One thing I find myself doing is adding G&H Brown Flake Scented to various blends that ot sptherwise might be mediocre. It spices them up and dilutes the strong nic hit from the Brown Flake.
What's Your Custom Blend Made Just For You?
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I made a couple 1/2lb aro mixtures when I first started playing around: “Q Anirum” was the first-1Q/Sunset Rum/Windsor 805 Match (an anise flavored black cav) at 4:2:1.
I also did the same ratios with Lane Black Raspberry in place of the Sunset Rum. Both are pretty good at scratching the aro itch when the weather’s cool, and sit in big pipe rack jars with just the weight of the lid on a silicone gasket and are still the same moisture as when mixed 8 months later (PG much Sutliff?)
As my tastes developed a little more (I’ve gotta long way to go), I’ve made a couple more mixtures I like:
“Undecided” is a little more codgery-it’s BLWB/Yorktown/Habana Daydream/805 at about 2:2:2:1
“Red Bright and Booze” is 515-RC-1/Yorktown/C&D John Marr at 2:1:1
Other than the above I’ve got quite a few jars of stuff I really didn’t like that I’ve doctored up enough with this and that to make them smokable every once in a while to not waste them.
Nowadays if I buy a couple tins of something and I know it’s good, but not for me after a smoke or three they get set aside for future box passes, secret Santa, or trade fodder (usually hyped “drops” that turn out anticlimactic disappointments).
I also did the same ratios with Lane Black Raspberry in place of the Sunset Rum. Both are pretty good at scratching the aro itch when the weather’s cool, and sit in big pipe rack jars with just the weight of the lid on a silicone gasket and are still the same moisture as when mixed 8 months later (PG much Sutliff?)
As my tastes developed a little more (I’ve gotta long way to go), I’ve made a couple more mixtures I like:
“Undecided” is a little more codgery-it’s BLWB/Yorktown/Habana Daydream/805 at about 2:2:2:1
“Red Bright and Booze” is 515-RC-1/Yorktown/C&D John Marr at 2:1:1
Other than the above I’ve got quite a few jars of stuff I really didn’t like that I’ve doctored up enough with this and that to make them smokable every once in a while to not waste them.
Nowadays if I buy a couple tins of something and I know it’s good, but not for me after a smoke or three they get set aside for future box passes, secret Santa, or trade fodder (usually hyped “drops” that turn out anticlimactic disappointments).
I’ve already found myself doing that with SG 1792
I haven’t tried anything lately but in the past I tried recreating Compton's Cuban Style. I failed but my 5:1 pressed mixture of Balkan Supreme:clipped cigar is pretty good. Years before that it was 2:1 1Q:Latakia.
In the event anyone decides to experiment with dan tobaccos in the blend Psychoanalysis I mentioned Ive found something that may even be better
2 part St Bernard Flake
1 Part Ascanian blend #2
A sprinkle of blending lat
Its really just heavenly.
Even when I was in the US I could not help but mix and mess with blends.
When I cook I dont just use a sauce from a jar...Same with tobacco.
2 part St Bernard Flake
1 Part Ascanian blend #2
A sprinkle of blending lat
Its really just heavenly.
Even when I was in the US I could not help but mix and mess with blends.
When I cook I dont just use a sauce from a jar...Same with tobacco.
I use Five Brothers to add som umph to blends at times.
I also make a parfait with aromatic and Latakia blends on occasion, like a "smoked cherry pie".
Nothing earth shattering, since I leave the blending to the masters, but a change of pace.
I also make a parfait with aromatic and Latakia blends on occasion, like a "smoked cherry pie".
Nothing earth shattering, since I leave the blending to the masters, but a change of pace.
Perique makes everythingbetter. Try it on your Cheerios.*
* Do not try it on your Cheerios.
It does! I just added some perique to a mixture I make from cheapo stuff avaliable in Spainish Tobacs. Its pretty tasty now. Its just a blend to smoke when doing other things...not one to contemplate.
When I was a kid, my Dad used to keep odds and ends of hardware in an old tobacco tin. The label said it was custom blended for him. That was about the only "bespoke" item we ever had in my middle-class childhood. That was probably one of the reasons I picked up the pipe.
