; so, that's reality. But the appearance is entirely acceptable 85% of the time, and darn good every once in a while. Here's a pic of about the first one I made. I had only been rolling about four months, and I had just scored a perfecto mold. Prolly early 2014:
Here's one from June of 2014:
Here's one from last October:
Here's one I shared with my new Indian Scout the night I christened her with tequila and gave her her name Sopowa, this last April:
So you can see that they do get better shapes, as you get practice.
The smoke, of course, is not affected by appearance. Once you get to where you can make a thing that will draw nicely and burn evenly, that's all you can ask. I can't say that I get any worse burn out of my faves than I get out of a $5 to $10 stick. I most certainly get way far fewer duds than I get out of trying new costly stix.
However, as you yourself acknowledge, the object is not so much the product as the experience. After all, we don't smoke a cigar because we want a pile of ash in the tray. Likewise, we don't roll a cigar because we need more sticks cluttering up the coolidors.
A yogini subbed in for my regular yogini once time, who was all into "essential" oils. She told us to put the least drop of a sample bottle she brought on one palm, stroke the palms together, then rub palms behind ears, and rub the soles of our feet. I asked why those places. She said the pores are larger in those three spots so that odors absorb there. I opined that must be why we like to inhale the scent of our sweethearts behind her ears, why our dogs love to steal our socks, and why animals of all sorts like to smell our hands. In fact, as we got all sweated up in yoga class, I could even taste the oils that came through my palms. Rolling cigars is like that too. Crack open your humidor and you get hit by that wonderful aroma. That same way, crack into a rolling project, stick your hands all into these leaves, it gets oil all over your palms. You find yourself sniffing your digits the rest of the day. I've not tried snus; but I've tried pipes and I've tried cigs and I smoke about a cigar a day and I've walked through tobacco fields and ridden past tobacco barns and handled the leaves. Each is a wonderful way to enjoy tobacco. An hour rolling is as satisfying as an hour smoking. Just cracking the lid of the cooler where I keep my ready stash of leaves to roll... that's an Aaaahhhhh! moment. You have to try it to understand the thing.
Then too, I'll go home tonight and work on my cedar lined man cave porch. Once it's all done, and I go sit back there to smoke ... I'll get something ineffable just out of the fact I made the dang porch. Coulda hired someone ... but that's not the same.
... is it?
From what I've read some of the factories (mostly Cuban) have their rollers go through a four year apprenticeship first. So, are the home rolled sticks going to be as pretty or done as quickly, probably not. However, a good burn and a good flavor out weigh aesthetics.
I've posted at my cigar blog a new vid of some rolling I watched in New Orleans over the last couple weeks.
http://blisscigar.co/post/132048953566/just-got-back-from-a-week-in-the-french-quarter-in
http://blisscigar.co/post/132048953566/just-got-back-from-a-week-in-the-french-quarter-in
I decided to do a bit of rolling yesterday. I haven't done any for about a year. I grew a few plants of two types of tobacco a few years ago and rolled quite a few the first year, but now I only roll a handful every year. I'm almost out of tobacco now. When I fermented my tobacco I did some longer than others and was able to get nice, dark maduro style leaves. I decided to do these sticks in the barber pole style. Besides looking cool it also has the advantage of hiding the unattractive wrapper. As you can see from many of the photos posted in this thread, it is hard to get the beautiful, even colored leaves with fine veins that the commercial rollers use for their wrappers. 
I love how those look! Mind sharing how you wrap the barber poles?
A little "between the lines" action there!!! I like it.
You guys make me want to get in to this so bad the last thing I need is another hobby hahaha
I would love to share. It's quite easy as long as you have some contrasting wrapper to use. Simply make your cigar and wrap it as usual. Then cut a strip of the contrasting leaf about 1/2" wide. It should be long enough to do the job. If it's not you can carefully paste another piece to make it longer. You can practice rolling it around the cigar to make sure it is long enough and that the angle is right. Changing the angle will increase or decrease the gap between the stripes. It seems to look best if the stripes are space so the dark and light color are even. Also, make sure you start the stripe beyond the end of the cigar. If you don't then you'll see the end and it looks best if the stripe just goes off the end. If you look at the second from the top or the bottom one in my photo you'll see the square end of the dark stripe just ends. I should have made it longer and just cut it off after. After your practice runs, use cigar paste (I use pectin) all along the stripe so the edges won't lift.
That's it. Nothing to it but it sure look cool. At least I think it does.
Those look awesome. If you need a volunteer for taste testing and quality assurance, I'm available.
