Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
sounds like me rolling a batch of cigars ...I always have good intentions or aging them as long as I can to see how long term aging affects my blends but ,like you "I'll never find out"
Really Easy Perique Press
- Thread starter deluxestogie
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Perique Snake
I began with a string of 40 to 50 leaves from my stunted Colombian Garcia. This was harvested late, and has been hanging in the shed for several weeks. As you can see, it has not fully color-cured. There were 3 leaves that were so totally green that I simply discarded them. Yellow-green was acceptable.
Since all this leaf needed to be wet for rolling, I took the opportunity to wash off any dead bugs, and piled the washed leaf in the sink.
All the washed leaf was stemmed, which turned out to be easy and fast. I set aside 6 large, intact strips to use as wrappers.
To roll this into my snake, I just grabbed a bunch of leaf, and started it like a somewhat loose cigar. Toward the final 1/3 of each bunch, I overlapped the next bunch, without much attention to the diameter. Additional wrappers were started just before the previous wrapper paid out.
In order to actually roll this, the "snake" needs to be straight. In the photo below, it is posed in a curve to fit it in the picture.
No glue was harmed in the making of this snake. It's soggy, and just stays together. One wrapper strip was left over.
I formed a coil until its diameter slightly exceeded the diameter of my Perique jar.
Since my Perique jar already contained about 1/2 inch of leaf that had been pressing for a month, I laid the leftover wrapper strip onto the "old" leaf, then squeezed the coil into the jar, forming a second layer of coil with the remainder of the snake.
I added my HDPE follower (the white plastic thing) and a small wood block, then pressed with my clamp.
The section of poly-nylon bag (from WLT) is just there to keep bugs and debris from dropping into the jar during its 3 months of sitting there.
What will this produce? How will I air it?
To answer the second question, I plan to periodically release the pressure, allow the snake to reabsorb the juice, then reapply the pressure. Each time this is done, the nicotine in the water (which is exposed to oxidation) is drawn into the leaf, then squeezed back out. My expectation is that the leaf will eventually assume the color of the liquid.
As to what this will produce, I'm not sure. I have little doubt that by January, I will have a flattened snake of Perique. I suppose that I could just store the damp snake in the fridge (inside double freezer Zip-lock bags), and dry out portions of it as needed. Another option would be to slice the wet snake into coins, then gently dry them in the oven--yielding a batch of Perique coins. Or I could uncoil and gently bake the entire snake, to end up with a more traditional "Perique."
Bob
I began with a string of 40 to 50 leaves from my stunted Colombian Garcia. This was harvested late, and has been hanging in the shed for several weeks. As you can see, it has not fully color-cured. There were 3 leaves that were so totally green that I simply discarded them. Yellow-green was acceptable.
Since all this leaf needed to be wet for rolling, I took the opportunity to wash off any dead bugs, and piled the washed leaf in the sink.
All the washed leaf was stemmed, which turned out to be easy and fast. I set aside 6 large, intact strips to use as wrappers.
To roll this into my snake, I just grabbed a bunch of leaf, and started it like a somewhat loose cigar. Toward the final 1/3 of each bunch, I overlapped the next bunch, without much attention to the diameter. Additional wrappers were started just before the previous wrapper paid out.
In order to actually roll this, the "snake" needs to be straight. In the photo below, it is posed in a curve to fit it in the picture.
No glue was harmed in the making of this snake. It's soggy, and just stays together. One wrapper strip was left over.
I formed a coil until its diameter slightly exceeded the diameter of my Perique jar.
Since my Perique jar already contained about 1/2 inch of leaf that had been pressing for a month, I laid the leftover wrapper strip onto the "old" leaf, then squeezed the coil into the jar, forming a second layer of coil with the remainder of the snake.
I added my HDPE follower (the white plastic thing) and a small wood block, then pressed with my clamp.
The section of poly-nylon bag (from WLT) is just there to keep bugs and debris from dropping into the jar during its 3 months of sitting there.
What will this produce? How will I air it?
To answer the second question, I plan to periodically release the pressure, allow the snake to reabsorb the juice, then reapply the pressure. Each time this is done, the nicotine in the water (which is exposed to oxidation) is drawn into the leaf, then squeezed back out. My expectation is that the leaf will eventually assume the color of the liquid.
As to what this will produce, I'm not sure. I have little doubt that by January, I will have a flattened snake of Perique. I suppose that I could just store the damp snake in the fridge (inside double freezer Zip-lock bags), and dry out portions of it as needed. Another option would be to slice the wet snake into coins, then gently dry them in the oven--yielding a batch of Perique coins. Or I could uncoil and gently bake the entire snake, to end up with a more traditional "Perique."
Bob
Last edited:
squeezyjohn
Well-Known Member
I may be doing something fairly similar in a few weeks time if the weather keeps on going the way it is ... there's a new snus out there on the market called Hope and Glory which is flavoured with hop oils and uses a decent amount of perique in the blend ... it's delicious.
Poopy Snake
At 10 days after drowning my Perique Snake, I released the pressure, and allowed the liquid to soak back into it for several hours, then re-applied the pressure.
