As a learner I'm find it helpful to roll cigars in pairs using the same leaf combinations, focusing on consistent technique and trying for identical sticks - although certainly not there yet. Here's the most recent pair rolled using the LO South of the Border kit leaves (San Andreas wrap, Dominican bind, Hond viso and seco fill). 5.5" x 43-44.Pics of Your Sticks
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As a learner I'm find it helpful to roll cigars in pairs using the same leaf combinations, focusing on consistent technique and trying for identical sticks - although certainly not there yet. Here's the most recent pair rolled using the LO South of the Border kit leaves (San Andreas wrap, Dominican bind, Hond viso and seco fill). 5.5" x 43-44.
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Nice job.
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Today's pair of Sweet Rum gars, rolled not five minutes before posting this:
They're sitting atop Maks' two-busto home-made mold.
1 piloto core
3-4 T-13
Esteli wrap for binder
FXSS CT shade wrapper
Still all damp and blotchy. One they settle in, the color & texture of these looks like so:
They're sitting atop Maks' two-busto home-made mold.
1 piloto core
3-4 T-13
Esteli wrap for binder
FXSS CT shade wrapper
Still all damp and blotchy. One they settle in, the color & texture of these looks like so:
Ok. Sweet sticks but I wanna see the axe and hear how you like that spark amp... recently got a Supro Keely Custom amp and that was life changing
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Well, if you've got an amp like that, then, gee, not sure why you'd care about the Spark. In my case, I like it. I've never had a non-tube amp before, but it fits my current lifestyle. It's very small and it makes a fairly pretty set of sounds at low volume. I've had it for a few weeks and I still haven't got it above a few decibels because I live in a studio in a Victorian with neighbors in rooms all around me and my getting shut down by the cops for jamming too loud days are long past. I really enjoy downloading amp/fx patches and trying all kind of different virtual rig setups, easy-peasy from my pad to the unit by bluetooth. Pretty fun. I like how well it works with headphones, and direct into the PC for USB recording; how I can monitor any kind of audio feed from the tablet into the amp, and then mixed with my guitar jamming into my headphones. All of that works really well for me. The tones are legit. An amazing thing for $259. Especially since I don't need any pedals since there's unlimited pedal fx with the software.
The axe is a low-end thing (a proper Gretsch would run $2000+) but totally gets the job done for $549. After a lifetime of Fenders and Gibsons I decided to mix the shit up. A lot of sounds I like, e.g. The Cult, AC/DC, are coming from a Gretsch. These are my first guitar and amp since I lost all my stuff in the fire in 2011.
The Supro has amazing sound, the Spark sounds fun for practice. I have fender and Gibson, been eying Gretch for the same reason as you.
Rolled a dozen gifts for friends and family this week. All San Andreas wrapper, Nicaragua binder, Honduras and Sumatra filler. I'm slow so it took me three rolling sessions to get them done. The repetition was a good learning experience. Haven't smoked one yet so my fingers are crossed that they don't suck.
What do you guys do for bands? It took me a couple hours to make these by hand. If I'm honest, it was actually fun and relaxing to cut and decorate them, so I don't really begrudge the time, but I bet there are other ways to personalize bands.
What do you guys do for bands? It took me a couple hours to make these by hand. If I'm honest, it was actually fun and relaxing to cut and decorate them, so I don't really begrudge the time, but I bet there are other ways to personalize bands.
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I photocopy mine and hand cut them.
C'mon, fess up... this ain't a real question...Yer just bragging on the gorgeousness of your bands, aren't ya?
And yer right. They are gorgeous.
Caught me.
Here’s a straight-up question about a major flaw with those cigars, no brag behind it. I’m disappointed with the big veins showing through the San Andreas wrapper and also the raggedy wrapper edge that spirals up the barrel of the cigar. (Worst offenders are rotated away from the camera). How do I fix that? I’m rolling so the underside of the leaf is toward the inside, as instructed by everyone. Is a San Andreas wrapper inherently more coarse than say a Connecticut so I’m bound to have a more rustic looking cigar? (translation: If possible I'd like to blame it on the leaf instead of my skill level) Or, should I trim out more of the midrib portion of the wrapper leaf where the veins are thicker and also take more off the leaf margin to get rid of the raggedy edge? (My wrapper leaf for these cigars after trimming was about 3” wide. Maybe I should get it down to 2”) Or maybe I need to work on getting a more uniform wrapper leaf stretch on that exposed edge as I roll up the bound bunch. I've see some videos of rollers picking out offending veins as they roll the bunch up the wrapper. That seems scary...I'd worry about tearing the wrapper...but maybe I should give that a try.
Here’s a straight-up question about a major flaw with those cigars, no brag behind it. I’m disappointed with the big veins showing through the San Andreas wrapper and also the raggedy wrapper edge that spirals up the barrel of the cigar. (Worst offenders are rotated away from the camera). How do I fix that? I’m rolling so the underside of the leaf is toward the inside, as instructed by everyone. Is a San Andreas wrapper inherently more coarse than say a Connecticut so I’m bound to have a more rustic looking cigar? (translation: If possible I'd like to blame it on the leaf instead of my skill level) Or, should I trim out more of the midrib portion of the wrapper leaf where the veins are thicker and also take more off the leaf margin to get rid of the raggedy edge? (My wrapper leaf for these cigars after trimming was about 3” wide. Maybe I should get it down to 2”) Or maybe I need to work on getting a more uniform wrapper leaf stretch on that exposed edge as I roll up the bound bunch. I've see some videos of rollers picking out offending veins as they roll the bunch up the wrapper. That seems scary...I'd worry about tearing the wrapper...but maybe I should give that a try.
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Shouldn't be a raggedy edge. That top, outside, edge should be trimmed very smooth. The wrapper should be about 2" wide, so the thicker shit toward the midrib is long gone.
No idea if you've watched my videos on rolling, but you can watch me roll thousands of very smooth cigars with all kinds of wrapper (including various MSA) at my Youtube site:
If you would like to see a sort of technical discussion of how you should cut the wrapper relatives to the veins, I sort of go into that here:
My full-on 30-minute rolling course is here:
But in general if you just scope my live rolling vids you'll see all the business with wrapper cuts and so forth.
Good luck!
b
Bound with a half Nic wrapper leaf, veins inward.
Awaiting a diaphonous FX CT shade wrapper this morning
Got to come out smooth when it starts out smooth.
I used the WLT Nic wrap leaf for binder cause I like the flavor for this particular blend when muted by the CT shade, but I don't like it directly under the tongue.
Don't worry:
1) Because wrapper leaves are so delicate, you get a whole lot more of them to the pound. So it doesn't cost much more to use wrapper for binder than it would using thicker binder leaf.
2) If you double your wrapper leaf by folding longitudinally, the veins will criss-cross, thus making the thin wrapper leaf strong enough to bind with. See below
Marc, this is a very complex shape, and very interesting because of that. What type of figurado is this? Is it a type of perfecto? Does it have a history or a context? And just to show my complete ignorance about it, which end is the foot and which the head? What a nice smooth wrap, by the way.
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What wrapper is that? It looks a lot like Bobalu Habano in these pics.