amount of Perique in VaPers

[U-235]

Over the past year I have been sampling various VaPers (Dunhill DNR, Escudo, etc.) and enjoyed them all. However, my palate must be much different than the dedicated VaPer smoker because I am not content with the amount of Perique in these blends. Smoking blends like DDNR or Escudo leaves me with a feeling of wanting more Perique. So instead buying several tins of various VaPers, I thought I would buy some pure Perique (McClelland or other if you have a suggestion) and add it to an existing blend. The question I have is what percentage of Perique is in a blend such as Escudo (approximately)? Just looking for a reference quantity.

 

[Old Nate]

I also love perique and have a jar of it (McClelland). I find that I don't use it too often, though. I would recommend trying Beacon Extra by McClelland if you haven't done so already. Very nice Va/Per with a healthy dose of the spicy stuff! IMHO

 

[Richard Burley]

...or you could do what the late British, ah, eccentric Aleister Crowley allegedly did: smoke pure perique soaked in rum. Yummy!

 

[jj1015]

The exact percentage of perique that goes into a blend is usually a trade secret, but most VaPers tend to have somewhere between 5 and 10 percent perique. It is definitely a condimental tobacco -- unlike latakia, which can be added to a blend in quantities well over 50 percent, perique will dominate and ruin a mixture if even a little too much is used. That doesn't mean there aren't blends with relatively high percentages of perique, it just means that they aren't that common and special care has to be taken to make sure the other tobaccos can stand up the perique.
Old Joe Krantz, which is a true perique powerhouse, has 25 percent perique. I imagine that, Haddo's Delight has between 15 and 20, while Filmore might have as much as 15 (the latter two are guesses, but OJK's precise ingredients have been published). According to my best guess, Escudo has something like 7 or 10 percent.
I think your idea is basically, sound, just be very careful not to ruin a good blend. I would just add perique in small amounts, gradually adding more and more until you reach the level you want. I'd also take copious notes, and give a thought to just mixing up your own blend.

 

[leacha]

Purchase some McC 5100 RC along with your perique. Pull out some mason jars and make up some small batches say in the 5%, 10%, 15%, etc. Let them sit for a month and smoke away. You'll find out your tolerance level and have some very tasty VaPers to smoke. After that you can play around with the blends by adding a little stoved Virginia, some lemon Virginias, whatever. If you keep it simple you'll always have some low cost VaPers that you know you'll love.

Just my 2¢

 

[Northern Neil]

You can also look into the new C&D Cellar Series Chenet's Cake. It sounds like it had a very health dose of perique in it!

 

[monbla256]

Purchase some McC 5100 RC along with your perique. Pull out some mason jars and make up some small batches say in the 5%, 10%, 15%, etc. Let them sit for a month and smoke away. You'll find out your tolerance level and have some very tasty VaPers to smoke. After that you can play around with the blends by adding a little stoved Virginia, some lemon Virginias, whatever. If you keep it simple you'll always have some low cost VaPers that you know you'll love.

Just my 2¢

Some sound advice here, well worth giving it a try at a reasonable price too !! :twisted: :twisted:

 

[U-235]

Purchase some McC 5100 RC along with your perique. Pull out some mason jars and make up some small batches say in the 5%, 10%, 15%, etc. Let them sit for a month and smoke away. You'll find out your tolerance level and have some very tasty VaPers to smoke. After that you can play around with the blends by adding a little stoved Virginia, some lemon Virginias, whatever. If you keep it simple you'll always have some low cost VaPers that you know you'll love.

Just my 2¢

Thanks all for your replies.  I would have to say at this point that Rattray's Marlin Flake is my favorite Virginia (or a mild VaPer).  Since I have several (I mean "several" in terms of TAD ) cans stored away for aging, I was intending to use Marlin Flake.  However, now that I think about it, using my favorite Virginia may not be the best idea.  The only way to know is to experiment.  McC 5100 RC has been praised TobaccoReviews as being a quality "straight" Virginia, so it could make a good base for a blend to experiment.

