Monkel’s Best is basically a bright Virginia with two different casings. I strip 2 lbs of bright and half I case with blackberry casing and the other half with tonka bean casing. I have found it to age well after stoving under pressure for 4 hours at 200F Blackberry casing is just 100g water to 100g sugar and spoonful of Brewer’s Best Blackberry and a cap full of white vinegar. Bring to a boil, stir until clear Let cool and spray 2 oz to 1 pound of whole leaf. Let sit overnight in a trash bag with the air squeezed out. ...

The manufacturing code says it was manufactured the 340th day of 1959. The tin is rich dark Virginia and is fine cut. The aroma reminds me of the ancient tin of WF Monroe Cigar Company No. 2. Kind of a generic tobacco smell. Maybe 50+ year tobacco turns to something ultra mellow. Tobacco was not dry and cracking the had that wooosh noise. Seal held very well. Smoking it now and I expected sweetness off the chart but really it is just a mellow smoke. Slightly sweet but not overly so. There is a hint of plum. Similar to the 1970s tin of MacBaren Plum Cake which the topping totally flushed off. ...

This is a 50/50 blend of burley and bright Virginia. The burley is cased with molasses/tonka bean and the Virginia is cased with plum casing. I made four 160g plugs in the 2’ stainless steel tube. I had some difficulty with fraying with the Chinese made meat slicer. I believe this way caused by some uneven pressing of the plugs. So switched to the antique plug cutter and made thicker flakes ...

Çerkez Çeşmesi (Circassian Fountain) is a historical fountain located in the İlkadım district of Samsun, Turkey. It is situated within the Karasamsun neighborhood, an area known for its rich history dating back to the city’s older settlements. This is my first blend using Samsun tobacco and seemed like a good name of a historical location. It seems like a peaceful place to sit and enjoy one’s pipe. The blend is made from whole leaf tobacco. Only thing was cased was the Red Virginia and this was ribbon from the red ribbon experiment. I used a manual tobacco shredder for the perique and samsun. ...

I always need Red Queen. It is my desert island blend. So here we are going to make 900g! That would be four 200g plugs to stove and one 100g plug not stove. Started stripping Red Virginia. Seems like some yellow Virginia slipped in on the 1lb from Whole Leaf Tobacco shipment. Stripping the stem from Red Virginia Next I am using Ripe Virginia Flue Cure. Normally I use Bright Virginia but variety is the spice of life. ...

Sometimes I don’t want to jar up every tin I open. This works with circular tins and sometime square tins but probably not for the new tins used by SG and GH. How to reseal an opened tin? Get a vacuum jar that is big enough to hold the tin. This jar I can do five tins at a time and found it on eBay. Simply put the tins in the jar ...

Smiticus on PSDstarted making Ton 618and it looked so good I pulled out my jar and then I noted I had only one jar left! Oh noooooss! Pulled 1lb of Red Virginia and it was some pretty leaves in this batch. Made quick work stripping the vein This time instead of making two piles and casing one with blackberry and the other with tonka, I just did half and half in the atomizer and misted the whole lot. ...

I don’t really make blends when fall kicks in because mold spores a abundant when the leaves start falling in North Carolina. So I did a mad pressing of some blends. First up was two 100g plugs of Red Queen. Actually I put them back in the press after this picture but fun picture anyway. Red Queen Next up is three plugs of Apertif Clone Apertif Clone And lastly Memphis Plug. Unfortunately I ran out of that incredible Tennessee Dark Fire and subbed in Kentucky Dark Fire. Still a good stout smoke. ...

This all red Virginia de-stemmed and cased with tonka/blackberry and stoved for 10 hours. Red Virginia prior to destemming Tonka casing 200g Molasses 100g Water Handful of cacao nibs 1 whole tonka bean 1 cap full of white vinegar Blackberry casing 100g water by weight 100g suger by weight 1 tablespoon of Brewer’s Best Blackberry 1 cap full of white vinegar Both casings are brought to a boil and kept there 5-10 minutes and then let cool. I put half tonka and half blackberry in a 1 ounce atomizer and cased the 1 lb of red Virginia after it was de-stemmed. ...