The testing and blending continues. I've now tested & sampled enough of my home grown heirloom Havana-seed leaf to know what distinct taste and burn qualities each has, and for the last couple of weeks I've been playing around with blending them in various combinations and ratios. I feel like a kid in a candy shop. I sit out in the back deck with my rolling board, chaveta and pectin (cigar glue) on the table with bags of various leaf all laid out all over the place and think "hmm, maybe I'll try 30%/50%/20% ratio of Zimmer Spanish, Havana Long Red Leaf, and Florida Sumatra as a filler, with a Wisconsin Seedleaf binder and Florida Sumatra wrapper, with just one little strip of Keller Brown in the core . . ." and just roll it up and smoke it. And it's friggin' fantastic! (Especially the particular blend mentioned--out of this world! Mocha, leather, woods, nuts, cream . . .) I still can't get over how good this stuff has turned out to be. I am absolutely spoiled. I have not smoked ONE of my 100-odd "factory" premium cigars in my humidors for weeks now. I much prefer almost any of my "test" cigars to ANY store bought cigar.
The sad news is that it's clear I'm going to run out of this leaf way too soon! Must grow LOTS more this year! But man is it a lot of fuss.
Here's a pic of one. I even printed up some labels for 'em. It didn't seem right not to.
The sad news is that it's clear I'm going to run out of this leaf way too soon! Must grow LOTS more this year! But man is it a lot of fuss.
Here's a pic of one. I even printed up some labels for 'em. It didn't seem right not to.
