Blending Thread

[Gdaddy]

Columbian + sumatra.......good or bad? I'd try it myself but I have neither so I'm hoping others may have some input.

I like the Colombian. It has a barn yard, horse crap smell to it which I like.
On the other hand, the Sumatra I had was thin, light greenish color and I ended up giving it away. Didn't work for me.

Have you thought about the Jorge Dominican?

 

[Mikenice81]

Besuki may be the better choice. It is a little more neutral flavor with a sweetness that is pleasant. I think of it as the best of Connecticut and Sumatra without any of the downsides.

 

[HIM*]

I haven't tried any of the Dominican fillers just the binder. I've never been drawn to Sumatra in particular other than it being the binder on the CroMag but the description caught my eye. Although I always heard it was fairly neutral. The coffee bean character of the Colombian sounded interesting as well but I'll pass if it's more barnyard. Thanks for the responses.

 

[Spenny]

Got a blend here that could use some proofing. Decided to buy a bunch of leaf over the weekend. Then realized I don't know the first thing about blending. One of these days I'll try crawling before walking. Until then, I'll pollute the sub-forum here with fun questions for you guys!

Issue One - The Blend:

Wrapper: Cameroon Wrapper (LO)
Binder: Sumatra Binder (WLT)
Seco: Aged Ecuadorian (LO)
Viso: Paraguay Flojo Africa (WLT)
Ligero: Piloto Cubano (WLT)

Could this work? Are there any really blatant conflicts in such a blend?

Issue Two - The Ratio:

I decided to try rolling this in two vitolas, to get more practice and to learn more about how vitola changes flavor profile. The first vitola is the Corona 5.5 x 44. I'm electing to use the formula stated on Page 2 by @blisscigarco (.5 seco, 1.5 viso, .25 ligero). Are there modifications that are necessary based on either flavors or my very slightly larger mold?

The second vitola is the flying pig. This is where I have absolutely no idea what kind of ratio would work best. Anyone have any ideas? Perhaps a ratio for a bit wider perfecto would work for this? Yes, I know, a guy who makes lousy parejos should focus on improving before going full-bore ADHD and jumping to a complex vitola like the pig.

Unfortunately, that's not how this torcedorito rolls.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Hopefully this is topical to this thread. Thanks again!

Cheers,
Spenny

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Your blend could work out pretty well. Hard for me to say for sure as I haven't used most of that leaf. How it sounds on paper doesn't always translate to reality though. I typically start a new blend with 1 leaf of each priming if they are equal sizes and then tweak from there, although with very strong ligero I may only use 1/2 leaf. Curious to see what you come up with and how it treats you

 

[Hopduro]

Your blend could work out pretty well. Hard for me to say for sure as I haven't used most of that leaf. How it sounds on paper doesn't always translate to reality though. I typically start a new blend with 1 leaf of each priming if they are equal sizes and then tweak from there, although with very strong ligero I may only use 1/2 leaf. Curious to see what you come up with and how it treats you

I agree with this, 1 to 1 to 1 works for the first attempt, just to get an understanding of the combo. Then dial it in. I typically use .5 ligero since I'm a whimp (and it fits in the mold better lol)

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[Spenny]

Thanks for the input guys! I'll do the 1:1:1 ratio to test. Do you suspect that such a thick ring gauge on the pigs would require heavy tweaking?

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Thanks for the input guys! I'll do the 1:1:1 ratio to test. Do you suspect that such a thick ring gauge on the pigs would require heavy tweaking?

Depends on how long they are really

 

[blisscigarco]

Had a weird thought this morning after my damn cat woke me up at 5:50 a.m. and I stared at the ceiling for the next two hours. I was wondering if there's some underlying mathematical rule to what constitutes a good blend, and something popped into my head for blends that have worked for me. Mind, "blend" for me is the Cuban meaning, where it's percentages of one set of primings, because I use only one set of leaves for all my "blends," and the same binder and wrapper across all blends, so the degrees of flavor/aroma/strength/burn are always consistent, as they would be in a Cuban cigar factory. Here's what I came up with:

The 1 2 3 = 6 blending rule
Seco = 1, viso 2, ligero 3.
Total for a good blend should be 6-6.5 pts across 3-3.5 leaves for a medium-sized vitola.

