Wrapping Old Boy in Leather

If you are going to buy and IM Corona Old Boy, don't buy a painted one. I got a nice blue Old Boy and then one day tossed it in my pocket with the keys. The paint chips and it started to look ragged. My buddy Jamie at

Red Queen V

Scandinavian Tobacco Group purchased Sutliff Tobacco and they will be moving the operations overseas. When STG did this with Lane's Tobacco they cut the tobacco line. Red Queen V was the first blend (well fifth iteration) I made with commercial components. Given it will be unknown if the

Why do I not sell these blends?

For one, I am not a licensed tobacco manufacturer. To do so would require a one million dollar bond on raw tobacco storage and one million dollar bond on the blending room and keep meticulous records of poundage going in and out of each room. Uncle Sam wants his tax

2024 Halloween Plug Massacre

Decided to pull all the plugs I still have and flake them out. Plugs that I stoved in the oven were still moist and easy to slice. Plugs that stoved in a hot truck for 5 days was like trying to flake a 2 x 4. Ended up with a

Basma Bastard

Happy little accidents! I tried to make 2 more Angel of Izmir plugs and when I pulled them they seemed small. Thinking back I actually forgot to add Izmir to the blend. Head slapfrom Head slap The end result is a pretty smooth smoke without the citrus of Izmir. Blend

Red Ribbon Experiment

At the CORPS pipe show we open a jar of Red Queen plug flake that has been sealed for 6-8 months. Boom ketchup! What happened here? My theory for a couple of months has been tobacco vinegar is what makes this famous smell. This jar of Red Queen plug is

2024 CORPS Pipe Show

Attended the show and my hats off to a great event by Conclave of Richmond Pipe Smokers club. They did a great event at the Keystone Museum I got there Saturday morning and the folks were swarming every table in which I hope was a good sign for the vendors.

Angel of Izmir (Balken)

Blend for 175g plug * 24.5% Latakia (43g) * 20% Basma (35g) * 20% Izmir (35.g) * 35.5% Red Virginia (cased with Tonka) (62g) Stoved while under pressure in the truck cab (about 130F) for a few days. Update: 8/8/24 Sliced off a flake and smoking in the 1974

Monkel's Best (Virginia)

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

God of War - Red Virginia

The Virginia experiment continues and several months later the Bright Virginia plug that is cased half with Tonka Bean and half Blackberry just keeps getting better and better. I wonder what Tonka would do for red Virginia leaf. Well here we are. De-stemmed a pound of red Virginia and cased

Grateful Plug - Tonka variant

After doing the Virginia tonka experiment I thought, "Man, I bet this will match perfect with Grateful Plug!" Well say no more! It is done! Tonka/molasses version of 200g Grateful Plug stoved for 7 hours at 200 F This is a blend of 100g Bright Virginia cased

100g Virginia/Cavendish

Had some left over bright Virginia cased with plum so I blended 65g Virginia with 35g black Cavendish that Whole Leaf Tobacco had sent with my order. The Cavendish was granular so when I slice this up it will be more like a broken flake. Had it pressed for 7

Virginia Experiment (Tonka/Blackberry)

So found out I can get tonka beans on Amazon and thought let's give this a go! It is some quite fragrant stuff! To me it smells like white cake with cream cheese frosting! So made up the sauce: * 150g Water * 150g Sugar * 1 Tonka Bean * 1 cap

2023 Year End Thoughts

It certainly was a fun year of pressing tobacco. Still trying to figure out the elusive straight Virginia recipe. I have gone through a couple of my old straight Virginia plugs to see how they develop. The first one I did was a Bright/Yellow Virginia plug and it is

Bright/Red Virginia Plug

I had some left over plum cased Red Virginia and blackberry cased Bright Virginia. Made a 200g plug of about 60% Bright to 40% Red. Total YOLO plug. Then I really screwed up and forgot it was stoving in the oven. It had been in the oven 7 hours at

The best, cheapest plug cutter

Now I have an antique plug cutter made of cast iron and a new blade made by Bingham Knifeworks. It cuts like butter. It is fairly expensive and it takes time to cut the plugs and you tend to have inconsistent thicknesses of the flakes as a result. Enter the

Wet Plugs

Recently, for unknown reasons, I had a batch of Red Queen plugs that were very wet. Not sure the exact reason for it but humidity while pressing might have hand in it. The plugs were full of juice running and the flakes, when sliced, were very flexible. Since I don&

Tobacco Pressing Resources

Blending/Processing Whole Leaf * Ernie Q on casing, pressing, and blending * Blend Your Own Pipe Tobacco book * Spirit Infusion * Making "Cavendish" at home Press: * Noodle Press (Cheap and simple, good for 50g pucks) * PVC and Hockey Pucks (Cheap and little effort, good for 100g pucks) * Shop Press (Saves

Dating Tobacco Tins

Pulled from Badger & Blade and Dutch Pipes Smoker Peterson YYDDMMXXXX 2003043214 = April 03, 2020 Orlik YYXXMMXXDD 2124061407 = June 07, 2021 Orlik/STG vs MacBaren Let me explain. On the picture on the right you see the backside of the two similar Capstan tins. Left the Orlik / STG version, right

Virginia/Burley - Grateful Plug

Virginia/Burley whole leaf plug

Recipe Reference

You can find all the greatest hit recipes and logos on bookstack.thesmokinglounge.club

tobacco press

Pressing 1kg of whole leaf tobacco

Pressing 1kg of whole leaf tobacco challenge.  As they say, if it is worth doing it is worth doing to excess.  I picked up a 2 foot long 3″ by 3″ square stainless steel tube (T43311) from Metals Depot.  Next thing was to find spacers.   I didn’t want to

plug tobacco

Virginia, Oriental and Perique - Bosporus Strait Plug

Thought I would try something new and experimental with whole leaf Virginia, Oriental and Perique tobacco plug. Pressing a 200g block consisting of: * 30g Izmir * 60g Perique * 110g Bright Virginia The Virginia is cased with sugar water with a 1 to 1 weight of water to sugar to make 200g

pipe tobacco

Making plugs in winter

Making plugs in winter is a little more challenging.  Cannot take advantage of the summer heat and poor man stoving the press in the hot cab of the truck for a week.   So here is the update on recent activities. I got a wooden double press that UpArrow made on