Years ago, my everyday blend was "Sweet Oriental" from Rich's in Portland, Ore.. Steve Books was kind enough to blend some with some added Deer Tongue for me, which made a nice dessert smoke. After Steve left, I tried getting some Deer Tongue from Craig Tarler to add to the blend, but it didn't work. The effect was soapy and awful.
Nowadays, I just go for more straightforward oriental blends.
Years ago, my everyday blend was "Sweet Oriental" from Rich's in Portland, Ore.. Steve Books was kind enough to blend some with some added Deer Tongue for me, which made a nice dessert smoke. After Steve left, I tried getting some Deer Tongue from Craig Tarler to add to the blend, but it didn't work. The effect was soapy and awful.
Nowadays, I just go for more straightforward oriental blends.
This sounds like a guaranteed way to make anything taste like ketchup.
First I've heard of it, but surely every professional tobacconist has always known.
It continually amazes me how something perceived as "lost" to the consumer is everyday common knowledge to producers.
It’s been a few years since I played around with blending and never came up with something I thought more than OK.
I have a “fake” Balkan Sobranie that’s pretty good, 80% McClelland Yenidge Supreme with 20% Vintage Syrian.
Also, being finicky about English blends, I really liked a now extinct Smoker Ltd blend entitled “Easy Chair” and got 5 lbs of it blended for me by Russ Oullette, who had the Smoker Ltd blending book.
I have a “fake” Balkan Sobranie that’s pretty good, 80% McClelland Yenidge Supreme with 20% Vintage Syrian.
Also, being finicky about English blends, I really liked a now extinct Smoker Ltd blend entitled “Easy Chair” and got 5 lbs of it blended for me by Russ Oullette, who had the Smoker Ltd blending book.
In an industry full of characters Mel Feldman stood as the character’s character.
My wife’s father would correspond with him and apparently would only smoke some heavy Latakia blend that he would order in bulk until he couldn’t get it any more.
His website was beyond painful to plow through but God he had great pipes (overwhelmingly Barlings).
It's not something I've been smoking for a long time, but I've taken to mixing in a pinch of Lane BCA with Ashton Gold Rush, a very underrated ribbon cut straight VA. I originally used Sutliff Black Swan, but the swan went the way of it's avian friend, the dodo. BCA is an adequate replacement.
I also have gone the experimental route of mixing in some latakia with an aromatic. A 3 to 1 ratio of Scotty's Trout Stream to [insert medium strength English blend here] is a pretty simple concoction. Sutliff's Balkan Sobranie match is as good as any. Drew Estate Meat Pie is also good, but the temptation to call it "Meat Stream" is always there, and that's not going to win me any awards in the field of marketing. "Trout Pie" ain't much better.
I guess being better at blending than naming is a decidedly more favorable circumstance than the other way around...
I also have gone the experimental route of mixing in some latakia with an aromatic. A 3 to 1 ratio of Scotty's Trout Stream to [insert medium strength English blend here] is a pretty simple concoction. Sutliff's Balkan Sobranie match is as good as any. Drew Estate Meat Pie is also good, but the temptation to call it "Meat Stream" is always there, and that's not going to win me any awards in the field of marketing. "Trout Pie" ain't much better.
I guess being better at blending than naming is a decidedly more favorable circumstance than the other way around...
Before getting into whole leaf, I did some small stuff with blending tobaccos. Nothing really stuck except that I liked smoking the blending tobaccos 
I recently found a few pretty desiccated blends that I didn't jar and so they stayed in the ziplocks til crumbly. Maybe I'll start a jar for leftover virginia blends that didn't strike me. They can all age together.
I recently found a few pretty desiccated blends that I didn't jar and so they stayed in the ziplocks til crumbly. Maybe I'll start a jar for leftover virginia blends that didn't strike me. They can all age together.
I've got a blend in my mind that I've been revising for a year that I'll probably try to make soon. White Burley, dark Burley, bright Virginia, red Virginia, and either perique or dark fired. I'm gonna figure out how to case or top tobacco and mix in some rum and molasses.
Yes he was, and a pleasure to speak with. I had a number of great phone chats with Mel.
Mel told me that he had owned or handled about 2,000 Barlings.