I also have Iwan Ries 2010 Flake which I enjoyed, but I had only a couple of bowls when it I received it fresh and then stashed the remaining away in a jar for aging about 2 years ago.  I discovered that this blend is really McC 2010 Bulk Flake - which also has been praised TobaccoReviews as being a quality "straight" Virginia.  I also harvested two Virginias this year (Yellow Orinoco and African Red), but it will be much time before my leaf is ready to smoke.  [I grow Burley varieties and mix them with flue cured Virgina Bright Leaf from a tobacco farmer in Kentucky - for cigarette smoking - it takes a of of work - but very rewarding - you will never smoke a commercial cigarette again.  Still exploring pipe tobaccos.  Anyone grow-your-own on the forum here? Great hobby if you like gardening!]

With the quantity of tobacco on hand, I should issue some constraint when making orders.  Especially with my home-grown leaf becoming available soon.  Just when I feel that I have covered all the bases with respect to the blends on the current market, something else pops up.  For example, I recently found Brebbia's Balkan to be a great sleeper - I have been smoking Brebbia Balkan like crazy over the past month.  I just have not found a VaPer that hits the spot.  I think I will follow your wise suggestions and let experimenting lead me to that VaPer.  After all, I am starting to generate many half-empty tins lying around of tobaccos that I don't fancy. Anyway, I will keep you guys posted.

Funny thing that I have been smoking the pipe for many years now, but I always consider myself as a newbie.  Uncharted territory always seems to reveal itself.  I don't post here much, but I do read the forum a lot.  Learned much here.  Thanks again.

 

[Old Nate]

I like the idea of adding perique to the red cake 5100 in small increments until you find your ideal va/per. Also might not be a bad idea to add some perique to your opened vaper tins that you're not that crazy about... Spice 'em up! Defbagree to leave the Marlin Flake as is...

Think I'll be experimenting with my tobacco as well!

 

[U-235]

I like the idea of adding perique to the red cake 5100 in small increments until you find your ideal va/per. Also might not be a bad idea to add some perique to your opened vaper tins that you're not that crazy about... Spice 'em up! Defbagree to leave the Marlin Flake as is...

Think I'll be experimenting with my tobacco as well!

Yes, I agree with the Marlin Flake - being a favorite of mine - it's best to leave it as is. Despite my attempt to control my TAD, I think I will go ahead and order a pound of McC 5100 RC as many of you have suggested.

But I am curious, can anyone provide more info on 5100 RC? I have read the reviews on tobaccoreviews.com, but I am finding a lot of inconsistencies. It can be difficult to interpret reviews especially since they can be subjective. I curious to know if it is a blend of Virginias and which ones? Has it been stoved? Etc? A reviewer even mentioned that it contains a humectant. In such case I would not purchase it as I am sensitive to glycerol and propylene glycol. :affraid: :affraid: :affraid:

 

[U-235]

...or you could do what the late British, ah, eccentric Aleister Crowley allegedly did: smoke pure perique soaked in rum. Yummy!

That doesn't surprise me. He probably has smoked pure nutmeg as well. :lol:

 

[monbla256]

I like the idea of adding perique to the red cake 5100 in small increments until you find your ideal va/per. Also might not be a bad idea to add some perique to your opened vaper tins that you're not that crazy about... Spice 'em up! Defbagree to leave the Marlin Flake as is...

Think I'll be experimenting with my tobacco as well!

Yes, I agree with the Marlin Flake - being a favorite of mine - it's best to leave it as is.  Despite my attempt to control my TAD, I think I will go ahead and order a pound of McC 5100 RC as many of you have suggested.

But I am curious, can anyone provide more info on 5100 RC?  I have read the reviews on tobaccoreviews.com, but I am finding a lot of inconsistencies.  It can be difficult to interpret reviews especially since they can be subjective.  I curious to know if it is a blend of Virginias and which ones?  Has it been stoved?  Etc?  A reviewer even mentioned that it contains a humectant.  In such case I would not purchase it as I am sensitive to glycerol and propylene glycol. :affraid: :affraid: :affraid:

As I was told by Mike at McC's when I met him at the Chicago show back in '99, Red Cake 5100 is made of Flue Cured Red Virginia with some Bright Leaf added to it that is cut to a ribbon cut after it has aged in cakes for a length of time. As with ALL tobacco's used in blends, it is CASED prior to being sorted for production as a blend. It is NOT Topped/Flavored in ANY way ( other than the liberal use of Ketchup that we ALL know McC uses in their blends :twisted: ). It's probably one of the finest Straight Va's available today.

