WillQuantrill
Well-Known Member
Since jumping into this hobby of homebrew Dip, one of my favorite new traditions is gifting cans of my creations to family, friends and coworkers at Christmas. Just like homeroll cigars, and growing tobacco, most people find it to be an intriguing hobby and are excited for the experience of something handcrafted. With this in mind I made the largest batches to date around Thanksgiving which gave me enough time for the blends to mellow out. Now a couple weeks ago I found myself at my wife's company Christmas dinner, I was somewhat surprised when a fairly well-to-do lady started inquiring about my smokeless tobacco after my wife had shared about my ongoing hobby at work. This gal was dead-set on getting some to give to her husband for Christmas. Afterward I felt inspired to step up my packaging, so I purchased some generic 2oz cans on eBay and designed a couple labels for this year's blends. Taking some of the lessons I have learned from the "pipe" forum on this fine site I successfully designed my own labels of which I am pretty proud of. It's a whole 'nother ball of fun for me, letting the creativity flow into a product that came from the dirt in my backyard. I carried over my fictitious branding from my home roll cigars and included blend specifics like a pipe tobacco label (see pictures).
El Fuego Navidad is the evolution of past Christmas Dip blends I have made with two exceptions. 1. 96% of the tobacco is homegrown (not yet daring enough to attempt Fire Curing). 2. While the original "El Fuego" was flavored with cinnamon oil, I added dried and finely crushed Juniper berries to the flavoring. The Juniper berries I picked up from our Nordic friends that seem to use it commonly in Snus. I found that just a little really brightens that "raisiny" taste I enjoy in smokeless tobacco. My feedback thus far has been very positive with this one.
Black Hat is also the newest version of a "Natural" Dip I have been perfecting, with this being around the 5th or 6th version. All of the leaf in this one is stuff I bought from WLT. I am especially proud of the label as the inspiration for it came from wisdom bestowed upon me as a kid by my late father. He said "the villains always wear Black Hats". With the portrait on the label "repurposed" from his favorite Western Film I found it fitting. Also because the taste and strength of "Black Hat" I could see only the hardest of cattle rustlers enjoying.
Through the cooking phase I also switched up a couple processes. During the 72 hour cook I did not stir, Air out, and rehydrate the tobacco every 24 hrs. I just let it ride until I added the sodium bicarb and added the remainder of my salt water. And the other change I tried came from @wruk53 when the tobacco came out of the crockpot, I let it cool to room temperature then put it straight into the refrigerator for 3 weeks without opening the jar. I don't have any way of measuring this but it seems like the dip has a brighter/fuller taste as opposed to the "gassing-off" process. Thanks Wruk. And lastly I learned a nugget of valuable information during this cook. I initially tried the "Black Hat" straight from the jar, still cold, and damp. This taste was disappointing because I felt it was too salty and I was drooling like a St Bernard with the hiccups starting about 2 minutes in. I was somewhat confused because this recipe was just doubled quantities of my "known good" previous recipe. I emptied the jar, and put a fan on the tobacco (stirring occasionally) until I felt moisture content was low enough to add a little vegetable glycerin. At this stage the dip rested another week and I tried another pinch. A very different experience with the salt being prevalent but not overpowering. My best guess is that the proper moisture level allows for saliva to slowly draw out the flavors instead of introducing a slurry into your lip where the tobacco does not keep its form all of the liquid and its contents gets squeezed out pretty quickly. If you have read this far... thanks. And Merry Christmas to all of my friends here!
El Fuego Navidad is the evolution of past Christmas Dip blends I have made with two exceptions. 1. 96% of the tobacco is homegrown (not yet daring enough to attempt Fire Curing). 2. While the original "El Fuego" was flavored with cinnamon oil, I added dried and finely crushed Juniper berries to the flavoring. The Juniper berries I picked up from our Nordic friends that seem to use it commonly in Snus. I found that just a little really brightens that "raisiny" taste I enjoy in smokeless tobacco. My feedback thus far has been very positive with this one.
Black Hat is also the newest version of a "Natural" Dip I have been perfecting, with this being around the 5th or 6th version. All of the leaf in this one is stuff I bought from WLT. I am especially proud of the label as the inspiration for it came from wisdom bestowed upon me as a kid by my late father. He said "the villains always wear Black Hats". With the portrait on the label "repurposed" from his favorite Western Film I found it fitting. Also because the taste and strength of "Black Hat" I could see only the hardest of cattle rustlers enjoying.
Through the cooking phase I also switched up a couple processes. During the 72 hour cook I did not stir, Air out, and rehydrate the tobacco every 24 hrs. I just let it ride until I added the sodium bicarb and added the remainder of my salt water. And the other change I tried came from @wruk53 when the tobacco came out of the crockpot, I let it cool to room temperature then put it straight into the refrigerator for 3 weeks without opening the jar. I don't have any way of measuring this but it seems like the dip has a brighter/fuller taste as opposed to the "gassing-off" process. Thanks Wruk. And lastly I learned a nugget of valuable information during this cook. I initially tried the "Black Hat" straight from the jar, still cold, and damp. This taste was disappointing because I felt it was too salty and I was drooling like a St Bernard with the hiccups starting about 2 minutes in. I was somewhat confused because this recipe was just doubled quantities of my "known good" previous recipe. I emptied the jar, and put a fan on the tobacco (stirring occasionally) until I felt moisture content was low enough to add a little vegetable glycerin. At this stage the dip rested another week and I tried another pinch. A very different experience with the salt being prevalent but not overpowering. My best guess is that the proper moisture level allows for saliva to slowly draw out the flavors instead of introducing a slurry into your lip where the tobacco does not keep its form all of the liquid and its contents gets squeezed out pretty quickly. If you have read this far... thanks. And Merry Christmas to all of my friends here!