Sample blends that I have rolled and I know are good:
Balanced: 1 seco(1), 1 viso(2), 1 ligero(3) = 6
More burn, rich flavor: 2 seco(2) + 1/2 viso(1) + 1 ligero(3) = 6
Strong and good: 1.5 seco(1.5) + 1.5 ligero(4.5) = 6
Med-Strong with an emphasis on viso aroma: .5 seco(.5) + 2 viso (4) + .5 ligero(1.5) = 6
Strong with emphasis on ligero flavor: 1 seco(1) + 1/4 viso(.5) + 1.5 ligero(4.5) = 6
Mild but with good viso aroma: 2 seco(2) + 2 viso(4) = 6
Classic mild Cuban robusto: 1 seco(1) + 2 viso(4) + "skinny 1/2, i.e. 1/3" ligero(1) = 6

When you start coming up with blends that don't equal six, they might be more prone to problems of overall balance. This idea was inspired when I was reading an interview with an old Cuban lady roller from Laguito where she talks about how to modify the blends: there was always a balance thing going on: "If I want to add some of this, I have to take away some of that." Whether it was a strong, mild, whatever blend, it was balanced.

 

[webmost]

1.5 seco(1.5) + 1.5 ligero(4.5) = 6

Now, see... this is why I can't stand cats.

 

[Hopduro]

Had a weird thought this morning after my damn cat woke me up at 5:50 a.m. and I stared at the ceiling for the next two hours. I was wondering if there's some underlying mathematical rule to what constitutes a good blend, and something popped into my head for blends that have worked for me. Mind, "blend" for me is the Cuban meaning, where it's proportions of primings from one plant, because I use one set of leaves for all my "blends," so the ratios of flavor/aroma/strength/burn are always consistent, as they would be in a Cuban cigar factory. Here's what I came up with:

The 1 2 3 = 6 blending rule
Seco = 1, viso 2, ligero 3.
Total for a good blend should be 6-6.5 pts across 3-3.5 leaves for a medium-sized vitola.

Sample blends that I have rolled and I know are good:
Balanced: 1 seco(1), 1 viso(2), 1 ligero(3) = 6
More burn, rich flavor: 2 seco(2) + 1/2 viso(1) + 1 ligero(3) = 6
Strong and good: 1.5 seco(1.5) + 1.5 ligero(4.5) = 6
Med-Strong with an emphasis on viso aroma: .5 seco(.5) + 2 viso (4) + .5 ligero(1.5) = 6
Strong with emphasis on ligero flavor: 1 seco(1) + 1/4 viso(.5) + 1.5 ligero(4.5) = 6
Mild but with good viso aroma: 2 seco(2) + 2 viso(4) = 6
Classic mild Cuban robusto: 1 seco(1) + 2 viso(4) + "skinny 1/2, i.e. 1/3" ligero(1) = 6

When you start coming up with blends that don't equal six, they might be more prone to problems of overall balance. This idea was inspired when I was reading an interview with an old Cuban lady roller where she talks about how to modify the blends: there was always a balance thing going on: "If I want to add some of this, I have to take away some of that." Whether it was a strong, mild, whatever blend, it was balanced.

Interesting Blake... I'll keep it in mind for my blends

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[blisscigarco]

Hopefully will get to bunch some 42rg marevas today, which I'm guessing will be 2.5 leaves. If so, then on a linear scale that should be a "5 pts" blend. Some possibilities I will try in accordance with the 123=6 formula:
For 2.5 leaves / 5 pts:
1(1) + .5(1) +1(3) medium, 2.5 leaves = 5 pts (ligero emphasis)
1.25(1.25) +.75(1.5) +.75(2.25) medium, 2.75 leaves = 5 pts (overstuffed), maybe just go 1 seco for an unbalanced strong blend.
.75(.75) + 1(2) + .75(2.25) med-strong, 2.5 leaves = 5 pts (viso emphasis)
Construction-wise, on these ".75" leaves, I think after I tear it in half and then tear one of those halves in half, I'd take the tip end and flip it and use that as the extra ".25."

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Hopefully will get to bunch some 42rg marevas today, which I'm guessing will be 2.5 leaves. If so, then on a linear scale that should be a "5 pts" blend. Some possibilities I will try in accordance with the 123=6 formula:
For 2.5 leaves / 5 pts:
1(1) + .5(1) +1(3) medium, 2.5 leaves = 5 pts (most balanced)
1.25(1.25) +.75(1.5) +.75(2.25) medium, 2.75 leaves = 5 pts (overstuffed), maybe just go 1 seco for an unbalanced strong blend.
.5(.5) + 1(2) + 1(3) med-strong, 2.5 leaves = 5.5 pts (unbalanced). Just have to dial back the ligero and compensate volume with seco.

