Rolling with Cuban tobacco?

[Chris A]

Guys-

I have a stack of everyday Cuban cigars, Jose Piedra, that I like. Nothing too fancy or refined, but good smokes. Got to thinking what if I deconstructed a few and blended with WLT to see what I could come up with. Anyone ever tried this? Results? Suggestions on what to blend it with?

Chris

 

[tullius]

Those are short filler, don't know it's worth the time to deconstruct. Why not keep as is, enjoy one at a time using as a control, and try and get close with all WLT tobaccos?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Hey, why not? What's the worst that's going to happen?

I had a stack of cuban wrapper trimmings. Pretty big pieces, enough to roll, say a 25x4. I liked it. It's nice to have variety.

 

[tullius]

What's the worst that's going to happen?

arrive at a pile of scraps that was a lot of work to get apart carefully and would be a lot of time to get carefully back together again, when senor chris A could've just been smoking his good cuban smoke that he likes and was already ready to go in the first place, and taking notes? And that's not even the worst thing..

 

[Charly]

... Or he might create a new lovely home made cigar with a mix of leaves from Cuba and other countries

 

[Chris A]

Agreed, they are short filler. Pretty quick to deconstruct. But I have Montecristos, Partagas, R&J that I could use as well. All are premium long filler. My inquiry was if anyone has actually tried this and what the results were.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Maybe start with one

 

[waikikigun]

Guys-

I have a stack of everyday Cuban cigars, Jose Piedra, that I like. Nothing too fancy or refined, but good smokes. Got to thinking what if I deconstructed a few and blended with WLT to see what I could come up with. Anyone ever tried this? Results? Suggestions on what to blend it with?

Chris

Literally done this dozens of times. Every time I get a new box of Cubans I deconstruct the ugliest one and try to get a feel for how it was rolled, what the blend is, and how the blend has changed since the last box of the same smoke. Obviously I ain't gonna just chuck that fine Cuban tobacco: I roll it into my own cigars.

 

[Chris A]

Waikikigun-

OK, good to hear. As a general rule, do you try to blend with stronger or more mild tobaccos? Dom, Nic, Hon?

 

[GreenDragon]

Waikikigun-

OK, good to hear. As a general rule, do you try to blend with stronger or more mild tobaccos? Dom, Nic, Hon?

I think at that point you blend to your personal taste preferences. Or, as my Mother-in-law used to say “whatever blows your skirt up!” She was a wise and weird woman.

Although I would guess if you added too much of a stronger leaf you will lose that distinctive Cuban flavor. Have fun and experiment!

 

[waikikigun]

Waikikigun-

OK, good to hear. As a general rule, do you try to blend with stronger or more mild tobaccos? Dom, Nic, Hon?

Very generally I blend it with viso dominating, e.g 1 viso, .5 ligero, + seco binder.

 

[Chris A]

Good starting point. Thanks! I like Piloto from Dominican. Think I will try that first.

 

[waikikigun]

Good starting point. Thanks! I like Piloto from Dominican. Think I will try that first.

I'm sure that'll be fine. Corojo is the closest to Cuban leaf, tho. Not that it matters when you're doing your own thing, of course. I've used some Piloto ligero that tasted pretty similar to Corojo.

 

[Chris A]

Have Corojo as well. Will try both.