Got a little more info today from Willy about his "mojo" he spritzes the leaf with. He chunks up some pineapple and puts it in some water and lets it sit a few days. Then he adds the rum and vanilla and says it makes the aroma of the cigar better.
Adventures in home rolling
- Thread starter BrewinHooligan
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Thanks so much for getting and sharing this info.
Yes, I have had several of his. The one I had tonight while wrapping the bunches I rolled with him yesterday is pictured here. Seriously, the best tasting CT shade wrapped cigar I have ever had. He says that if your leaf is aged properly you should only have to wait 3 days after rolling to smoke.
His blend is 2 leaves Nica criollo seco, 1 leaf Dominican ligero, with an Ecuadorian binder. Full of flavor with a medium body and strength. In the final third I could have sworn I tasted hints of pineapple, but I will admit it could have been in my head.
That looks identical to the leaf I got from FX Smith's. Grown in PA, I think. Dries light in color. Burns great. Wraps smooth. Tastes fairly neutral. Super big leaves. I like these broadleafs. This is the stuff when I smelt it drying in Amish barns along the road I just had to find out where it winds up. You should see the plants late in Summer. Talk about big leaves. You could diaper a fat papoose and have a woobie left over. Fine aroma, like bread. Makes you want to smoke.
Okay, now you convinced me. Gotta wander out in the garage and fire up a Smithdale shade. Yummers.
Ha! That looks like the same mold I got from wuzzisname in New York. CXame in Thursday. Haven't tried it. Gott get these stinking taxes done so I can relax and have a roll.
No. He gave me maybe five pounds just for the flatfish. When you have machines popping out five thou a day apiece, I guess you go thru so much leaf five pounds is a trinket.
These machines are fascinating to watch. They get three or four wrappers out of a single half leaf. There's a die that cuts the wrapper and cap all in one. The machine lays on the wrapper with only a quarter inch overlap. Bing bang zoom.
The nineteenth century was flat out fabulous for progress, wunnit? Start the century, it was all cottage industry and hard labor. Want a cigar, Bub? Hitch up the mule and plan ahead. End of the century, it was all mechanized cornucopia for the masses. Want a cigar? Here's a nickel. A dollar a day you could live on. We are dilettantes by comparison. A dollar today, you can't pay the toll to get to work. Our biggest industry today is debt. Here's the kicker: We think all that debt comes for free!
I made a vid of one of his machines on youtube:
I wish you better luck with perfectos than I had. They are a royal pain to wrap and make look good, and towards the end of my using them I kept having plugged sticks and really tight draws. I may go at it again sometime in the future, but for now I am working more on my new bunching technique and working with wrapper just barely cased enough to stretch so my cigars are ready to smoke sooner
I like this 40 rg perfecto mold! Learning a new vitola is quite enjoyable
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I'd love to learn the perfecto, but for now will be learning to roll to a 48 rg parejo mold. I've found some commercial perfectos start with an easy draw but then within minutes seem plugged. I then hit it with a v-notch cutter and it's easy drawing for the rest of the smoke...I guess it's just getting tight from the extra humidity while smoking. Any chance your perfectos could be doing the same thing?
They usually open up after they get past the foot for mine actually. It's just a very difficult shape if you want a tight packed cigar. More of mine smoke ok than not, it's just frustrating when you screw one up
The fecto wrapping part is easy enough. Once you learn to use a stretchy wrapper variety, like Hab2k, then it's just a matter of getting it super damp and cutting a concave bit where you start. Your wrap will shrink right down to the shape in just a day or two. The draw, however, that's the real problem child. You have measure with your fist to to make sure your bunch isn't too long before you bind. There can't be more than what would taper sticking out either end of your fist. Don't go by the mold, cause your bunch will lengthen as you bind it. Feel free to clip off the stiff nipples before you wrap. I like to clip the head and round the head. My mold has one end fatter anyways.
But look at the flip side of it: A fecto, all's you light is the bitty taper tip, which is pretty easy to start with a match. Once your cherry burns up to the swell, you get a wonderful explosion of volume and flavor, which is a fine experience. Plus the shape looks so cigarish, dunnit?
I like 'em a lot.
Jimmy D, where you located? What's your weather situation? I'm here in northern Dull-Aware. We get evening rains all the time. I struggle with plugs on any vitola most any night. Broadleaf wrappers burn best on premiums. Loose bunches on my own sticks burn even better. I still get an easy hour and a half out of a loose bunched 5 1/2" Uppowoc Perfecto with a habano wrapper. But a hard bound premium with a habano wrap is about guaranteed to die half way along. I hate re-lighting. It ruins the flavor. Had a rainy day again yesterday, pulled a 4 1/2" well-seasond San Benigno out of the humi, died half way. Makes a hard plug, tunnels a mite, then cacks.
I dunno why guys think they're getting robbed if their store bought tobacco stick isn't stuffed hard as a wooden stick. You're not buying the thing by the pound, but by the enjoyment. Broadleaf wrapped machine mades are actually the best of both worlds. Burn great even here.
^ what RH are you storing at? Sounds like you may be running a bit on the high side if rainy weather causes that much of a problem so quickly. The tunneling in particular I've only ever had in sticks stored too high or bad rolls. Since I started storing at 62-65 tunneling has been an issue of the past.