 

[Fr_Tom]

I have smoked McClelland 2015, and I thought that was an excellent VaPer. I have also smoked it with 20% added perique. This was also quite good, and it did not cross the "too much" line for my palate. Having had it both ways, I would smoke 2015 as delivered. The added perique was more noticable, but for me anyway I don't think it was better enough to be worth buying the extra perique and blending, etc.

 

[Briar Spirit]

Whilst I have enjoyed ribbon cut Perique on its own it is a little plain to smoke often, adding a mix of 50% Perique to existing blends makes for a fine smoke for me personally, any more and the Perique really outs anything else in the mix, sure enough though I have to admit to being a bit of a saucy flirt with Perique, love the stuff.

 

[U-235]

I like the idea of adding perique to the red cake 5100 in small increments until you find your ideal va/per. Also might not be a bad idea to add some perique to your opened vaper tins that you're not that crazy about... Spice 'em up! Defbagree to leave the Marlin Flake as is...

Think I'll be experimenting with my tobacco as well!

Yes, I agree with the Marlin Flake - being a favorite of mine - it's best to leave it as is.  Despite my attempt to control my TAD, I think I will go ahead and order a pound of McC 5100 RC as many of you have suggested.

But I am curious, can anyone provide more info on 5100 RC?  I have read the reviews on tobaccoreviews.com, but I am finding a lot of inconsistencies.  It can be difficult to interpret reviews especially since they can be subjective.  I curious to know if it is a blend of Virginias and which ones?  Has it been stoved?  Etc?  A reviewer even mentioned that it contains a humectant.  In such case I would not purchase it as I am sensitive to glycerol and propylene glycol. :affraid: :affraid: :affraid:

As I was told by Mike at McC's when I met him at the Chicago show back in '99, Red Cake 5100 is made of Flue Cured Red Virginia with some Bright Leaf added to it that is cut to a ribbon cut after it has aged in cakes for a length of time. As with ALL tobacco's used in blends, it is CASED prior to being sorted for production as a blend. It is NOT Topped/Flavored in ANY way ( other than the liberal use of Ketchup that we ALL know McC uses in their blends  :twisted: ). It's probably one of the finest Straight Va's available today.

Thanks monbla. Sounds like you have heard it straight from the horse's mouth! :cheers: When you mentioned CASED, two things come to mind. First, tobacco farmers refer to their whole leaf as being in CASE if the leaves have a certain amount of moisture that makes them pliable- usually enough moisture to handle the leaf without it crumbling into dust. Second, from reading online reviews or threads on forums, many pipe smokers use the term CASE to refer to casing or flavoring agents added to tobacco - especially in aromatics. When you referred to "CASED prior to being sorted for production as a blend" am I correct to assume that this means the tobacco is hydrated or moisturized from its dry state? Your mentioning that it is not topped or flavored prompted me to think you must be referring to CASED as the moisture level of the tobacco and not as flavoring agents tobacco.

 

[U-235]

From the following: http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/what-blend-has-the-highest-perique-content

I have summarized what was posted on that thread (percent Perique in tobacco blends):

• Escudo 18%
• C&D's Old Joe Krantz 25%
• Bell's Three Nuns 30%
• Gauntleys of Nottingham El Picante Americana over 30%
• John Patton's Cool Hand Fluke 40%

I don't know how reliable these figures are - I am just relaying them.  These figures are much higher that I thought.  Maybe different sources of Perique are more peppery than others.  Perique from St. James Parish uses a local variety of tobacco.  Perique can be made from other varieties as well.

I have made Perique from Madole - a dark air variety.  The process is very simple.  After removing the mid-rib stem, I pressed the moist leaves under extremely high pressure for 14 months - occasionally unpacking and repacking.  I end up with a very dense black brick.  The leaves have been compressed to the point that it is difficult to separate them.  I don't know how McClelland gets their Perique in a ribbon form.  I end up using a razor blade to slice the brick into to flakes, then let it air dry out for a few days, followed by rubbing it out.  I finally smoked it pure not long ago - 6 months from the time I took it off the press.  Madole yields a Perique that has more of a Chianti wine flavor to it.  But it does have a black pepper spiciness to it.  This is what lead me to start this thread in the first place.

 

[monbla256]

I like the idea of adding perique to the red cake 5100 in small increments until you find your ideal va/per. Also might not be a bad idea to add some perique to your opened vaper tins that you're not that crazy about... Spice 'em up! Defbagree to leave the Marlin Flake as is...

Think I'll be experimenting with my tobacco as well!

