Attempt at VA/Latakia blend

[smokinghole]

Attempting first plug/flake with what I have on hand. Very simple blend. Just 80% bright Virginia and 20% Latakia. 250gram total weight. Pressed in a 4x4 stainless steel piece of square tube. Right now it's just held with a c-clamp and a stainless bottom. I figure I will give it two weeks like this and see if it holds up well as a plug. If not I will have to buy stuff to make a better mold. Right now I am using scrap pieces of stainless steel and a push block of red oak wrapped in wax paper.

 

[CATom]

Are you using any heat? Blow dryer? Heat gun?

 

[smokinghole]

Nothing at the moment. If this holds together enough the other mold I want to build should withstand steaming.

 

[CATom]

Intrested how it will come out!

 

[BrewinHooligan]

You are a pipe baccy mad scientist and I dig it! I also dig the airlock on the counter, is that for fermenting in Corny Kegs?

 

[smokinghole]

Thats for veggies in quart mason jars. Sauerkraut, green beans, pickles, or whatever. I make a brine and ferment for two-three weeks or until it drops clear.

 

[gravel]

I'm watching this thread with great interest. Thank you for posting.

 

[smokinghole]

Well I decided to sneak a peak and it looked pretty done to me. The bright leaf darkened significantly and ended very dense.

Hopefully I can try some later today. I can see me doubling or tripling this blend quantity in order to get a thicker plug for taller flakes.

 

[CATom]

That looks like jerky! Yummy jerky

 

[smokinghole]

The Virginia portion has a similar appearance to my eye as SG Kendal Plug. Only mine has latakia so it ends up looking overall darker.

 

[thedismaltrade]

This is all very intriguing to me. Keep up the good work

 

[smokinghole]

Here is a pic in the Sun so it better shows the color with natural light.

 

[smokinghole]

Got some going in a little cob and I like it. I think it needs some time to mature but you can taste the sweetness of the bright leaf mixed with the nice latakia smokiness. Ever so slight rough on the tongue but super easy on the nasal passages.

I will have to try an all VA plug next.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

That looks and sounds amazing! I think an all VA plug would be incredible, but I am loving VAs right now

 

[Whtwtrman79]

Awesome job, I wish more blenders did plug/rope versions , seems to give so much more control as to cut/ moisture level for me

 

[smokinghole]

Well deribbed all the VA this morning. I will start a new thread for that with pics. This will be a 400g plug so it should be about twice as thick as the above VA/lat plug. I will make a better fitting pusher block to have less feathering around the sides which I trimmed off in the above pics.

 

[smokinghole]

Well seeing how tall the flakes will be on my VA plug I decided to weigh out the VA/Lat which I only had two flakes from. This latakia/VA plug is about 1/3 to 1/4 the thickness that the VA will end up. I must have not tared my scale at some point and thought I had way more VA than I really had. I know I added 50gr of latakia but when I weigh the whole kaboodle I'm coming up closer to 100gr after the other two flakes are taken into account. So this is nearly 50% latakia. I guess I have to do it over again to get the ratio I actually wanted though this is not half bad, it is latakia dominant but you can still taste the VA.

Oops.