HOW DO EYE????

[ChiefBull]

Blend tobacco?
If I want to make up a blend, for personal smoking, what are the considerations?
Is there some practical ratio of a Latakia, to Virginia or Cavendish
What elements do you consider in blending?
What are the individual characteristics of cuts and styles? that I should consider?
Hope I'm not talking in circular Egyptian hieroglyphics here!

regards
Anchor'sAweigh/SemperFi
ChiefBull

 

[RDPipes]

Although I don't blend my own I would assume that it depends mainly on YOUR taste.
What's too much Latikia, what's not enough.
Do you prefer Burley's or Virginia's for your base, etc.

 

[Briar Spirit]

It's all a bit trial and error really but it is very easy to 'get it wrong' as you rightly suspect, Glynn Quelch of GQ Tobaccos has done a pretty good basic blending tips and suggestions vid', have a butchers:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o79g_D9kL1A" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Tate]

I would start by figuring out a blend that is already made that is close or as close as you can find to what you're trying to achieve and then start researching what is in it. Try to tweak the blend adding or subtracting from it, or even figuring out how to emulate it with the base blending tobaccos. Some blenders spend many years creating things and they are skilled professionals. There is no harm done standing on the shoulders of giants.

 

[monbla256]

Buy several pounds of all the 'bacs you think you might want to try, Mix a little of this and a little of that, smoke it, yes/no? and try again till you get what YOU want. Oh btw, keep NOTES and don't be in a hurry as it will probably take a couple of decades for you to "get it "  :twisted: :twisted: 

 

[rothnh]

btw, keep NOTES and don't be in a hurry as it will probably take a couple of decades for you to "get it "  :twisted: :twisted: 

Definitely keep notes and measure everything -- makes it easier to "tweak" as you experiment.

Another thing you may want to keep in mind is that a blend "melds" over time as the flavors co-mingle in the jar. Plus, each leaf ages differently, so that's a consideration as well.

Baby steps worked well for me as I experimented with what I consider to be condiment leaves. As others posted here, I started out with a "base," in this case the base was virginias and the condiment was Turkish Izmir. In this example, I found that the "right amount" of Izmir varied depending on the type of virginia, i.e., brights, matures, reds, etc., and whether or not the virginias had something else in the base blend, such as burley.

 

[ChiefBull]

In other words
Ifyer' not adventurous [something to think about there]
Then settle for some guy like Stokkebye [?sp?], started to take interest here
His 'Proper English 1025' is really nice, a tad lighter tan 'Presbyterian' which I favor. His "full" English is really heavy
Getting good 'inputs' from "the Brothers" here

regards
Anchor'sAweigh/SemperFi
ChiefBull

 

[rothnh]

Chief, I find that if a blend is too "full" for my tastes, such as an English or a too heavy aromatic, adding some Carter Hall works well to tone things down a bit. Hope this helps   

 

[Anonymous]

I can't watch the video at the moment but there are some simple things to keep in mind.

Cavendish, no more than 10%. Otherwise you it will overwhelm the blend.

Perique keep lower than 5% unless you know what you're wanting.

Latakia and Orientals are spice tobaccos. Approaching 50% Latakia is bomb territory.

Bases are Burley and Virginias in various forms. This to me would be where most of the fun is. There are so many different types. Reds, yellows, stoved etc.

Add your toppings into a bowl. I use glass but metal would be okay too.

I use glass spray bottles for casings/toppings. Big runs use a huge tumbler looking machine and they toss the flavorings in.

Let the blend dry a bit until it feels about right.

Watch your ideal humidity when you jar it. GLP talks about this on his blog.

I like to avoid percents and use "a gram of this a gram of that". You can adjust and do the math later to scale it up.

Final processing would be stoving, pressing, steaming.

Try it fresh to get an idea, then jar it for a few weeks and try it again.

A lot has to do with intuition. Real blenders have a good feel for the direction they want to go, I'm sure they dream blends.

My $0.02 from my own very amateur ventures.

 

[ChiefBull]

lovin' all of it
been smoking a Pipe since I was 16 or so
now eye'm 70 years young and asking
"...how do they do that....?"
it is such a simple pleasure to come to a site such as this and 'knot' have everyone trying to prove the are the "smartest ones in the room"
am on some "tactical" sites:
don't ask questions there, some of those clowns think they're Gunn'y. Ermie and "we know each other".
when I was in VietNam there were probably a best no more than a battalion number of Snipers in country; there weren't just that many of the guys
damned if I didn't meet all 50,000 of'em in Florida and NeWEngland, 20 years later!
it is so good just to talk, compare and listen
to this old Chief you don't know how much that really means

regards
Anchor'sAweigh/SemperFi
ChiefBull