Virginia/Burley - Grateful Plug

I did do a Virginia/Burley plug last year but I wanted to amp up the casing.  This is going to be a 800g press of four 200g plugs.

The casing for the burley is the following :

• 100ml water
• 123g molasses
• 60g cocoa nibs
• Cap full of white distilled vinegar

Bring to boil, let cool and strain to storage vessel.

The recipe was simply a matter of math.  After stripping the stems for 1lb of whole leaf burley from WholeLeafTobacco.com I ended up with 326g.   I also hand shredded the leaves to make it easier to case and blend.  I used 2oz of molasses casing and sprayed using a small spray bottle and let the leave rest over night.

The bright Virginia was cased with blackberry casing.   The recipe as follows:

• 100ml water
• 123g sugar
• Tablespoon of Brewer's Best Blackberry extract
• Cap full of white distilled vinegar

After stripping a 1lb of Bright Virginia from WholeLeafTobacco.com I had 351g of tobacco cased with 2oz of blackberry casing and let rest overnight.

So to do a 1kg press of four 200g plugs I decided to use the Cavendish that WholeLeafTobacco.com tossed in as a bonus after ordering 5lbs of tobacco.  So the 200g recipe is as follows:

Original batch:

• 80g Burley (molasses casing)
• 80g Bright Virginia (blackberry casing)
• 40g Unflavored Cavendish

Currently using: (update 8/13/2023)

• 100g Burley (molasses casing)
• 100g Bright Virginia (blackberry casing)

Made up four 200g bags of of the recipe and started stuffing the 2' stainless steel tube (Model T43311)

Good thing I didn't go for four 200g plugs or I would have to put some elbow grease in getting it all to fit.   Here it is fully loaded after using a push rod on the 3/4" Richlite spacers.

Next dropped it in the frame press and cranked it down until it could not be cranked down anymore.   I used a variety of rods of different lengths to get the plugs compacted down.   After this I will probably do a poor man's stoving in the truck for a week.  Welcome to the south!

Stay tuned for how this comes out . . . .

Update: 7/7/23

Update 7/10/23

I just put the whole press in the truck cab for a week here in the NC heat.   After comparing with Stonehaven last night the noted differences is:

- Grateful Plug needs more stoving.  I will likely take one of the plugs and do it at 200F for 4 hours

- Stonehaven bag note is plum and molasses, Grateful Plug is straight up molasses/burnt sugar smell with a a hint of cacao

I may switch the casing to plum for the bright Virginia on the next batch I make.  I may drop the unflavored Cavendish as well as it is doesn't seem to add much to it other than a filler.

All in all it is in the same ball park as Stonehaven/Rich Dark Flake.

Update 8/13/2023

Ok, I have been smoking the hell out of the first batch and the longer the rest the better it gets so I am not changing any of the casing.   I have stripped another 2 lbs of leaf to make three 200g plugs.

Only change I made was dropping the Cavendish from the mix and did it straight 50/50 Virginia/Burley.  The Cavendish was unflavored and granular so it didn't lend itself to whole leaf pressing very well and probably was more a bulk it up rather than add to the experience.

I have taken 2 of the 3 plugs and put them in a smaller steel press and placed in the oven to stove for 4 hours at 185F.   Here is a picture of the third plug next to a half-plug from the first batch.

Here is the picture of the 3 plugs.  Two on the left were stoved after pulling, the one on the right was not.