Then we just have to sing along with Tom Petty. "The waiting is the hardest part"

 

[blisscigarco]

Then we just have to sing along with Tom Petty. "The waiting is the hardest part"

Freelz. I notice on Warped's Snapchat that he does blend validation at 3 months. That sounds pretty legit. I know these things will smoke good after about an hour, be awesome in a month, insane in 2 months, and getting to the true final at 3. Then it hops to one year, two years, five years, like a Cuban R&J.
Notice I've fixed the 2.5-leaf 5-pt formulas in the above edit.
Actually I'm pretty sure these will work. Something about this formula seems pretty handy.

 

[webmost]

Without math, the universe would still be shrouded in darkness.

 

[Jim D]

Had a weird thought this morning after my damn cat woke me up at 5:50 a.m. and I stared at the ceiling for the next two hours. I was wondering if there's some underlying mathematical rule to what constitutes a good blend, and something popped into my head for blends that have worked for me. Mind, "blend" for me is the Cuban meaning, where it's percentages of one set of primings, because I use only one set of leaves for all my "blends," and the same binder and wrapper across all blends, so the degrees of flavor/aroma/strength/burn are always consistent, as they would be in a Cuban cigar factory. Here's what I came up with:

The 1 2 3 = 6 blending rule
Seco = 1, viso 2, ligero 3.
Total for a good blend should be 6-6.5 pts across 3-3.5 leaves for a medium-sized vitola.

Sample blends that I have rolled and I know are good:
Balanced: 1 seco(1), 1 viso(2), 1 ligero(3) = 6
More burn, rich flavor: 2 seco(2) + 1/2 viso(1) + 1 ligero(3) = 6
Strong and good: 1.5 seco(1.5) + 1.5 ligero(4.5) = 6
Med-Strong with an emphasis on viso aroma: .5 seco(.5) + 2 viso (4) + .5 ligero(1.5) = 6
Strong with emphasis on ligero flavor: 1 seco(1) + 1/4 viso(.5) + 1.5 ligero(4.5) = 6
Mild but with good viso aroma: 2 seco(2) + 2 viso(4) = 6
Classic mild Cuban robusto: 1 seco(1) + 2 viso(4) + "skinny 1/2, i.e. 1/3" ligero(1) = 6

When you start coming up with blends that don't equal six, they might be more prone to problems of overall balance. This idea was inspired when I was reading an interview with an old Cuban lady roller from Laguito where she talks about how to modify the blends: there was always a balance thing going on: "If I want to add some of this, I have to take away some of that." Whether it was a strong, mild, whatever blend, it was balanced.

So I can follow the weighting structure as far as keeping the total points so the total mass would appear relatively constant so the end product should come out about the same size each time. This makes sense when you have a particular size mold or vitola you are trying to keep to. Is that the end goal of this formula? The balance you are referring to?

 

[Jim D]

So just taking the 1 seco (1) and 1 viso (2) and 1 ligero (3), I get a 6. Here's what my leaves look like (clockwise from the top left: seco, ligero, viso):

 

[blisscigarco]

So I can follow the waiting structure as far as keeping the total points so the total mass would appear relatively constant so the end product should come out about the same size each time. This makes sense when you have a particular size mold or vitola you are trying to keep to. Is that the end goal of this formula? The balance you are referring to?

The "balance" is sort of a mystical subjective intuitive thing that involves burniness, strength, flavor, aroma. People talk about balance in cigars, food, liquor, etc. It's a combo of things in each case. In cigars there are obvious issues: we want max flavor but not max nic, etc. I ran several blends through my mind that fit that formula after it came to me and they were good and were typical Cuban recipes, e.g. 111, 1.5/0/1.5; I then ran things that didn't fit the formula and they were not as good: too strong (for me, or in general), not enough burn, too weak, not enough flavor, not enough aroma, whatever. So then I tried it with things that were close; like the value was 5.5 or 6.5 and looked at what tweak I could make that would bring it back to 6 while maintaining leaf count; and this made what for me subjectively (which is why we roll, so we can do what subjectively pleases ourselves) was a better stick.
I came up with this for fun. But I also found that it kinda works, too. Right now I'm working on a JavaScript script that will solve it for various parameters. Because I enjoy doing that kind of thing. Which is why we roll.

 

[blisscigarco]

So just taking the 1 seco (1) and 1 viso (2) and 1 ligero (3), I get a 6. Here's what my leaves look like (clockwise from the top left: seco, ligero, viso):View attachment 81835

Yeah, well 111 is the basic Cuban 3-leaf blend.

 

[Jim D]

So my 1 ligero, 2 seco that was pretty good (5 out of 6 pts) maybe even better with .5 viso added (totalling 6pts).

Then there's the binder and wrapper...
Thanks for sharing Bliss, keep on please!