At this point, it smells like a potty. Not open-air feces, but a submerged sort of smell. If I were inventing Perique at this moment, I would have serious doubts. But being an experienced Conquistador of the Dark Side of Perique fermentation, I just put the assembly back into a corner of the back porch. I'll check it again in a couple of weeks. (Every few days, I do check the compression, and crank it down if there is any leeway.)
Bob
At 10 days after drowning my Perique Snake, I released the pressure, and allowed the liquid to soak back into it for several hours, then re-applied the pressure.
At this point, it smells like a potty. Not open-air feces, but a submerged sort of smell. If I were inventing Perique at this moment, I would have serious doubts. But being an experienced Conquistador of the Dark Side of Perique fermentation, I just put the assembly back into a corner of the back porch. I'll check it again in a couple of weeks. (Every few days, I do check the compression, and crank it down if there is any leeway.)
Bob
Perique Snake
I began with a string of 40 to 50 leaves from my stunted Colombian Garcia. This was harvested late, and has been hanging in the shed for several weeks. As you can see, it has not fully color-cured. There were 3 leaves that were so totally green that I simply discarded them. Yellow-green was acceptable.
Since all this leaf needed to be wet for rolling, I took the opportunity to wash off any dead bugs, and piled the washed leaf in the sink.
All the washed leaf was stemmed, which turned out to be easy and fast. I set aside 6 large, intact strips to use as wrappers.
To roll this into my snake, I just grabbed a bunch of leaf, and started it like a somewhat loose cigar. Toward the final 1/3 of each bunch, I overlapped the next bunch, without much attention to the diameter. Additional wrappers were started just before the previous wrapper paid out.
In order to actually roll this, the "snake" needs to be straight. In the photo below, it is posed in a curve to fit it in the picture.
No glue was harmed in the making of this snake. It's soggy, and just stays together. One wrapper strip was left over.
I formed a coil until its diameter slightly exceeded the diameter of my Perique jar.
Since my Perique jar already contained about 1/2 inch of leaf that had been pressing for a month, I laid the leftover wrapper strip onto the "old" leaf, then squeezed the coil into the jar, forming a second layer of coil with the remainder of the snake.
I added my HDPE follower (the white plastic thing) and a small wood block, then pressed with my clamp.
The section of poly-nylon bag (from WLT) is just there to keep bugs and debris from dropping into the jar during its 3 months of sitting there.
What will this produce? How will I air it?
To answer the second question, I plan to periodically release the pressure, allow the snake to reabsorb the juice, then reapply the pressure. Each time this is done, the nicotine in the water (which is exposed to oxidation) is drawn into the leaf, then squeezed back out. My expectation is that the leaf will eventually assume the color of the liquid.
As to what this will produce, I'm not sure. I have little doubt that by January, I will have a flattened snake of Perique. I suppose that I could just store the damp snake in the fridge (inside double freezer Zip-lock bags), and dry out portions of it as needed. Another option would be to slice the wet snake into coins, then gently dry them in the oven--yielding a batch of Perique coins. Or I could uncoil and gently bake the entire snake, to end up with a more traditional "Perique."
Bob
Very helpful I think alot of members can have use of this.
I did a similar thing with my oral-snuff tobacco my first growing year. It for shore make wonderful tobacco.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
I just came back from my local Menards store. Wife and I are remodeling our bathroom and bedroom. Just an FYI for the rest of the weekend to the guys who have a Menards locally and plan on making a simple cheap perique press. The store is having their 15% off bag sale. Work Shop brand of 12 inch bar clamps (the red colored ,600 lb max strength) are $3.99 . I bought 4 ...along with the other item I bought , the 15% off what fits in the bag got me these clamps for basically nothing.
I have 4 of these on my perique press box right now and they are tight...2400 lbs of constant pressure should be plenty, right?
I have 4 of these on my perique press box right now and they are tight...2400 lbs of constant pressure should be plenty, right?
2400 lbs will apply ~35 psi to a rectangle ~8" x 8". This pressure is a wild guess of the psi applied to the surface of Perique barrels in St. James Parish. My cylindrical container of about 4" diameter (~12.5 in[sup]2[/sup]) is pressed using one double-head, hand rotated bar clamp, shown at the beginning of this thread.
It just needs a constant squeeze, and does not need to be converted into a diamond. I have noted leaf cell disruption from as little as ~3 psi.
Bob
It just needs a constant squeeze, and does not need to be converted into a diamond. I have noted leaf cell disruption from as little as ~3 psi.
Bob
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
Depends on how big an area you are pressing..
I'm pressing about a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch square, so by my calculations (2400 psi collectively / 20.25 sq in)I'm pressing at roughly 118 psi.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
2400 lbs will apply ~35 psi to a rectangle ~8" x 8". This pressure is a wild guess of the psi applied to the surface of Perique barrels in St. James Parish. My cylindrical container of about 4" diameter (~12.5 in[sup]2[/sup]) is pressed using one double-head, hand rotated bar clamp, shown at the beginning of this thread.
It just needs a constant squeeze, and does not need to be converted into a diamond. I have noted leaf cell disruption from as little as ~3 psi.
