Hewa Homemade Pipe Tobacco...

[jmg]

It's been quite some time since I last posted anything, sorry. Where I live/work doesn't afford me a lot of time (or access) to the internet. But I thought I would post my latest effort at making my own pipe tobacco. I brought some American leaf seed with me here to Papua New Guinea. The El Niño drought really hurt the production, but I managed a little out of it.

Pressed the cavendish I steamed with some of the natural air cured leaves. Slicing them up and decided to have a test smoke. So far it is burning pretty slow, though gets hot if I don't take it easy. Been going about 30 or 40 minutes now on just one light. The flavor is nice and mild, but pretty one note. My wife says the smell isn't bad. I really want to learn some more processing techniques and I really want to grow a variety of different tobaccos as well so I can add some dimension to future blends. But for now, this second attempt is big step up from my first go at it and I'm pretty happy. Feels good to smoke my own pipe blend that I grew out of a pipe I made myself as well.

 

[Planter]

This looks good!


There's a lot of excellent advice here, but, nothing replaces your own experience.
So, from your description, you are doing well.


One "problem" with pipe tobacco is that there are seemingly endless possibilities. In addition, personal taste and preferences change.


So before you decide what else to grow you could take the one you have made now as a base and experiment with blending. I.e., if it has a bite, perhaps 30% store-bought Perique or air cured / cigar leaf will take care of that.
Maybe add some Oriental for some spice. Or take one of the pieces and stove it real dark, to slow the burn. The blending charts Deluxestogie posted here contain a lot of wisdom, go from there, adjust to your own taste.


After all, the pipe allows for simple and quick testing, bowl by bowl. Once you have a solid base blend (no bite, slow burning, with a general aroma you like) you can easily alter it freehand with pinches of this and that.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I don't know how much access you have to tobacco in PNG, so I commend you on your efforts. Or is PNG ju just an American town? Anyways, the tobacco in your photos looks good.

One idea I have to slow the burn, is to apply more pressure to your plug for longer to make it more dense. Then instead of rubbing out slices, make cube cut. Cube cut can't be smoked on its own, but mixing it into a blend definitely slows combustion.

 

[Kiwikeg]

Looks good!
I spent a bit of time in PNG
The locally grown tobacco leaf in PNG is pretty good too. Used to just buy an a handful of leaf every few days off the old men walking to the market along the highway for couple of kina or swap it for whatever i had left of a pack of tailormades. It would shred up ok and be very smokable in a corncob.

 

[Leo Aldopold]

I'm due to be going to PNG myself, for an extended period of time. Any advice on pipe tobacco? I have a kilo and a half I was going to either mail myself or try and bring a stack through customs.
What's availability of good Toby like there?

 

[CowboyTed]

I'm due to be going to PNG myself, for an extended period of time. Any advice on pipe tobacco? I have a kilo and a half I was going to either mail myself or try and bring a stack through customs.
What's availability of good Toby like there?

JMG doesn't check in here frequently. He's very regular over at the Pipemakers Forum, but it might be easiest to contact him through his blog: http://blogs.ntm.org/john-george/

 

[Leo Aldopold]

Much appreciate. Cheers!

 

[jmg]

Sorry I've been away so much guys. The last couple years here in PNG have been nuts. Lots of tribal fighting, droughts, and to top it off my mom came to visit last July, got an infected cut and almost died...crazy, right? Had to med evac her to Brisbane for a couple weeks. Then we spent about 5 or 6 months in the States traveling all over and got back to PNG mid-February. Head back to the bush with the family in a couple weeks. I've been traveling in and out by myself since we've been back.

Anywho, those are all my excuses. My dad always said they were like butts...everybody has them and they all stink.

Here's a pic a cigar I rolled from some local leaves that were given to me the other day. Ugly cigar, but it smoked well...

 

[Charly]

If your cigar tastes good, then it can be ugly It's far better than a great looking cigar that tastes bad !
I thought PNG was a wonderfull place... I didn't know there was tribal fights and other problems... Sorry to hear that.

 

[jmg]

If your cigar tastes good, then it can be ugly It's far better than a great looking cigar that tastes bad !
I thought PNG was a wonderfull place... I didn't know there was tribal fights and other problems... Sorry to hear that.

Yeah, it's the "Land of the Unexpected" for a reason, ...especially out in our bush location. I agree with you, better and ugly but good tasting cigar any day of the week.

 

[CowboyTed]

Here's a pic a cigar I rolled from some local leaves that were given to me the other day. Ugly cigar, but it smoked well...

That looks a lot like my first attempt at rolling cigars. Mine tasted OK too, despite the looks.

I'm curious about the flavor of the local tobaccos. Do they taste like anything you can compare to that we'd be familiar with in the US?

 

[CowboyTed]

The last couple years here in PNG have been nuts. Lots of tribal fighting, ...

Having seen the photos on your blog, your neighbors look like they are dressed up in war paint. Somehow the tribal fighting doesn't sound like a surprise!

 

[jmg]

Having seen the photos on your blog, your neighbors look like they are dressed up in war paint. Somehow the tribal fighting doesn't sound like a surprise!

Yeah, I guess on the whole it's not a lot different than what goes on in the States, just a different dress code...and area, and zip, ha.

I'm not sure I could compare the cigars I've had to anything from back home. But then again, I'm more of a pipe guy than cigar. The stuff I have personally grown has had a little more "raw" flavor than what I want. I've come to realize that I was missing much of the fermentation process when I was curing my leaves. So, when I get back to my bush location in a couple weeks I am going to plant some need seeds and hopefully later this year I will have some better results with the flavor.

 

[greenmonster714]

That home roll looks like one of those cigars ya get in a pouch called Backwoods Cigars. I tired those once. Not horrible but I bet its not as good as the one your holding. I think your home roll job is great. It smokes and thats all that matters.