First order WLT

[Ginsinjones]

Just placed my first order with WLT today.
I'm very interested in seeing the quality difference between them and the other online vendor I was using. By the reviews of WLT I should be pleasantly surprised.
Can't wait to start blending with some fresh quality leaf

 

[Knucklehead]

Just placed my first order with WLT today.
I'm very interested in seeing the quality difference between them and the other online vendor I was using. By the reviews of WLT I should be pleasantly surprised.
Can't wait to start blending with some fresh quality leaf

Which varieties did you order?

 

[GreenDragon]

You will be very happy. I've ordered from several and WLT is hands down the best in service and quality.

 

[Jb00]

You’ll be much happier. I know when I switched it was a huge difference.

 

[Ginsinjones]

I ordered hand tied lemon, red va, katerini, 1/2 pound of perique, latakia and maryland.
I'm guessing I should have ordered the dark air, im hoping tge maryland and my burley will work as a substitution. We shall see.
I also asked for a sample of dark air so I can compare recipes using maryland vs dark air.
Regardless I'm very excited to replenish my tobacco supply.
Right now I only have about 1/4 pound of American Virginia, 1/2 pond burley, less than 1/2 pound of latakia and maybe 2 oz of basma. All from a different online vendor which disappointed me on my last order with quality and packaging.
I used the last of my brightleaf sweet and made a small batch of cavendish.

 

[Knucklehead]

I ordered hand tied lemon, red va, katerini, 1/2 pound of perique, latakia and maryland.
I'm guessing I should have ordered the dark air, im hoping tge maryland and my burley will work as a substitution. We shall see.
I also asked for a sample of dark air so I can compare recipes using maryland vs dark air.
Regardless I'm very excited to replenish my tobacco supply.
Right now I only have about 1/4 pound of American Virginia, 1/2 pond burley, less than 1/2 pound of latakia and maybe 2 oz of basma. All from a different online vendor which disappointed me on my last order with quality and packaging.
I used the last of my brightleaf sweet and made a small batch of cavendish.

Nice selection for pipe blends. Keep us posted.

 

[Ginsinjones]

I will indeed

 

[Ginsinjones]

From your guys experience, does WLT usually give the samples that you request, or is it luck if you do?
Kinda regretting not ordering dark air cured. So many of these recipes call for it.

 

[deluxestogie]

No regrets warranted. Although a blend recipe may include dark air-cured, which contributes its own aromas and strength, burley, Maryland and perique can be successfully substituted for the dark air. Substitutions may sometimes require tweaking the proportions slightly, to balance the tongue bite.

Bob

 

[Ginsinjones]

Ok
My next order ill be sure to get some for variety sake. I have had good luck with burley in small doses in my English blends.
I usually use 8-10% burley, 25% oriental and varying percentages of different Virginia and latakia.
I'm also quite fond of half toasted burley and half american Virginia from L.O.
It's strong, it's rich and kicks my butt with nicotine. But I like to sip at it in my cob when I'm out with the dog or horses.

I'm thinking of going 33% brightleaf cavendish, 33% Virginia and 33% burley. I think I'll wait for some better Virginia to arrive first though.

Waiting for my cavendish to dry out right now.

 

[LeftyRighty]

Good choices - tried most of those for my last blend. great cig smokes
Only thing that I was originally disappointed with was the 'katerini' - kinda chunky, tough to get through the shredder unless in very high case (soggy), but it's great flavor in my blend.

 

[Ginsinjones]

Chunky as in smaller pieces of leaf or chunky as in thick?
Won't be a problem with me fortunately as I do all my cutting with heavy scissors.
Would you say it was very sweet?
Very floral?

 

[LeftyRighty]

both small & thick
not sweet, typical unique turkish flavor/aroma,
terrible by itself, but great blended with virginia/burley

 

[Ginsinjones]

Ok thanks for the info
It will be quite a bit different than the delicate basma I had.

 

[deluxestogie]

Katerini is in the same family of Orientals as Samsun, Bafra and Trabzon. Unlike Basma types, the leaves of Katerini are petiolate (clear leaf stem at the leaf base), so I stack them, and cut off that bit of stem that extends beyond the leaf, prior to shredding.

Bob

 

[Ginsinjones]

Sounds like there isn't much waste than.
This is good!
I'm hoping it will be closer than basma to the Orientals that they used to use in English blends 25 years ago when I first picked up the pipe.
On a side note does anyone know how to duplicate Presbyterian mixture?

 

[deluxestogie]

This jumps to my post regarding Presbyterian mixture.

https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/hello-from-southern-ohio.10325/#post-186610

Bob

 

[Ginsinjones]

Oh thanks
I'm sorry I guess I should have used the search function.
I haven't had the presbyterian for many years. It was my favorite pipe smoke when I was in high school. I remember it was special order at the tobacconist in town and was $3 more per tin than the rest.
I remember it being very clean tasting compared to my usual dunhill.
I remember a distinct spiciness and reminded me of cedar wood ever so slightly.
I do miss being able to just go to the shop and buy a pipe and accessories and a nice tin of tobacco. There are no tobacco shops within a 3 hour drive now.

 

[GWLee]

I order 95% of my tobacco from WLT, then about 4% from Vendor #2 and maybe 1% from Vendor #3. While I appreciate the different vendors for the leaf types I get from them, they are sometimes very, very low cased (almost too low) from vendor #3 and then it takes forever to get the order even though they are only about 300 miles away, while orders from the other two vendors get here in two days roughly and are close to being in perfect case. I know some folks try and defend the dried out leaves saying you get more for your money due to not buying moisture, I'd prefer to have the casing as close to right as possible to save me having to open bags and mist and wait. Guess I'm just getting lazy in my old age, but I know when I send my order to WLT, that I'll get good stuff close to what I am wanting.

Also, I have several hand crank shredders (.8, 1.1, 1.5) as well as the Powermatic S shredding machine and bounce back and forth using them. I also got a neat pair of scissors from Amazon that have multiple blades that I use to sort of tailor the shred.

IRT to samples, I have never asked but the great folks at WLT will throw in a sample every few orders. It's like getting a Christmas present, and I greatly appreciate the little things.

Just my two cents

Cheers!

 

[deluxestogie]

pair of scissors from Amazon that have multiple blades

Since those multi-blade scissors are intended for snipping herbs, like chives, I'm wondering how quickly they gum-up from cutting tobacco, and how you go about cleaning off the gunk. (That concern has dampened my urge to purchase a pair of them.)

Bob