BOTRYOL
So I've been watching videos and thinking bout how, and yesterday I finally busted loose and bought some Tobacco Leaf. Gonna be a Brother Of The Roll Your Own Leaf. Hunted up an ulu from the kitchen store today (looks exactly like the chevette they sell at the cigar leaf place), scored a rolling pin, and bought RedHead a new bamboo cutting board which I swapped for her old maple board. I'll get a copper pipe fitting from Homo Despot to cut caps. Then all I need is some gelatin for glue, and I'm equipped. I expect to roll them this month and let them set six months. Will brew up some porter in October and set that away. Somewhere around playoff time, anyone wants to come over, we'll open the windows, fire up the wide screen, decant some home brew and fire up some home rolled.
Go Eagles
Go Eagles
Comments
1 Sample - 2LS Binder Broadleaf @ $4.99
1 Sample - QB-52 Fronto Leaf Wrapper @ $5.99
1 Sample - QB-52 Fronto Leaf Wrapper @ $5.99
2 Samples - Aged Dominican Seco Long Filler @ $5.99
2 Samples - Broad Leaf Scraps @ $2.49
1 Sample - Medium CT Broadleaf @ $7.49
Total: $35.43
Shipping: $13.08
Current estimates are that I will extract forty to fifty robustos from this much stock.
The sixth one, at the bottom, still has c.com catalog paper wrapped round it, to try to make it rounder.
I posted about the process at leafonly.com/forums. Here, I'll stick to a subset:
What a delectable aroma! The garage doors were open, thunderstorms blew damp air through, I had arena football on the garage toob, a good time all around. But the big thing was the aroma. It reminded me more than anything of cigar.com house blend sungrown. That, the cameroon, and the purple are my three favorite c.com house blends. My hands were full of that exact odor. In fact, I lit up a c.com sungrown as soon as I was done, just to verify the truth of the assertion. It is true. Hope they come out tasting half as good. Fooling with the aroma was just as delicious as enjoying a good cigar. And the stinkfinger afterwards was pungent as well. Next day, I went sailing, anchored in a cove, and smoked a MOW under the stars in the cockpit, and rated it five stars. I would rate this rolling experience in the garage just as high.
My ability had better improve dramatically. I get great pleasure out of admiring the artistry in a well constructed cigar as I smoke it. These knobby twigs offer none of that. On the other hand, I did make great strides even from the first to the next. I had fully expected consistency to be a great problem. I am happy to report that it was easy to avoid soft spots. After the first stick, I think I got entirely satisfactory and consistent tightness. Not so tight as I will get them I am sure, but tight enough to start. I expect the next six to come out even better. Length and girth are good. Consistency is darn good. Firmness is getting there. Now if I can just get them to look like that. I don't know why this is important to me; but I am certain you BOTLs can agree that the artistry is an important element. I do admire the marbled appearance I managed to get. That's it.
They're in the box, the box is in a plastic bag, the whole package is in the freezer. I figure three days there ought to kill any bugs. I don't want to introduce bugs to my humidor. Once they come out of the freezer, I'll let them rest in the box until humidity gets right, then pop them in the humidor for at least a couple months.
They will get burnt. I gar awn tee.
D'oh! I'da never figured it out. The closest I could come was a botryoid cyst meaning shaped like a cluster of grapes. I don't think his cigars look that bad... LOL.
This is my 21st shaggy footed knobbly cheroot:
I am getting good consistency, even construction, tighter binder, tighter wrap, and a better shaped cap. I do not use a mold -- I strictly shape them by hand. I am aiming at robustos, but they seem to come out more of a lonsdale.. I think at this point my biggest problem is wrapper quality. I am sure the best leaves don't get shipped to the place I buy from. The stuff I have to use is very tough to spread smoothly.
Here's a closeup of my best wrap:
After a few months to age, we'll know whether they are worth lighting.
It's a satisfying enough hobby. But if I can't get more flavor than this, then heck with it. Got to find some better leaves.