Yes, I agree with the Marlin Flake - being a favorite of mine - it's best to leave it as is.  Despite my attempt to control my TAD, I think I will go ahead and order a pound of McC 5100 RC as many of you have suggested.

But I am curious, can anyone provide more info on 5100 RC?  I have read the reviews on tobaccoreviews.com, but I am finding a lot of inconsistencies.  It can be difficult to interpret reviews especially since they can be subjective.  I curious to know if it is a blend of Virginias and which ones?  Has it been stoved?  Etc?  A reviewer even mentioned that it contains a humectant.  In such case I would not purchase it as I am sensitive to glycerol and propylene glycol. :affraid: :affraid: :affraid:

As I was told by Mike at McC's when I met him at the Chicago show back in '99, Red Cake 5100 is made of Flue Cured Red Virginia with some Bright Leaf added to it that is cut to a ribbon cut after it has aged in cakes for a length of time. As with ALL tobacco's used in blends, it is CASED prior to being sorted for production as a blend. It is NOT Topped/Flavored in ANY way ( other than the liberal use of Ketchup that we ALL know McC uses in their blends  :twisted: ). It's probably one of the finest Straight Va's available today.

Thanks monbla.  Sounds like you have heard it straight from the horse's mouth! :cheers:   When you mentioned CASED, two things come to mind.  First, tobacco farmers refer to their whole leaf as being in CASE if the leaves have a certain amount of moisture that makes them pliable- usually enough moisture to handle the leaf without it crumbling into dust.  Second, from reading online reviews or threads on forums, many pipe smokers use the term CASE to refer to casing or flavoring agents added to tobacco - especially in aromatics.  When you referred to "CASED prior to being sorted for production as a blend" am I correct to assume that this means the tobacco is hydrated or moisturized from its dry state?  Your mentioning that it is not topped or flavored prompted me to think you must be referring to CASED as the moisture level of the tobacco and not as flavoring agents tobacco.

As they say, here's the "real skinney" from the horses mouth, a quote from Russ Ouellette about "Casing" :

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/put-that-in-your-pipe/a-tale-of-two-syrups-casings-and-top-dressings/#more-5078

 

[MichaelM]

...or you could do what the late British, ah, eccentric Aleister Crowley allegedly did: smoke pure perique soaked in rum. Yummy!

That doesn't surprise me.  He probably has smoked pure nutmeg as well. :lol:

Not that it matters, but I thought Crowley smoked straight latakia. Likely not for enjoyment as much as the attention it brought.
Mike.

 

[jj1015]

From the following: http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/what-blend-has-the-highest-perique-content

I have summarized what was posted on that thread (percent Perique in tobacco blends):

• Escudo 18%
• C&D's Old Joe Krantz 25%
• Bell's Three Nuns 30%
• Gauntleys of Nottingham El Picante Americana over 30%
• John Patton's Cool Hand Fluke 40%

I don't know how reliable these figures are - I am just relaying them.  These figures are much higher that I thought.  Maybe different sources of Perique are more peppery than others.  Perique from St. James Parish uses a local variety of tobacco.  Perique can be made from other varieties as well.

I have made Perique from Madole - a dark air variety.  The process is very simple.  After removing the mid-rib stem, I pressed the moist leaves under extremely high pressure for 14 months - occasionally unpacking and repacking.  I end up with a very dense black brick.  The leaves have been compressed to the point that it is difficult to separate them.  I don't know how McClelland gets their Perique in a ribbon form.  I end up using a razor blade to slice the brick into to flakes, then let it air dry out for a few days, followed by rubbing it out.  I finally smoked it pure not long ago - 6 months from the time I took it off the press.  Madole yields a Perique that has more of a Chianti wine flavor to it.  But it does have a black pepper spiciness to it.  This is what lead me to start this thread in the first place.

WOW! If those are accurate, I am stunned at some of the percentages. Those are way higher than I would have imagined.

 

[Richard Burley]

...or you could do what the late British, ah, eccentric Aleister Crowley allegedly did: smoke pure perique soaked in rum. Yummy!

That doesn't surprise me.  He probably has smoked pure nutmeg as well. :lol:

Not that it matters, but I thought Crowley smoked straight latakia.   Likely not for enjoyment as much as the attention it brought.
Mike.

Dunno. Thought I read it in an old Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris years ago--which I still have, but am too lazy to look it up. The guy was a flaming weirdo.