Virginia

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. ...

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. ...

Update from https://blog.acefour.org/red-ribbon-experiment/ article. Smoking a bowl in the Talbert now and it is an absolute joy. You can see the top of the whole leaf perique that is fished through the jar like a Zippo wick in cotton. The perique leaf is quite dry now as it seems the rest of the ribbon has sucked the moisture out of the leaf. The jar aroma is getting that vinegar twang to it and I will probably remove the perique leaf at this point. ...

Red Queen is a Va/Per and the whole leaf recipe can be found at Red Queen V This is basically a two day process. First step is strip the stems from the Bright Virginia and Red Virginia. The Red Virginia had some nice leaves Red all done Next the Bright Virginia. When I de-stem I pull from the top of the leaf, one half of the leaf. I pulls apart easily from the top. ...

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 for 140g plug 24.5% Latakia (43g) 20% Basma (35g) 35.5% Red Virginia (cased with Tonka) (62g)

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 leading more in that direction. What I think happened is the wet whole leaf perique kick started a secondary fermentation of the red Virginia. I’m no chemist so I may be talking out of my ass. But let’s try an experiment. ...

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 hallmark Pete. It the mark. The orientals are very forward. The citrus of the Izmir works well with the soft, floral Basma. Latakia is in the background. ...

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 I have done a version with half lemon Virginia and half bright Virginia. It turned out very good as well. I like doing 2 lbs and after stripping I usually end up with four 175g plugs and I can do that all at once in the steel 2’ tube in the A-frame press. ...

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 the whole thing with 2 ounces of Tonka bean casing. I let it rest for 24 hours and then pressing. After the de-stemming I ended up with two plugs about 175g each. Pressed for several days and finally stoved for 200F for 4 hours while still in the press. ...

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 Tonka/Molasses Grateful Plug This is a blend of 100g Bright Virginia cased with Tonka bean casing and 100g burley cased with molassas casing. I will let the plug rest for a few days but I am smoking the burnt ends I trimmed off the plug and I have to say, this one is the winner. I will likely end up making all my Grateful Plugs this way! ...