Bob
I've looked for those , can't seem to find one . I arrange mine around the box I press in and it stands up by itself, inside a std 5 gallon bucket .
psi/si would be an acceleration. It should read, "...by my calculations (2400 pounds / 20.25 sq in)I'm pressing at roughly 118 psi."
You need only about 700 pounds weight on that size cross-section. So, what does the extra compression do? I would guess that it just makes it more troublesome to extract and air the leaf. It would also increase the material strength requirement of your chosen container. I doubt that the additional compression force influences the anything more than the texture of the final product.
Bob
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
the label on the clamps says clamping pressure of up to 600 pounds, I would think that would be p.s.i ,no?
I had bought the 4 ft long clamps for another project and had forgotten their pressure capability. So, in my forgetfulness/ignorance, I just put all the pressure I could on it to express the juice. I've had the leaf out to air twice and actually it wasn't all that difficult to tease out. I bought the new shorter ones just so there wasn't 3 ft of bar stem sticking up out of the bucket(safety issue) and if need be , I can put a lid on it to control smell and possible contamination . I suppose now that I know I don't need all the pressure on it , I can take at least 2 of the clamps off ...
and start another batch !
I had bought the 4 ft long clamps for another project and had forgotten their pressure capability. So, in my forgetfulness/ignorance, I just put all the pressure I could on it to express the juice. I've had the leaf out to air twice and actually it wasn't all that difficult to tease out. I bought the new shorter ones just so there wasn't 3 ft of bar stem sticking up out of the bucket(safety issue) and if need be , I can put a lid on it to control smell and possible contamination . I suppose now that I know I don't need all the pressure on it , I can take at least 2 of the clamps off ...
and start another batch !
If you apply that 600 pounds to a 1 in[sup]2[/sup] surface, then that surface is experiencing 600 psi--pounds per square inch. If, instead, it is spread over a 4.5" x 4.5" surface (20.25 in[sup]2[/sup]), then that surface is experiencing (600 pounds)/(20.25 square inches) of pressure, or ~29.63 psi.
My only reason for mentioning the subject is so that other readers attempting to make Perique are not confused by "pounds" vs. "psi."
In reality, the math is not particularly important. The most meaningful guideline is that one hand-rotated clamp applies plenty of pressure to make Perique. With two or more clamps, just snug them down when they become "easy" to turn. My guess is that we never reach the theoretical "max clamping pressure" when hand-rotating the dowel handle of such a clamp. If the clamp has a "T" bar for applying more torque, then it may be possible to reach (and perhaps exceed) that max rating.
Bob
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
Just clamp it down, don't kii it. I would explain it another way but
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
I guess that is what I was thinking. Theres no "set minimum" or "industry standard" or even "residential minimum standard" for how many pounds of pressure perique needs to do its thing.
This is really one of the few reports on the subject. 7000 pounds per square foot (144 in[sup]2[/sup]) calculates to ~49 psi. I am certain that the 1899 figures are rough guesses, since they are suspiciously tidy for a crudely-built lever arm, pressing into the circular cross-section of an oak barrel.
Bob
EDIT: If we assume a 23" diameter of the top of a barrel, then the surface area (pi x (diameter/2)[sup]2[/sup]) is about 2.89 ft[sup]2[/sup], or ~416 in[sup]2[/sup]. 7000/416 = 16.8 psi. And we're not even questioning the measure of the total weight or the method of measuring the lever action of the lever arm press.
So, Bob's exact computations say that the historic process used somewhere between 15 and 50 psi.
If anyone remembers "Perique Man"( a perique grower that posted on here a few times) he said ... " we use is in the thousands of lbs from the screwjack" . So assuming 4000 lbs and a barrel lid of 19 inches (that's what mine is) you get almost 15 psi
You have to wonder how "Perique Man" measured the force of the screwjack. It may have been simply the rated capacity of the jack.
It sounds like we all agree that you need some compression. 50 psi is probably overkill. I've seen leaf cell disruption at a carefully calibrated 3 psi (although this may have been the result of local pressure points within the compressed leaf). My guess as to why you have to keep adjusting the pressure during the months long process is that fermentation leads directly to loss of leaf mass. All those volatile compounds that waft out of a Perique container used to be part of the leaf mass. A lever arm press is self-adjusting, as the leaf mass is expended. All the clamps and presses we are using will need human intervention along the way.
Bob
It sounds like we all agree that you need some compression. 50 psi is probably overkill. I've seen leaf cell disruption at a carefully calibrated 3 psi (although this may have been the result of local pressure points within the compressed leaf). My guess as to why you have to keep adjusting the pressure during the months long process is that fermentation leads directly to loss of leaf mass. All those volatile compounds that waft out of a Perique container used to be part of the leaf mass. A lever arm press is self-adjusting, as the leaf mass is expended. All the clamps and presses we are using will need human intervention along the way.
Bob
ArizonaDave
Well-Known Member
Haven't made any Perique yet, but I'm always reading this thread.
I could not get mine to ferment until I hit the right pressure .If too light it would sit and not bubble . Tight enough you would see it bubble like beer the next day , sometimes a little foam .
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