Hello all!

Tonight is the night we’ve been waiting for! In this segment I’m going to discuss my recent experience documenting and assisting Kaz with his most intricate home tobacco endeavor yet. Of course, I can’t divulge everything about the blend. It’s his own secret recipe. But what I can tell you it’s a Virginia cake that includes a variety of light and dark Virginia as well as a touch of Perique. The goal was to make a Scottish style Virginia (Scottish referencing the formulation and cut) and after sampling the end result, I believe we have succeeded.

We began by taking the whole leaves and stacking them in piles on the table. I immediately noticed our kitchen now smelled of bread. This was the first time I’d really gotten up close and personal with whole leaf. Not only was it very pleasing to look at but the texture was... unexpected. If I was made to close my eyes I’d have guessed I was touching leather, not a plant. It was also an oddly special experience for me, studying these golden rubbery leaves. I say this because one doesn’t often get to look at or touch your tobacco in it’s raw form. You gain a new powerful respect for the product as well as the blenders and what they go through to produce a single tin. Now, back to business. After smoothing them out on the table, we then began the stripping process. All this really involves is separating the leaf from the stem. It’s not difficult per se, but you definitely have to pay attention to what you’re doing. If a stem gets overlooked and thrown into the blending bowl it could cause a part of the end product to be unusable.

Next we preheated the oven and started panning the leaves to be stoved. Please take note of the color before and after stoving. The difference really is amazing. For those of you are not familiar with stoving let me provide a definition given to me by Kaz himself when explaining the process to me.

“Stoving the leaves at specific temperatures and times will cause the cells in the leaf to burst, releasing sugar and oils”.

Science aside, the most noticeable thing I found after they came out of the oven was, as I mentioned earlier, the color. The vibrant yellow had now turned to deep orange. The bread note was still present but was sweeter. Touching the leaves now, the leather feeling was gone. The heat took away moisture causing them to feel lighter and crunchy, much like when you step on leaves during Autumn. You’d be surprised how much water weight tobacco has. This means that if you try your hand in blending, always order more ingredients than you think you need. You’re going to lose more weight than you realize.

Now, crunchy and easily crushed into dust is not good for blending. This simple fact brings me to the next step. Rehydration. The tobacco is allowed to reabsorb moisture on it’s own but we also sprayed it with distilled water to help the process. I asked how we would know when it was fully ready to start the blending process and he replied that it will return to that soft leather texture. And so, after a few days it was ready to blend.

It was in this stage I realized how scientific blending really is. The measurements have to be exact. Tobaccos like Perique if overdone can overpower the whole blend. You have to have an intimate knowledge of what you’re working with and Kaz certainly has that. He’s like a walking talking tobacco Guru. I watched him and kept count with percentages as he called them out on a calculator. Finally it was all in the tub to be mixed. It’s important to toss and mix even after you think you’re done. The tobacco has be mixed evenly or the flavor will be layered not melded like you need it to be.

Nearing the final stages, we loaded the blend into the mold. The main reason for this stage is to give us a rough shape to work with. 24 hours later it was finally time to press. For those of you who don’t know what a press is or what it does here again is a quote from the Tobacco Guru when I myself asked about it..

“Pressing causes the oils and sugars to rise and meld in the leaf. It also causes a slight fermentation which darkens the mixture and deepens flavor, while smoothing out any potential roughness”.

Basically all we did was put it into the press and tighten the weight down until there was no room left. The hardest part after that is just waiting. It tobacco has to have enough time in the press for the process to be successful.

Finally, after a week of waiting, it was time. We sat the block on the table and just stared at it. Hours worth of work. It had turned about several shades darker as you’ll see in the comparison photos. The aroma was amazing. Spicy and sweet, the flavors had correctly melded together, bringing out the spiciness of the Perique and the sweetness of the Virginias. It was time to cut the flakes and rub them out.

Cutting takes time. Even though it was going to end up being rubbed out anyway you have to get the thickness correct. After everything I was cut it was then rubbed out and set to dry on the table for about 30 minutes. You want to allow proper drying time because complications arise if you try to smoke a tobacco too wet.

Finally dry, we loaded our bowls and looked at each other. Time to taste our creation (more so Kaz’s creation but hey, I helped).

The main thing that stuck out to me was how absolutely smooth this was. It also was somehow deep and mellow but very VERY powerful. This blend will knock you down a peg if you go too fast with it. The further down the bowl you get the more intense it becomes. The Perique becomes more prevalent as well as the strength of the tobacco. We succeeded with what we set out to do. A homemade Scottish Virginia blend. This entire experience was not only a pipe smoking couple activity but also for me personally a huge learning experience.

Thank you all for reading. Have a lovely evening and smoke a bowl of your favorite blend for me!

With an extra day to try something new this long weekend, how about creating your own, signature blend?  It’s may be easier than think, depending on how complex of a blend you want to make, and it’s a great way to explore coffee deeper.

Creating a good house blend takes some basic knowledge of coffee biology, chemistry, and geography.  Understand what characterizes each bean—those single notes, and how they play together—and you'll have what it takes to start blending at home.  Give yourself time to experiment, since some factors are tough (if not impossible) to control at the micro level, like lot-to-lot variations and roasting and freshness dynamics. Consistency is going to be your biggest challenge: something that larger-scale blend makers work endlessly to perfect.

Blending is about the right ingredients in the right proportion. Try this formula to start: 50 percent natural Brazilian or similar, 25 percent washed Central American, and 25 percent washed East African. Give it a taste, and then start refining, dialing up and down components to find your own, personal blend bliss point. As you get more comfortable, start substituting other beans with similar profiles, adjusting proportions to fine-tune balance.

When getting more experimental, research your favorite beans' aromatic and flavor characteristics. The more science-minded can go further, exploring genotypes and growing environments. Either way, go for a variety of characteristics—the symphony effect—instead of amplification of one favorite note.

Roast level is critical.  Be afraid of the dark, because over-roasting produces excessive bitterness that masks coffee's best aromas, upsetting the very balance that blends should provide.  Look for medium-to-dark roasted natural coffee, and light-to-medium roasted washed coffee. Read labels carefully, or talk to a barista or counterperson you trust. 

Most of all, have fun!  And tell me about your adventures.